What is Dysgraphia?
Texas state law requires districts and charter schools to identify students who have dyslexia and related disorders. TEC §38.003 identifies the following examples of related disorders: developmental auditory imperception, dysphasia, specific developmental dyslexia, developmental dysgraphia, and developmental spelling disability. Recent research in the field of dysgraphia has prompted the addition of the following guidance regarding the evaluation, identification, and provision of services for students with dysgraphia.
Definition and Characteristics of Dysgraphia
the co-existence of poor handwriting with dyslexia was one reason why dysgraphia was called a related disorder. Subsequently, dyslexia and dysgraphia have been found to have diverse co-morbidities, including phonological awareness (Döhla and Heim, 2016). However, dyslexia and dysgraphia are now recognized to be distinct disorders that can exist concurrently or separately. They have different brain mechanisms and identifiable characteristics. Dysgraphia is related to dyslexia as both are language-based disorders. In dyslexia, the impairment is with word-level skills (decoding, word identification, spelling). Dysgraphia is a written language disorder in serial production of strokes to form a handwritten letter. This involves not only motor skills but also language skills— finding, retrieving, and producing letters, which is a subword-level language skill. The impaired handwriting may interfere with spelling and/or composing, but individuals with only dysgraphia do not have difficulty with reading (Berninger, Richards, & Abbott, 2015). A review of recent evidence indicates that dysgraphia is best defined as a neurodevelopmental disorder manifested by illegible and/or inefficient handwriting due to difficulty with letter formation. This difficulty is the result of deficits in graphomotor function (hand movements used for writing) and/or storing and retrieving orthographic codes (letter forms) (Berninger, 2015). Secondary consequences may include problems with spelling and written expression. The difficulty is not solely due to a lack of instruction and is not associated with other developmental or neurological conditions that involve motor impairment.
Some students who struggle with handwriting may have dysgraphia. Dysgraphia may occur alone, or with dyslexia. An assessment for dysgraphia, as it relates to dyslexia, is important to determine whether children need additional explicit, systematic instruction in handwriting only; handwriting and spelling; or handwriting, spelling, and written expression along with word reading and decoding (IDA, 2012).
Dyslexia as defined by the Texas Education Code (TEC) 38.003
Texas Education Code §38.003 (a) requires students to be screened or tested, as appropriate, for dyslexia and related disorders at appropriate times in accordance with a program approved by the SBOE. Screening must occur at the end of the school year of each student in kindergarten and each student in the first grade.
Texas Education Code §38.003 (d) 2.
Texas Education Code §38.003 (d) 2. identifies the following examples of related disorders: developmental auditory imperception, dysphasia, specific developmental dyslexia, developmental dysgraphia, and developmental spelling disability. Recent research in the field of dysgraphia has prompted the addition of the following guidance regarding the evaluation, identification, and provision of services for students with dysgraphia. (The Dyslexia Handbook, 2018, p.102)
Primary Difficulties of Dysgraphia
Primary difficulties of Dysgraphia: Difficulty spelling individual words and composing coherent ideas on paper to express a complete thought (written expression). Writing includes variably shaped and poorly formed letters, excessive erasures and cross-outs, poor spacing between letters and words, letter and number reversals beyond the early stages of writing. Students may exhibit awkward, inconsistent pencil grip, heavy pressure and hand fatigue. Difficulty recalling the starting and stopping points of letter strokes along with an excessively slow, non-automatic letter writing. (Beringer & Wolf, 2009, p.93). Individuals demonstrate differences in the degree of impairment and may not exhibit all the characteristics listed above.
Characteristics of dysgraphia include the following:
- Variably shaped and poorly formed letters
- Excessive erasures and cross-outs
- Poor spacing between letters and words
- Letter and number reversals beyond early stages of writing
- Awkward, inconsistent pencil grip
- Heavy pressure and hand fatigue
- Slow writing and copying with legible or illegible handwriting (Andrews & Lombardino, 2014)
Additional consequences of dysgraphia may also include:
- Difficulty with unedited written spelling
- Low volume of written output as well as problems with other aspects of written expression
Dysgraphia is not:
- Evidence of a damaged motor nervous system
- Part of a developmental disability that has fine motor deficits (e.g., intellectual disability, autism, cerebral palsy)
- Secondary to a medical condition (e.g., meningitis, significant head trauma, brain trauma)
- Association with generalized developmental motor or coordination difficulties (Developmental Coordination Disorder)
- Impaired spelling or written expression with typical handwriting (legibility and rate) (Berninger, 2004)
Dysgraphia can be due to:
- Impaired feedback the brain is receiving from the fingers
- Weaknesses using visual processing to coordinate hand movement and organize the use of space
- Problems with motor planning and sequencing
- Difficulty with storage and retrieval of letter forms (Levine, 1999)