Dysgraphia

Characteristics of Students with Dysgraphia in the Classroom

“Dysgraphia is a neurological disorder characterized by writing disabilities. Specifically, the disorder causes a person's writing to be distorted or incorrect. In children, the disorder generally emerges when they are first introduced to writing. They make inappropriately sized and spaced letters or write wrong or misspelled words, despite thorough instruction. Children with the disorder may have other learning disabilities; however, they usually have no social or other academic problems. In addition to poor handwriting, dysgraphia is characterized by wrong or odd spelling, and production of words that are not correct (i.e., using "boy" for "child").

How Gow Levels the Playing Field for Students with Dysgraphia

At Gow, the use of assistive technology is widely embraced, and often required by our faculty. We train our students to use the speech to text program during the first week of classes. Students with dysgraphia rely heavily on that during their years at Gow. In our Reconstructive Language classes, faculty focus on teaching cursive writing. Cursive handwriting instruction is so important at Gow because it improves fine motor skills, helps guide students’ eyes from left to right, and makes it easier to differentiate between letters like “b” and “d”.

 
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Dysgraphia Information Page [webpage]. Retrieved from https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/All-Disorders/...