dysgraphia?

[kirky]

I think that my son may have dysgraphia. He won't hold the pen/pencil correctly, his writing is almost ilegible, he cannot space letters or words properly, his writing rarely sits on the line. He also writes some letters backwards and often uses capitals incorrectly. He has major problems copying ie from the blackboard, or from another sheet of paper, and often misspells words which he knows. In one of the many reports written on 'H' it was commented that he had problems processing the written word. I have an appointment with his paediatrician coming up and was considering asking for him to be tested. Any opinions or experiences would be gratefully received.

Marie

[trekster]

i have dyslexia and hypermobility syndrome which causes problems with holding the pen or pencil properly.

 

If you can put some pencil grippers around his pencils that could help him hold his pencil.

Have you tried colorimeter testing via an optometrist? I found it easier to copy letters from a blackboard

with my specs. Also checking his sight to make sure there arent any problems there.

 

HTH

 

Alexis

[Dijac]

Hi,

 

My NT son (10) has dysgraphia. He has a lot of problems copying. He looks at the board, and not at his paper, and his writing never stays on the line. We had his eyes tested. He did have some problems, and had some eye re-education to get his eyes to work together, and he also has glasses now. So it is definitely worth taking him to an orthoptist.

 

He finds he writes better with stabilo pen specifically for right handed people. It has the dimples in the right places, so he holds it a bit better. His writing is often illegible though.

 

He was getting pains in his arm, from being so tense when he writes, so had some sessions with a 'psycho-motrician' - that is what he saw here in France, I am not sure what that would be in UK. But she gave him relaxation exercises, which seemed to help a bit.

 

Diane

[Sally44]

I think there can be different single, or multiple combinations of difficulties that result in "dysgraphia".

 

For example it could be a dyspraxia kind of problem ie. poor position, pencil grip, problems with tracking or moving eye gaze, problems sequencing etc.

 

It can be a sensory integration problem eg. not being able to retrieve the 'visual' representation of the 'auditory' sound.

 

It can be a 'spatial' sensory problem with reversals, poor spacing etc.

 

It often means there is a 'specific learning difficulty' and often goes hand in hand with Dyspraxia, or Dyslexia or Sensory integration problems or all or any combination of the above.

 

Sometimes reading comes easier than writing or spelling. Sometimes copying is better than spontaneous writing. If there are also significant problems with copying, then it could suggest that it is a motor-co-ordination problem [maybe relating to dyspraxia], if reading is also affected it could suggest dyslexia is also involved.

 

However dyslexic children can sometimes read better than they can write or spell or copy or plan and organise themselves.

 

And if the child has poor receptive or expressive speech problems/disorder, then they are also bound to have problems acquiring all aspects of literacy skills including reading, writing and spelling as well as problems with meaning, organisation, memory problems etc.

 

All rather complicated. But I just wanted you to get an idea of the kind of different skills that could be involved. And different professionals would look at different skill sets to try to see where the literacy problems were coming from.