Dysgraphia is a learning disability that affects writing abilities. It can cause difficulties with spelling, handwriting, and putting thoughts on paper. There are several types of dysgraphia including dyslexic dysgraphia, motor dysgraphia, spatial dysgraphia, phonological dysgraphia, and semantic/syntactic dysgraphia. Interventions for dysgraphia focus on building automaticity, using research-based strategies, and implementing classroom techniques like teaching the writing process in steps and providing structured practice and feedback.

2. Dysgraphia:
Dysgraphia is a lifelong learning disability
that affects writing abilities (difficulty in
expressing thoughts in writing).
It is a biologically based disorder with
genetic and brain bases

3. It can manifest itself as:
• difficulties with spelling.
• poor handwriting.
• trouble putting thoughts on paper.
• understanding the relationship between sounds, spoken
words and written letters.
Can result partly from:
Visual- Spatial: trouble processing what the eye sees
Language processing difficulty:
trouble processing and making sense of what the ear
hears

4. • Their handwriting may include reversals ,spelling errors, and
may be illegible.
• have normal levels of intelligence, no problems expressing
themselves verbally
Characteristics of Dysgraphia:
• In dysgraphia, individuals fail to develop normal connections
among different brain regions needed for writing.

5. Signs and symptoms
 Tight, awkward pencil grip and body position
 Trouble forming letter shapes.
 Inconsistent spacing between letters or words.
 Poor understanding of uppercase and lowercase letters.
1- Young Children

6.  Illegible handwriting.
 Mixture of cursive and print writing.
 Saying words out loud while writing.
 Concentrating so hard on writing that comprehension
of what's written is missed.
 Trouble thinking of words to write.
2- School-Age Children

7. • Trouble organizing thoughts on paper.
• Trouble keeping track of thoughts already written down.
• Difficulty with syntax structure and grammar.
• Large gap between written ideas and understanding
demonstrated through speech
3- Teenagers and Adults

8. 1- Dyslexic (processing) Dysgraphia:
- Spontaneously written work: illegible.
- Copied work: good.
- Spelling: bad.
A Dyslexic Dysgraphic does not necessarily have Dyslexia.
Types of Dysgraphia

9. 2- Motor Dysgraphia:
Deficient fine motor skills, poor muscle tone, motor clumsiness.
(Writing is often slanted due to holding a pen or pencil incorrectly).
- Spontaneous work: poor to illegible.
- copied work: poor to illegible.
- Spelling skills: not impaired.

10. Due to a defect in the understanding of space.
often have trouble (keeping their writing on the lines and difficulty
with spacing between words).
- Spontaneously work: illegible.
- Copied work: illegible.
- Spelling: normal.
3- Spatial Dysgraphia

11. writing and spelling disturbances.
(impaired spelling of unfamiliar words, non-words, and
phonetically irregular words).
Individuals are unable to hold phonemes in memory and blend
them in their appropriate sequence to produce the target word
4- Phonological Dysgraphia

12. 5- Semantic/SyntacticDysgraphia:
• An inability to master the rules for grammar which dictate precisely how words
and phrases can be combined.
• misspelling of irregular words.
• This is more common in a language such as English which is less phonetic than a
language such as Arabic or Spanish.
• This type of Dysgraphia is very rare in children.

13. What skills are affected by dysgraphia?
Academic
Fall behind in schoolwork (it takes them so much
longer to write).
- Taking notes is a challenge
- They may avoid writing assignments.
Basic life
skills
fine motor skills may be weak (hard to do everyday
tasks)
- buttoning shirts
- making a simple list.
Social-
emotional
- may feel frustrated about their academic and life
challenges.
- If not identified: they may be criticized as sloppy
or lazy (causing stress).

14. What skills are affected by dysgraphia?
But, the impact on a child’s development varies, depending on the
symptoms & their severity

15. • Speech therapy can play an important role in managing the disorder.
• An SLP can evaluate where the child’s personal weaknesses are in
writing, and help devise strategies to compensate.
• An SLP can also work with classroom teachers to help the child
succeed with his academic work.
Role of speech therapist:

16. Strategies for Dealing with Dysgraphia
Accommodation Modification Remediation
Reduce the
impact writing
has on learning
Change
assignments/expect
ations to meet the
student’s individual
learning needs
Structured re-
teaching of skills
using techniques
to match student's
processing style.
1
32
Compensation
4
using
strategies/aids to
aid a particular
aspect of the task

17. 1- Accommodation:
Reduce the impact writing has on learning or expressing knowledge without
substantially changing the process/ product by changing:
The rate of producing
written work
The volume of the work
to be produced:
The complexity of the
writing task
Example:
Allow more time for
written tasks
Example:
abbreviations in some
writing (such as b/c for
because)
Example:
Break writing into stages
(brainstorming, drafting,
editing, and proofreading,
etc.) and teach students to
do the same

18. 1- Accommodation:

19. 2- Modification:
Change assignments/expectations to meet the student’s individual
learning needs, modifications can include:
The volume of the work to be
produced
The complexity of the writing task
Example:
Reduce length requirements on
written assignments, stressing
quality over quantity.
Example:
Develop cooperative writing projects
where students play different roles
such as the organizer of information,
writer, and illustrator.

