Dysgraphia

sorry about the typos ans bluntess in my post…had hubby hurrying me. :)

Being blunt is good. Fakery never got you anywhere worth going.

The word was not in common use for us, but both I (age 51) and my daughter (age 20) have all the symptoms of dysgraphia. Although well-taught, we learned to write four or five years after we learned how to read. (Very frustrating for our parents and teachers! Luckily we had at least mostly patient people who realized we were learning even if we couldn’t always get it on paper.) In our case it’s certainly genetic; our hands develop physically very slowly. When she was fifteen, she was buying clothing in the ladies’ department, shoes in the men’s, and gloves in the little kids’.

The story about the map sounds VERY familiar.
Elsewhere on this board there is a long discussion about homework; I point out repeatedly that as a student I didn’t hand in much, and neither did my daughter. After you kill yourself to do it and get ripped to shreds because it’s not pretty enough, you really lose whatever motivation you ever had. Especially if you already know the work and the homework is just a ritual for no learning purpose.

Yes, this CAN be treated and remediated. It is a very very bad thing to just let it go; he may want to do something with his hands when he grows up, anything from boat-building to surgery, and he will thank you for helping him learn coordination.

What works is a combination of good old-fashioned teaching with lots and lots of patience and repetition, and an objective look at your goals and the tools you use to get there.

Speaking of repetition, what I’m writing here I’ve posted five or six times before, but if it helps, OK I’ll repeat myself.

(0) This really works, and is proven to work. It worked for me, it worked for my daughter, it worked for my students with Kleinfelter’s Syndrome, and it’s slowly, slowly working for my present student with intractable dyslexia.
Like anything else worth doing, it requires those three dirty littly four-letter words, hard work and time.
(1) Throw out the yellow pencils. They are just lousy writing tools. Pencil requires simultaneous pressure with fine muscle movements, a very difficult and fatiguing contradiction for all children and a disaster for anyone with a coordination difficulty. There is NO eleventh commandment “Thou must write in pencil”, NO, not even in math!
Get tools that require *no pressure at all*. My third-grade teacher who finally taught me to write (Bless you Mrs, Ross) made us use dip pens and inkwells. As she said, if you make a mistake, you’ll know it.
Modern technology that really helps includes whiteboards and wipe-off markers, reams of cheap clean white paper and water-based markers, and later rolling writers. Fountain pens are great later too — no pressure and cool appearance.
Speaking of paper, remember the mantra: I am not garbage, my student/chbild is not garbage, my class is not garbage, and our work is not garbage. Use clean, fresh, new paper at all times. Start with something that at least has a chance of looking good when finished. Starting with garbage tells you where you’ll end up.
Workbooks can be cut into individual pages, put in plastic sheet protectors, and replaces in a duotang three-prong folder or a binder. Then they can be practiced over and over again as wipe-off books. This is especially good for handwriting practice.
(2) The traditional “correct” pen grip in two fingers is difficult to impossible for some people. I personaly hold the pen between my index and second finger — but that doesn’t stop me doing calligraphy and miniature watercolours.
*However* make very sure that the pen is held forward of the hand, not twisted around underneath in a “hook”, not even for left-handers. The “hook” stresses the wrist and makes smooth flowing motion impossible.
Make sure that the student can move the arm and hand freely over the page. Postures of leaning on the desk etc. simply prevent this free motion and guarantee frustration. Changing habits is difficult and may take a year of work, but do it now before he’s an adult with twenty years of bad habits to correct.
Practice on the whiteboard or unlined paper making LARGE circles *counterclockwise*, going over and over the circle moving the hand freely. Practice making ling quick lines top to bottom, zip zip zip smooth and quickly. Practice up and down zigzags zip-zip-zip, and connected “waves: and “bumps”, all smooth and quickly, moving freely.
(3) The rules for forming letters are simple and logical: we write from left to right and from top to bottom, and we try to keep a flow going for both speed and even formation. (a) The left side of the letter is formed first and the right side last, so you can move steadily ahead to the next letter. If you *enter* a letter on a circle or curve, as in a,c,e,d,f,g,q,s, then the curve moves to the *left* or *counterclockwise*, so you go down the left side first and finish up on the right. (b) Main vertical strokes are made top to bottom. Letters such as b,f,h,j,k,l,m,n,p,r,t, are made with a with a vertical down stroke. Letters such as v,w,x are made with a diagonal down stroke. (c) Reduce pen lifts to the minimum. Even in printing, use a semi-cursive style where each form flows into the next. For example w is down-up-down-up, NOT four downstrokes; d (one of the problem letters) is *circle first* (left to right rule) counterclockwise (if this is done correctly you end up moving upwards on the right side of the circle), slide up to the top line, and then a strong downstroke to finish. Note that properly made b and d are totally different kinesthetically, so this avoids the whole b-d confusion if taught correctly.
Get a good letter formation guide (I use the inside back poage of the OLD Ladybird workbook — can mail you a copy if you’re patient). Follow it rigorously.
If you don’t write like this yourself, it’s worthwhile to retrain yourself. I personally changed several letter formations after age 40; it takes a couple of hours of practice spread over two or three days to teach yourself the new habit, and a few weeks of reminding yourslef to use it, and then it feels natural.
(4) Teach one letter a day and practice and practice it, writing several lines for practice (the piano-playing and hockey scoring rule — practice makes perfect, and practice it right. Never practice a mistake.) Then do a few words using only the letters already learned, eg Day 1 learn t, day 2 learn i and write “it”, Day 3 learn l and write “ill” and “till” and “lit”, and so on. Teach letters by groups — first straight letters like i, l,t; then zigzags like w, v, x (both strokes *down*), k (all stokes *down*), z; then bumps like m,n,r, h; then cups like u,j, and script-like y (better than straight-line y which turns into x); then circle-first like a,c,d,e,f,g,o,q,s; then the *end*-circle clockwise b and p.
At first, write the letters very large on unlined paper or whiteboard, just to get smooth motions and a kinesthetic feel for the shape of the letter. Then draw large lines (half an inch to an inch apart) on the letter or whiteboard to guide the positioning of the letters. (if you use regular non-erasable markers on the whiteboard, the lines will stay when you erase the practice writing.) IF the student is in control of the shape and motion, you can move down to two lines high on regular paper (using the line in the middle for height guidance) but do NOT rush small writing. Personally I didn’t master small writing until after age 12, and I was an honour student and now do calligraphy and miniature watercolours; whereas a lot of kids hurried into writing small are still dysgraphic as adults.
Then review by positioning — tall letters from the top line to the bottom line b,d,f,h,k,l,t; short letters from the middle line to the bottom line a,c,e,i,m,n,o,r,s,u,v,w,x,z; “tail” letters hanging *under* the bottom line g,j,p,q,y (preferably script-like).

