Dysgraphia, or difficulties with writing, is - apart from dyslexia and dysorthography - a frequent cause of problems at school. So if a child has illegible handwriting, gets tired of writing very quickly, and in addition does not like to paint or draw, it is necessary to consult a specialist to rule out this disorder. Find out what are the causes and other symptoms of dysgraphia and what is its treatment.

Dysgraphyis a partial or complete loss of the ability to write graphically correctly. As a consequence, the handwriting of a person with dysgraphia is illegible. It should be noted that the specificwriting problemsare not related to the intellectual development of the child. People with dysgraphia do not have any deficits in this regard. Development is also correct in all other respects.

Dysgraphia - causes

Dysgraphia can result from damage to the part of the brain responsible for mastering writing skills. Other neurological disorders include disorders of the auditory functions (then there are problems in interpreting the information heard) and the visual ones (the consequence is a decrease in visual memory and the ability to analyze visual analysis).

Dysgraphy may also be caused by hand disorders: too much muscle tension (so-called muscle tonus), especially of the fingers and wrist, incorrect writing grip (then the child holds the pen incorrectly in the hand) or permanent, incorrect technique-related habit writing.

Also neglect in education and disorders in the child's development (e.g. motor neuroses, psychomotor hyperactivity, speech disorders) may cause dysgraphia.

Dysgraphia - symptoms

A characteristic symptom of dysgraphia is illegible writing, which is the result of writing letters:

  • inaccurately reproduced, misshapen;
  • unevenly inclined from the vertical;
  • of various sizes within one word;
  • "trembling", with an uncertain line;
  • devoid of graphic elements - diacritics (as well as punctuation marks - periods, commas, dashes - within the text);
  • not fitting in lines;

If, in addition to the ugly handwriting, the child also develops symptoms such asincorrect, tightly holding a pen, folding pages while writing, reluctance to paint or write, and getting tired quickly while writing, you can be sure of dysgraphia.

In turn, adults have problems with transferring thoughts to paper, as well as with grammar and syntax. In addition, writing is more difficult than speaking.

Dysgraphia - types

In addition, there are three types of dysgraphia, which also appear:

Spatial Dysgraphy

  • there are no spelling errors in the written text;
  • difficulties arise when rewriting / copying another text;
  • drawing problems occur;

Dysgraphy of dyslexia

  • a huge number of spelling errors appear;
  • sounds at the end of a word become voiceless (written as you hear them);
  • rewriting and copying other texts is done flawlessly;
  • no drawing problems;

Motor Dysgraphy

  • the rewritten text contains a lot of errors;
  • no problems with writing dictated text;
  • drawing problems occur;

Dysgraphia - treatment. Sample writing exercises

The solution to problems with dysgraphy are special exercises, during which you will need not only a pen and a sheet of paper, but also colored paper, crayons, markers, paints and plasticine. This will make the exercises less stressful and more interesting for your child.

1. Drawing the so-called Lazy Eights - Using your hands to trace large, free, eight-shaped movements through the air. 2. Drawing large, free movements (not necessarily eights) on paper with crayons, markers, a brush, and even a finger previously dipped in paint. 3. Redrawing from templates. At the beginning, they can be templates cut from cardboard, e.g. in the shape of a heart, leaf or tree. Later, you can use plastic letter and number templates. 4. Thickening contour pictures with markers, crayons, a brush dipped in paint (e.g. in coloring books) 5. Alternately painting over any (sheet of paper, large cardboard) and specific (e.g. square, circle) space 6. Drawing patterns in the notebook so that they do not go beyond the line. The lines can also contain letters. 7. Copying drawings. At the beginning, you can help yourself with tracing paper. However, you should try to restore the image from memory later. 8. Connecting selected points with a continuous line. Finally, the outline of the specific pattern should be created. 9. Complete templates with letters of the alphabet 10. Connectionpictures with relevant concepts. Draw some objects on a piece of paper, e.g. sun, flower, Christmas tree, and write their names underneath. Then ask the child to combine the picture with a matching name, and then to color it (paint over a specific space). By combining words with pictures, children learn to sign objects correctly.

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