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, maybe seeming like it was written by a much younger child. Difficulties may include pain and fatigue when writing, slowness in writing, illegible or messy handwriting, and spelling errors and reversals, as well as difficulty generating ideas about what to write, and trouble organizing ideas on paper. It may be *possible* for the child to write neatly, but doing so requires undo time and effort (which is not sustainable over a long period of time). A child's discomfort and frustration level may be so great that assignments lead to tears or tantrums. 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 Understanding Dysgraphia -- from the International Dyslexia Association (good description of the types of dysgraphia) Warning Signs of Dysgraphia - from the National Center for Learning Disabilities "A 90 Minute Dysgraphia Evaluation" -- recommendations for professional assessment tools, from LD Online Sensory-Motor Dysgraphia Mis-Diagnosed as Underachievement from the Eide Neurolearning Blog Typical Pencil Grasp Development --from Stoke Speaks Out Pencil Grasp Guidance - photos with descriptions show several good ("Functional") options for properly holding pencil, plus some "Immature" grasps that need changing Common Handwriting Problems and Solutions-- some practicle ideas 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 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 Handwriting Problem Solutions -- advice, suggestions, and consultations -- get professional help with handwriting problems Pencil Grips-- examples of a few options (available form many sources) 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 "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 Dysgraphia -- an online support group Strengthening and Dexterity Activities You can work with your child to help develop fine motor skills, hand strength and finger dexterity. Some possible activities might include -- using large plastic tweezers to sort small items; do daily hand exercises or play games that use the fingers; play with playdoh and modeling clay; and be on the look-out for push-button toys, squeezy things, poppers, shooters, and stretchy toys that might appeal to your child. Fine Motor Exercises to Improve Skills for Handwriting Typing and Keyboarding Resources: Help your dysgraphic child learn to keyboard as soon as possible! You can still work on handwriting (from a penmanship point of view) but do consider giving your child the freedom to type "writing assignments" -- learning composition is hard enough without having to struggle with handwriting at the same time. If your child has too much dificulty learning touch typing (or is adverse to learning it ;-) it is OK to allow your child to develop his own style of hunt and peck or multiple-finger typing -- they can always learn touch typing when they are older, if the need arises. Laptop Program Improves Writing Maine's program to give every middle school student a laptop computer is leading to better writing. Super Kids Software Reviews: Typing Programs -- a nice resource for choosing a program Little Fingers Keyboard -- small size keyboard with built-in trackball mouse, great for K -6th Dance Mat Typing -- a free online tutorial from the BBC, fun and clever, host goat narrates with a Scottish accent Master Gecko's Home Row -- free online typing program with games Mario Teaches Typing 2 -- set up like the Nintendo Mario games, a free demo can be downloaded Read, Write & Type -- a single software combines phonics, reading, writing, typing, spelling and punctuation. Directions are given orally (not a lot of reading involved), kids progress at their own pace, aims to protect self- esteem in vulnerable students who work at a slower pace or tend to make lots of errors 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 with several neat functions,including generating word maps and outlines Microsoft Word Equation Editor -- did you know you can easily type math equations with Word? You just need to install the option (using your install CD) and drag the equation icon to the tool bar! Here are directions on how to do this from Mr. Simonds at Portland Community College. The University of Waterloo provides a video tutorial for using Equation Editor (once you have it installed). Word 2007 also offers Microsoft Math add-in. Related Issues: Handwriting Instruction The Handwriting is on the Wall by Margaret Webb Pressler -- is it really necessary to learn to write by hand? Teaching Left-Handers to Write - from the Handedness Research Inst. Left Hand Writing Skills by Robinswood Press -skills workbooks, CD-Rom 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! |