Dysgraphia – More Than Just Bad Handwriting

Recently a parent asked the following question: “My child’s handwriting is awful!  But I guess they will just be mostly typing for thier school assignments, so does it really matter?”   The answer: YES!

Even in our age of technology, current research into brain development show that the act of learning handwriting can enhance many of our brain’s networks, including visual perception and our motor cortext.  In essence, this helps different areas of our brain to create connections with each other.  The stronger these connections, the more likely a child is to be a strong speller, writer and reader. (James & Gauthier, 2006; Longcamp et. al., 2003)

Dysgraphia is a disconnect of these brain regions and impairs a student’s ability to form written letters and/or written spellling patterns.  Students can find writing slow and laborious because they have difficuty planning sequential finger movements, and/or thier ability to remember common spelling patterns (orthography) is inconsistent. Also, dysgraphia can be a stand-alone issue, or occurr in conjunction with dyselxia and/or specific language impairments. (https://dyslexiaida.org/understanding-dysgraphia/)

Help for dysgraphia includes multisensory, structured lessons to address the fine motor skill development needed to formulate letters correctly, and then also instruction in scientific spelling methods to develop memory for the different patterns.  With regular lesson and carefully crafted practice, students can learn to be automatic writers and spellers!  As a very wise teacher, Beth H. Slingerland, once said, “Speed is not the road to success.  Careful practice is the road to speed.” 

Contact us today for a free consultaiton about our dysgraphia/scientific spelling programs.