Dysgraphia is a common name given to Developmental Co-ordination Difficulties affecting writing. Unlike dyspraxia which can affect either gross motor or fine motor skills, it affects fine motor skills.
Does your child have spider writing with letters of all shapes and sizes, appearing above and below the line, some joined-up, some printed with a random mixture of CApitAl and loWer-caSE letters? Do they avoid writing or tire easily when writing? Are they unwilling or unable to copy from the board? Do they have an awkward or tense pencil grip? Is their work littered with spelling mistakes?
If you recognise some, or all, of these symptoms in your otherwise fairly bright, articulate child, they may well suffer from developmental co-ordination difficulties.
These children struggle with handwriting, holding a pencil, organising letters on a line, spelling, processing their thoughts and writing them down. It frequently co-occurs with other SpLDs such as dyslexia. Developmental co-ordination difficulties are common at all ages in children and adolescents with ADHD and autism.
The child is quite possibly:
Many also have associated difficulties with directions, spatial awareness and arranging letters or numbers in order.
Providing alternatives to handwriting can help. This could include touch-typing and using voice recognition software such as Dragon Modification – making tasks easier. If homework is tricky suggest to the teacher that you and your child alternate the writing - your child writes a sentence or answers a question, you write down their answer to the next question, they write the next one and so on. Sometimes a sloping desk is helpful, particularly for a child with poor muscle tone.
Help from an occupational therapist (OT)
OTs work with children with DCD to improve posture, muscle tone and strength. Writing is a physical task, so don't be surprised if your child is given hand strengthening exercises. Specialist equipment includes soft-squidgy balls, bands et al, but a tennis ball will often suffice.
Even if your child isn't referred for therapy, there is no reason why you can't try out simple exercises such as squeeze the ball - count to five, release, repeat 10 times, or squeeze thumb and index finger together. Exercises needn't be a chore: make a necklace (threading beads), do a jigsaw, go swimming, throw and catch a ball, play piggy-in-the middle or tennis - all can help.
Examinations
To qualify for help in examinations your child must be assessed by an educational psychologist (EP). The EP report may qualify them for extra time and other concessions in public examinations, such as using a laptop, having a scribe or use of a transcriber.
What matters to your child with special needs or learning difficulties is finding the school that best suits them as an individual and will give them the best chances in life.
A child with a learning difficulty or a learning disability will struggle to acquire new information, they may need help with independence and understanding complex ideas. No two people with learning difficulties are the same.
Need help? Perhaps you suspect your child has some learning difficulty and you would like advice on what you should do. Or perhaps it is becoming clear that your child's current school is not working for him or her, and you need help to find a mainstream school which has better SEN provision, or to find a special school which will best cater for your child's area of need. Our SEN consultancy team advises on both special schools, and the mainstream schools with good SEN support, from reception through to the specialist colleges for 19+. Special Educational Needs Index
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