Dysgraphia is a neurological disorder which can be defined as “a disorder in written expression”. It is a Greek term which in English translates to “impaired at writing by hand”.
Perhaps the first step to identifying dysgraphia is by comparing your pupils’ handwriting with other pupils’ handwriting of the same age.
Pupils with dysgraphia will often have unorthodox or poor quality handwriting due to a number of factors – other than because they simply dislike handwriting or/and have no intention of putting effort in to making their handwriting legible for others.
Things to look out for in your pupils’ handwriting, other than just poor quality, are:
- Oversized letters and punctuation
- Inconsistencies in the size of consecutive letters
- Letters and words not written at a consistent angle (straight, then slanting left, then slanting right)
- Inconsistently spaced letters, words, sentences, lines, paragraphs and margins (even when margins and lines are provided)
- Letters and words written in the wrong order
- Writing is often crossed out and rewritten
- Spelling mistakes
However, just because some of your pupils may have poor quality handwriting and may do some or all of the things listed above, dysgraphia can still not be assumed. The cause of the poor quality handwriting needs to be identified and it is only then that a diagnosis of dysgraphia can be made.
A pupil with dysgraphia will very often have problems with their language processing, their fine motor skills, memory retrieval, their pen/pencil grip and writing posture, and/or visual spacing.
At Dysgraphia Help we offer an online dysgraphia test for pupils (over the age of 8) for 71.71 NZD* (£32).
After completing the
Dysgraphia is a neurological disorder which can be defined as “a disorder in written expression”. It is a Greek term which in English translates to “impaired at writing by hand”.
Perhaps the first step to identifying dysgraphia is by comparing your pupils’ handwriting with other pupils’ handwriting of the same age.
Pupils with dysgraphia will often have unorthodox or poor quality handwriting due to a number of factors – other than because they simply dislike handwriting or/and have no intention of putting effort in to making their handwriting legible for others.
Things to look out for in your pupils’ handwriting, other than just poor quality, are:
- Oversized letters and punctuation
- Inconsistencies in the size of consecutive letters
- Letters and words not written at a consistent angle (straight, then slanting left, then slanting right)
- Inconsistently spaced letters, words, sentences, lines, paragraphs and margins (even when margins and lines are provided)
- Letters and words written in the wrong order
- Writing is often crossed out and rewritten
- Spelling mistakes
However, just because some of your pupils may have poor quality handwriting and may do some or all of the things listed above, dysgraphia can still not be assumed. The cause of the poor quality handwriting needs to be identified and it is only then that a diagnosis of dysgraphia can be made.
A pupil with dysgraphia will very often have problems with their language processing, their fine motor skills, memory retrieval, their pen/pencil grip and writing posture, and/or visual spacing.
At Dysgraphia Help we offer an online dysgraphia test for pupils (over the age of 8) for 71.71 NZD* (£32).
After completing the test and sending us a sample of the pupil’s handwriting, you will receive a detailed report on whether or not we believe them to have dysgraphia.
If we believe dysgraphia to be present, you will also receive a number of activity materials for the pupil to work through.
For more information on testing for dysgraphia, please visit http://www.dysgraphiahelp.co.uk/testing-for-dysgraphia/.
* Based on rates of exchange on 15/12/2015. Price is subject to change.
test and sending us a sample of the pupil’s handwriting, you will receive a detailed report on whether or not we believe them to have dysgraphia.
If we believe dysgraphia to be present, you will also receive a number of activity materials for the pupil to work through.
For more information on testing for dysgraphia, please visit http://www.dysgraphiahelp.co.uk/testing-for-dysgraphia/.
* Based on rates of exchange on 15/12/2015. Price is subject to change.
