What you need to know about dysgraphia

Dysgraphia is a specific learning disability that affects how easily individuals acquire written language and how well they use written language to express their thoughts. It is often identified through observing impaired letter writing by hand and sometimes spelling.

Dysgraphia is categorized as a neurological learning disability that is identified through:

1. struggles with fine motor skills

2. difficulty getting thoughts down on paper

3. inconsistent letter spacing and size

4. hand pain or fatigue when writing

5. odd pencil grip

According to the International Dyslexia Association (IDA), children with dysgraphia may have "difficulty planning sequential finger movements such as touching the thumb to successive fingers on the same hand without visual feedback" and orthographic coding, which is "the ability to store written words in working memory while the letters in the word are analyzed or the ability to create permanent memory of written words linked to their pronunciation and meaning". Dysgraphia can affect handwriting accuracy, speed, and spelling.

Dysgraphia commonly overlaps with other learning disabilities, such as dyslexia. It is common for children with dysgraphia to experience frustration or be avoidant towards handwritten tasks. Dysgraphia is not curable, but it can be remediated through proper support, accommodations, and assistive writing pencils. It is important to note that dysgraphia is a brain-based issue and is not a result of laziness or lack of intelligence.

As a part of our screening process, we determine whether dysgraphia is a co-occurring struggle with dyslexia for each person we screen. It is an important aspect of our screening to identify if a student has dysgraphia so that they may get proper accommodations as they progress through their education.