WELL BEING
A writing disorder
R. ASHOK KUMAR
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Dysgraphia is not just bad handwriting that can be corrected through constant practice.
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PHOTO: S. SIVA SARAVANAN
Bad handwriting?: Early identification is essential.
ABI is an eight year-old boy studying in the third standard in a regular school. He is bright and very active. Although he has excellent verbal skills and most of his work is at the level of his grade, he has to try hard to keep up with his classmates because of his handwriting. It is difficult to read his writing and, in frustration, he often scribbles carelessly. At times, he even avoids writing activities.
These are probably signs of a writing disorder called Dysgraphia.
What is dysgraphia?
Dysgraphia is a learning disorder that affects writing abilities. Children with dysgraphia will have difficulty in putting thoughts down on paper, illegible printing or cursive writing despite appropriate time and attention given to the task, unfinished words or letters, copying or spontaneous writing is slow, excessive use of eraser, complains of pain even during short writing tasks, and letter/word reversals.
Dysgraphia is not just bad handwriting, which can be corrected through training and practice.
Many parents are not aware of dysgraphia. They believe a child's poor handwriting is because they are lazy, careless or lack of effort. This leads parents to apply undue pressure on the child. Unfortunately additional writing practice will not solve this problem.
Children are ready for writing instructions only by the age of six years. So it's not right to diagnose a child as dysgraphic before that stage.
Delay in speech and language development, delay in achieving developmental milestones, and difficulty in learning gross motor activities like running, jumping, catching a ball and fine motor activities like manipulating objects effectively within their hands are some of the warning signs that the child could be at risk for dysgraphia.
Treatment options
Paediatricians, educational psychologists and occupational therapists can help identify it early. Identifying the problem early will help reduce the problem's impact. An occupational therapist can assess and identify the underlying problem areas, which affect the child's writing skills.
Occupational therapists can help the child come out of the problem or reduce the impact and perform better in academics, with use of purposeful therapeutic activities and therapeutic interventions.
Along with intense therapy, some children might need an individualised special education programme. Educational psychologists or educators can help in this regard with a psycho-educational assessment.
With early identification, appropriate professional help, writing difficulties and learning disorders can be dealt with effectively.
What parents can do
Communicate with the child. Understand the child's problem and help reduce the stress on the child.
Talk to the child's teachers about the problem. Help your child schedule his timings, which will help decrease the workload on one day. Relieving stress and building confidence is a major step towards creating a healthy platform.
Overlook their errors initially and praise even the tiniest improvement. Be patient since writing takes time to develop. Therapeutic interventions are slow to show progress.
Do not compare your child with other children. That will make things worse and affect the child's self-esteem.
Symptoms
Dysgraphia is a disroder of written expression defined as "Writing skills (that) ...are substantially below those expected given the person's ... age, measured intelligence, and age-appropriate education." The main symptoms are:
A mixture of upper/lower case letters.
Irregular letter sizes and shapes.
Unfinished letters.
Struggle to use writing to communicate.
Odd writing grip.
Many spelling mistakes
Pain when writing,
Decreased or increased speed of writing
and copying,
Talks to self while writing
General illegibility.
Reluctance to complete writing tasks.
The writer is a Chennai-based Occupational Therapist.
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