| Copyright 2006 Julie Shepherd Knapp |
| Copyright 2006 Julie Shepherd Knapp. All rights reserved. |
| about the book |
| The Homeschool Diner's Guide to Homeschooling Special Situations Learning Disabilities Homeschooling a Child with Dysgraphia aka Disorder of Written Expression aka Graphomotor Disability aka Written Output Disability by Julie Shepherd Knapp, copyright 2006 Dysgraphia is a processing disorder that makes it hard for a child to use a pencil or pen and may interfere with a child's ability to put his or her thoughts and ideas on paper. As a result, the child typically produces written work well below his or her cognitive level and seems like it was written by a much younger child. Difficulties may include pain and fatigue when writing, slowness, illegible or messy handwriting, spelling errors and reversals, difficulty generating ideas about what to write, and trouble organizing ideas on paper. If you're already familiar with Dsygraphia and are looking for practical homeschool suggestions, check out : Homeschooling Reluctant Writers and Kids Who Hate to Write Learn More About Dysgraphia What is Dysgraphia? -- the Center for Development and Leaning Dysgraphia and Writing Problems from The Mislabeled Child website Types of Dysgraphia -- from the International Dyslexia Association [click on Fact Sheets, then scroll down to Dysgraphia (#82), then click "Cancel" on the registration pop-up ] Warning Signs of Dysgraphia - from the National Center for Learning Disabilities "A 90 Minute Dysgraphia Evaluation" -- recommendations for professional assessment tools, from LD Online Scored Writing Samples -- for grades 3, 5, 6, and 8 -- four types of writing are analyzed for various elements and scored from low quality to high quality, with explanations and comments, useful as a sample of typical work at different grade levels. Accommodation and Support Strategies for classroom accommodation of dysgraphia -- from LD Online, very common sense suggestions easily adaptable to homeschooling Dysgraphia description and strategies from the University of West Virginia Dysgraphia Compensating Strategies from Mark Le Messurier Assistive technology for dysgraphia and other disabilities -- from LD Online StyleWriter software -- a word processing add-on that flags poor writing, gives suggestions to improve writing style. Make Beliefs Comix! -- free online comic-maker, choose from several pre- made characters, choose the mood of the character (happy, sad, mad, surprised), and type words into "bubbles" to make a comic/story Dysgraphia -- an online support group "Handwriting Solutions - Equipment, Teaching Strategies and Educational Resource Recommendations for Kids with Writing Disabilities" by Sue Ramin-Hutchison and Merri Domer, -- a guidance book for parents and schools (scroll to bottom). Phone consultations, too. Therapro -- lots of products for handwriting and fine motor development Therapy Shoppe -- lots of products to make writing more comfortable and to help with pencil grasp, posture, word spacing, line placement, etc Typing and Keyboarding Resources: Laptop Program Improves Writing Maine's program to give every middle school student a laptop computer is leading to better writing. Kurzweil 3000 -- software that (among many other features) allows worksheets, pages of textbooks, and tests to be scanned... students can then type answers and print out their finished work. Features allow students to answer T/F, multiple choice, ans essay questions, they can also draw lines to the answers, highlight and write notes on the sheets, etc. Inspiration and Kidspiration software -- aides students in organizing thoughts for essays and reports witrh several neat functions,including generating word maps and outlines Dance Mat Typing -- a free online tutorial from the BBC, fun and clever, host goat narrates with a Scottish accent Mario Teaches Typing 2 -- set up like the Nintendo Mario games, a free demo can be downloaded Super Kids Software Reviews: Typing Programs -- a nice resource for choosing a program Related Issues: Handwriting Instruction Occupational Therapy in Educational Settings -- AOTA Fact Sheet describing how OT can help school aged children, OT can be very helpful for children with dysgraphia by correcting an inefficient pencil grasp, and designing an exercise plan to strengthen hand muscles, improve dexterity Dysgraphia: How It Affects A Student’s Performance and What Can Be Done About It by Alyssa L. Crouch and Jennifer J. Jakubecy -- a teacher works with a child on handwriting to see if drill and repetition helps... improvement is seen, but does not extend to classroom writing, improvement is mainly seen in execution of the target practice sentence Look for resources that make writing assignments more fun Dyslexia is sometimes linked with handwriting problems Help your student find a good system for taking notes from lectures Shoe tying is another fine motor skill that can give kids trouble -- check out this alternative way to tie laces, and laces that don't need tying at all! |