What are the Warning Signs of Dysgraphia?
Dysgraphia is more than a bad handwriting. It can interfere with a student’s ability to express ideas and become unmotivated. (Deuel, Sheffield, & Hanbury King,2014). It is a processing disorder and develops in younger ages. Such learning disability will then interfere with the automatic use of other skills for written expression and might change throughout a lifetime.
Learners with dysgraphia can be mistaken for laziness, clumsiness, or unmotivated. In fact, dysgraphia is not just the bad hand writing, it can appear with other learning disabilities, especially involving language (Steinbach, 2008). Learners with dysgraphia often become frustrated if the situation is overlooked, however, observing the learner’s writing pattern helps in identifying dysgraphia. Most of the symptoms can be carefully observed and identified. |
Observable Symptoms
- Inconsistency of grip on writing tool (either too tight or too loose)
- Cramping of fingers while writing short entries
- Unusual wrist, arm, body, or paper orientations such as bending an arm into an “L” shape
- Excessive erasures
- Mixed upper case and lower case letters
- Inconsistent form and size or shape of letters
- Inconsistent spacing between letters or words
- Unfinished or omitted letters or words
- Misuse of lines and margins
- Inefficient speed of copying
- Inefficient note taking
- Inattentiveness over details when writing
- Frequent need of verbal cues
- Referring heavily on vision to write
- Poor legibility in printing and cursive writing
- Handwriting abilities that may interfere with spelling and written composition
- Having a hard time translating ideas to writing, sometimes using the wrong words altogether
- May feel pain while writing
- Difficulty pre-visualizing letter formation
Non-observable Symptoms
- Trouble organizing thoughts on paper
- Trouble keeping track of thoughts and writing in the same time
- Difficulty with syntax structure and grammar
- Difficulty translating speech into written form
- Difficulty translating thoughts into writing
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