Dysgraphia:
Illegible Handwriting?
Dysgraphia is a neurological disorder
similar to dyslexia
in which a person has difficulty with spelling, poor handwriting,
and expressing thoughts in writing. There are several different
criteria, which help determine if a person has this learning disability.
Interestingly, each state has its own standards to define dysgraphia.
It often goes untreated and presents problems because dysgraphia
does not have clearly defined criteria.
People who suffer from dysgraphia often have trouble-putting things
in sequence. Studies show it is a perceptual problem in which a
person may reverse letters and numbers, write words backwards and
write letters out of order. The term Dysgraphia is rarely used in
school and often categorized under learning
disabilities. Most symptoms related to dysgraphia are related
to other disorders such as nonverbal
learning disorder, reading
disorder, mathematics
disorder, and attention
deficit disorder.
Common symptoms indicative of dysgraphia include:
- Strong verbal but poor writing skills
- Random punctuation and misspelled words
- Misinterpretation of questions and questionnaire
items
- Disordered numbering
- Illegible writing despite appropriate time
- Mixture of prints (cursive and print, upper
case and lower case letters)
- Unfinished words or omitted words
- Unusual grip of the writing instrument
- Slow or labored writing
To understand the cause of dysgraphia
one must recognize the principle of human learning. There are certain
skills that have to be learned and mastered before it is possible
to master subsequent skills. In the case of learning math, a person
has to learn numbers before they can learn to add and subtract.
The same concept applies to writing. The person has to learn and
practice their handwriting before they can clearly express thoughts
on paper.
Dysgraphia can be addressed by
treating underlying shortcomings which include:
- Poor motor skills
- Poor visual perception
- Difficulty retaining visual impressions due
to poor visual memory
There is often nothing more frustrating than
to see a distressed child or adult who is experiencing learning
problems. A person with dysgraphia may need special education services
to treat this neurological disorder.
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