Note that at a rate of one letter a day and teaching each letter and reviewing it, you have a little over two months; work here. OK, so after three months, giving yourself a few days off and some review, you will have very much better control over the writing. It’s an investment of thirty minutes a day for three months, but hey, it’s a lifetieme of being able to write and do oither fine coordination work. Slow but steady.

After learning the letters in isolation, practice words. You can use words from reading or spelling words; just practice two or three writing words a day, each one over several times until the writing is under control.

NOTE: this is coaching a physical skill for improvement. NOT testing and punishment. If he does something wrong, erase it off the whiteboard or crumple up the paper and throw it out, and try again. If he over-erases on the whiteboard, move to paper and discourage erasing (a waste of time and actively negative learning. It’s not an erasing class, it’s a writing calss.) The idea of everything being perfect and erasing and erasing just produces filthy over-erased paper that looks like used Kleenex; it doesn’t teach anyone a skill. This is another reason to throw out the yellow pencils and buying a few reams of paper. Small mistakes can be written over or crossed out, and it is NOT a sin. Large errors can be pitched and re-done. Simple, easy, and non-punitive, non-frustrating.

You’ll also note I’ve only mentioned the lower-case here, and not the capitals. Exactly. Over 95% of what you read and write is lower-case. Capitals can wait. If necessary, they can wait a year or two. He can do pretty well on most writing assignments by writing the lower-case bigger to be a capital for now.
When lower-case is smooth and under control, do capitals the same way; same directionality rules.