20. 3- Remediation:
Use options to provide instruction and opportunity for improving
handwriting
Structured re-teaching of skills using techniques to match student's
processing style.
Example: (air writing to develop a more efficient motor memory for the
sequence of steps necessary in making each letter).

21. 4- Compensation:
• using strategies to aid a particular aspect of the task
• The aim is to allow the student to get around the problem so that they
can focus more completely on the content
encourages good grip
and helps both the
left and right-handed
child to form letters
correctly.
Special
pens: Avoiding written
tasks which can
make the process of
learning easier.
Computer
programs

22. Assess
writing
Assess
cognitive
constructs

23. Components to Assess Writing: Hybrid Model (Baker & Hubbard, 2002)
1- Fluency : measure the number of words written and spelled correctly in a
specified time period.
2- Grammar : take writing sample and informally assess.
3- Vocabulary : take writing sample and assess variety by dividing the number
of different words used by total number of words.
We collect a writing samples: three samples of writing are obtained: a passage of
free composition on a particular topic, a piece of dictation, and a copy of some
printed material

24. 4- Sentence Structure : summarize sentences as being incomplete, simple,
compound, complex, run-on, or fragmented.
5- Conventions :
a- Words spelled correctly
b- Proportion of errors per 100 words
c- Correct writing sequence.
We also have to observe legibility and posture and methods of holding the pen.

25. Cognitive Constructs to Measure:
Attention
Measures
Visual-Motor
Integration
Phonological
Awareness
Skills
Writing and
Spelling
Skills
Working
Memory

26. 2- Attention Measures: three aspects of attention are particularly important while
writing:
• the ability to shift attention inward to the internal world of thoughts and ideas begins
the writing process.
• sustaining attention to task to maintain thoughts.
• focusing attention on relevant information and inhibit distracting thoughts. (Tea-Ch &
CAS tests).
1- Visual-Motor Integration: evaluation of:
• pencil grip
• Fatigue
• motor skill dexterity.

27. 3- Working Memory:
grammatical procedures, maintenance of sentence structures, punctuation,
monitoring spacing between letters and words.
4- Writing and Spelling Skills: Analysis of students’ writing skills factors such as:
• phonological and syntactical awareness skills
• knowledge of punctuation and grammar rules
• sentence structure.
(PAL II and OWLS).
5- Phonological Awareness Skills:
Segmenting, inverting segments, omissions…

28. Automaticity
Research
Based
Classroom
strategies

29. A- Dysgraphia Interventions: Automaticity:
Motor Skills Automaticity: For students with working memory difficulties, or
those who struggle with divided attention. Key interventions:
• Handwriting without tears
• Computer Assistive Technology (Kurzweil Writing System)

30. Spelling Automaticity:
For students with attention difficulties
• Ladders to Literacy
• Road to the Code
Language Automaticity:
Students who lack verbal fluency skills often struggle
• Teaching word classes to facilitate retrieval of words (nouns, verbs… and their types).
• Scaffolding exercises such as “ the missing link” game.

31. Writing Strategies : Specific strategies to promote self regulation and revisionary
practices in writing.
(example: TREE mnemonic where students learn to craft sentences using a Topic
sentence, Reasons to support the topic sentence…).
Key Elements of Writing Instruction: (Graham & Perin, 2007)
B- Research Based Dysgraphia Interventions: (Graham and Perin (2007))
Summarization : Instruction in how to summarize readings, chapters…
Sentence Combining: Instruction in combining simple sentences into longer
and more complex sentences.
Prewriting : Using various planning techniques and graphic organizers before
composing.

32. C- Dysgraphia Intervention: Classroom Strategies:
Five Major Steps of the Written Language Process (Ray, 2001):
1- Prewriting.
2- Drafting: showing students how to translate their planning notes to text using a
model, explicit instruction…
3- Revising: prompting students to check for organization and content errors, in
addition to elaborating on text and making connections to main ideas.
4- Editing: prompting students to check for typical errors (capitalization,
punctuation…).
5- Publishing: use peer assisted strategies and teach students how to appropriately
give and receive constructive feedback.

33. References:
• Book: Dyslexia
• Sites:
• http://www.greatschools.org/special-education/LD-ADHD/860-dysgraphia-learning-disability-writing.gs?page=3
• http://tutoringduluth.com/dysgraphia/
• http://www.ldonline.org/article/5890/
• http://speechassociatesofnewyork.wordpress.com/2013/11/22/what-is-dysgraphia/
• http://www.resourceroom.net/readspell/dysgraphia.asp
• http://www.dyslexiaa2z.com/learning_difficulties/dysgraphia/dysgraphia_handwriting.html
• https://www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/child-learning-disabilities/dysgraphia/understanding-
dysgraphia?utm_source=pinterest&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=understoodorg#item7
• https://www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/child-learning-disabilities/dysgraphia/understanding-
dysgraphia
• http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10709.aspx