Learning Disabilities

Dysgraphia

Dysgraphia is a neurological disorder characterized by writing disabilities. Specifically, the disorder causes a person's writing to be distorted or incorrect. In children, the disorder generally emerges when they are first introduced to writing. They make inappropriately sized and spaced letters, or write wrong or misspelled words, despite thorough instruction. Children with the disorder may have other learning disabilities, however, they usually have no social or other academic problems. Cases of dysgraphia in adults generally occur after some trauma. In addition to poor handwriting, dysgraphia is characterized by wrong or odd spelling, and production of words that are not correct (i.e., using "boy" for "child"). The cause of the disorder is unknown.

Symptoms of Dysgraphia

An astute teacher or parent may suspect dysgraphia in a student by observing writing performances. All too often, however, the student's performance is interpreted as poor motivation, carelessness, laziness, or excessive speed. While these observations may be very real, they are on the surface, and the underlying cause may be a dysgraphic pattern which is not within the student's control. Specific symptoms which may be noted include:

Cramped fingers on writing tool
Odd wrist, body and paper positions
Excessive erasures
Mixture of upper and lower case letters
Mixture of printed and cursive letters
Inconsistent letter formations and slant
Irregular letter sizes and shapes
Unfinished cursive letters
Misuse of line and margin
Poor organization on the page
Inefficient speed in copying
General illegibility
Decreased speed of writing
Decreased speed of copying
Inattentiveness about details when writing
Frequently needs verbal cues and sub-vocalizing
Relies heavily on vision to monitor what the hand is doing during writing
Slowly implements verbal directions that involve sequencing and planning

Causes

Sequencing Problems - As with dyslexia, written language difficulty is often believed to be the result of underlying visual or perceptual processing weakness. However, research on brain functioning has not found much evidence to support the notion of a visual basis for dysgraphia. In fact, what usually appears to be a perceptual problem (reversing letters/numbers, writing words backwards, writing letters out of order, and very sloppy handwriting) usually seems to be directly related to sequential/rational information processing. In other words, when students experience difficulty sequencing and organizing detailed information, they often have difficulty with the sequence of letters and words as they write. As a result, the student either needs to slow way down in order to write correctly or experiences rather extreme difficulty with the "mechanics" of writing (spelling, punctuation, etc.). Usually they have difficulty even when they do slow down. And by slowing down or getting "stuck" with the details of writing they often lose the great thoughts that they are trying to write about. Sometimes the creative writing skills of such a student are surprisingly strong when the mechanics of writing don't get in the way. This is because their "conceptual" processing skills are often quite strong enabling them to express "deeper meaning" in spite of difficulty with the details.
Attention Deficit hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) - Students with an attention deficit disorder (especially with hyperactivity) often experience rather significant difficulty with writing in general and handwriting in particular. This is because ADHD students also have difficulty organizing and sequencing detailed information. In addition, ADHD students are often processing information at a very rapid rate and simply don't have the fine-motor coordination needed to "keep up" with their thoughts.
Auditory Processing Weakness - Other students experience writing difficulty because of a general auditory or language processing weakness. Because of their difficulty learning and understanding language in general, they obviously have difficulty with language expression. And written language is the most difficult form of language expression. A generalized auditory processing weakness is frequently referred to as a verbal or language-based learning disability and typically affects the areas of reading and writing. Math may be a relative strength.
Visual Processing Weakness - Although most writing disabled or "dysgraphic" students do not have visual or perceptual processing problems, some students with a visual processing weakness will experience difficulty with writing speed and clarity simply because they aren't able to fully process the visual information as they are placing it on the page. Again, this is probably the least likely cause of a written language problem. A visual processing weakness is sometimes referred to as a nonverbal learning disability and typically affects the areas of spelling and math much more than reading.