Many people come to me and ask, what is the difference between dyslexia and dysgraphia?
From a pure neurological position, reading is bringing something into your neurological pathways through your vision. That visual stimulus is interpreted in your brain. Then, some type of response is triggered. This response can be behavioral like smiling or hitting or frowning, a thought process, or a physical motor reaction such as hitting a baseball with a bat. A written response is a culmination of all three parts of the motor process. Any written response that is delayed from the typical student is considered dysgraphia.
Reading is the process of taking in the words and sentences in picture, easy reader, chapter books, and novels. The stages of reading include phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary: oral and read, reading fluency, and reading comprehension. Oral vocabulary, oral fluency, and orally interpreting a passage are technically motor functions in response to reading. Because they are oral, they do not fall under the dysgraphia category. Whereas, written vocabulary, written fluency, and written comprehension are included in written expression. All categories of written expression that are delayed from the typical student are part of dysgraphia.
Writing is divided into three aspects: mechanical, language, and cognitive. The mechanical aspects include visual-spatial awareness, motor movements, and memory. Memory includes all types of memory: visual, auditory, muscle, and emotional. Forming words and sentences are more complex aspects of this disorder in which language skills are included. The most complex area is when the written word needs to become more creative. The final aspect of writing is the cognitive portion like creating paragraphs. Through years of research, science and education have norms at which children should typically complete these tasks. Look at most milestone charts. They will include the norms in some way. A child’s report card is designed around these norms.
There are several levels and severity of the disorder. Some children can be remediated to form words and sentences with no support in a reasonable amount of time. However, there are just as many students that have lifelong degrees of dysgraphia.
The symptoms of dysgraphia include:
- Writing slower than typical students of the same age
- Odd positions of the wrist or paper
- Mixing upper and lowercase letter forms
- Inconsistency in forming letters
- Cramping fingers or hands
- Irregular letter formation, size, sequencing, or line placement
- Poor letter organization
- Unorganized thought processes when writing paragraphs
- Difficult managing margins
- Inefficient pencil pressure
- Poor spelling
- Intentionally watching their hand write letters
- Awkward pencil grasp
- Poor fine motor skills
- Avoiding writing tasks
- Letter and number reversals
- Difficulty with written expression
- Need extended time to complete tasks
If you know a child with these symptoms, talk to your doctor and school. Get them help! You can also order the book Handwriting Brain Body DisConnect to learn more about this disability.
For specific questions, go to www.dysgraphiaconsultant.com We are working to help you find answers and understanding #DysgraphiaAwareness. For now, keep #writingitbyhand!
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