(5) Now, here’s another big payoff. If you’ve done a nice free-flowing motion and you’ve done the consistent letter formations above, bingo — you’ve got cursive. This form of printing changes to cursive by simply not lifting the pen between letters. Honest — try it.
OK, it isn’t Mrs. Smith’s fancy curlicue cursive you were taught in Grade 5, but who cares? It’s *more* readable, and teachers will welcome a clear readable writing.
Cursive capitals can wait a long time. My daughter was in Grade 6 before she even attempted them. Teachers will accept cursive with print capitals, especially if you slope them and make the look more cursive-like.

Email me for more details and help as needed.

I sympathize—my son has a terrible handwriting as well. IEP is Individual Education Plan—State and Federal Laws apply here. The school must have him evaluated and write a plan with accomodations for him to be served with special ed services. My son has been in it for two years—starting out in reading in first grade and he tested out of reading this year, but he tested in in math and written language—I know what dysgraphia is and you are already using strategies that will help your child. Be his scribe—let him dictate the work to you—what does it matter if he gets the answers right? Consider letting him tape record it. There are many strategies out there and many people/resources who can help. let him work on the computer at home and at school. good luck to you.

Kelli,

A few programs that might help include, handwriting without tears and callirobics. www.callirobics.com

It sounds like there might be more going on. You might want to look at sensory integration issues.

My son has sensory integration. It affects his handwriting and definitely did affect things like catching a ball (this may be bilateral motor issue.) He also needs a certain amount of physical movement. If he is asked to sit for long periods he used to fidget.
My son also understands way more than he can communicate on paper. It is really difficult at times to make the school understand this.

I have seen a big improvement in these issues after interactive metronome. It has improved coordination issues, sequencing issues and he is just a little bit more together in alot of ways. He doesn’t really fidget anymore. It really hasn’t made a huge change in handwriting but his handwriting had already improved from handwriting without tears and occupational therapy.

Thank you so much for your responses. I like the plastic sheet covers for wipe away homework. That’s a fantastic Idea. Posting this I can’t remember all the advice, that one stuck out in my mind. I’m copying and pasting all your replies in word so I can print them and try them. I worry so much about this and I’m brought to tears at the idea that without proper help and full knowledge of his problems we will be doing him an injustice. He’s so talented and gifted and a sensative kid that it kills me to see him get so angry and put up a tough guy act to cover what he’s really feeling. I’ve even been told he just wants to start fights and is a troublemaker, yet never one time in all his detentions and suspensions were they for starting fights. they were all for disrespect to his teacher (after he was convinced she hated him) and for not being able to cooperate in class, disruppting class and not staying in his seat. I’m reaching for anything and everything I can right now to help him so you don’t know how good it feels to talk to other people who truly understand. Right now it’s just me and him. no one else around us understand or even believe what we say for that matter. My husband works so much and commutes out of town he just doesn’t have the physical energy or time to help like I need him to. Thankfully he’s a shoulder to cry on and I’m not sure who I would turn to for support. but other than that I’m the one fighting for him and haven’t had anyone else to talk to about it. I’m rambling now I know, but it’s such a heavy weight to carry and after reading your posts I really feel I have somewhere to go.

Thank you very much!
Kelli

That was the swimming coach’s dogma and I refer to it often and well!

Kelli, I believe you need to ask the school to do an OT evaluation on your son. My daughter receives OT both private and public. She began in 2nd grade b/c her writing was so bad it was illegible, small and large letters, all over the page, not on the line, etc.

We pay $45 /30 min for private OT, but now her writing is better than most of the other 4th graders. Unfortunately, she has other issues and so writing continues to be a slow process. There are all kinds of AT for your son to use as well, beginning with an Alpha Smart. This will enable him to produce work he can be proud of while his OT works on his handwriting.

I agree with Victoria re: the yellow pencils. The big pens (PhD and e-grip(I think) are excellent and much more “comfortable” for my daughter. They cost about $6-7 each. They are mechanical pencils and have pens as well.

Dysgraphia is caused oftentimes by a visual motor and fine motor combination problem. A good OT can work on these areas. I would not be satisfied with the way things are. Our OT used Handwriting without Tears, both private and public.
Good luck