What is the difference between dysgraphia and dysgraphia in children?

Dysgraphia in children is one of the most common learning difficulties in children in the early stages of learning to write. Dysgraphia in children appears at a young age. Difficulties in learning to write appear in several forms, including poor handwriting, inability to write on the line, and some may be accompanied by an inability to hold a pen. In this article, we will talk about the problem of dysgraphia in children, the difference between dysgraphia and dysgraphia or dysgraphia, as well as how to treat dysgraphia, activities to treat writing difficulties, and how to apply them with children of different ages.

What is dysgraphia in children?

Dysgraphia in children is a neurological problem that occurs in children when they first start learning to write or in adults after they have suffered head trauma. Dysgraphia may also be accompanied by attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or dyslexia , or the child may only have dysgraphia.

What is the difference between dysgraphia and dysgraphia in children?

Dysgraphia is the most common neurological problem that includes many symptoms, including poor handwriting, writing with a larger than normal font size, trembling of the letters, and the inability to write on the line. Dysgraphia may also be accompanied by an inability to hold the pen properly or without it, but the presence of dysgraphia does not constitute a problem without the presence of other symptoms.

Is the presence of dysgraphia a sure sign of dysgraphia?

The presence of poor handwriting or poor writing alone is not considered evidence of dysgraphia. There are many people who only suffer from the problem of dysgraphia and the inability to read it well, while they do not suffer from any other symptoms of dysgraphia, and therefore they are not diagnosed with dysgraphia. Dysgraphia is also considered a neurological problem, while dysgraphia is not.

What are the symptoms of dysgraphia and dysgraphia in children?

The first symptoms of dysgraphia in children appear in poor handwriting, poor writing and drawing of letters, or not writing them correctly. In addition to the previous symptoms, symptoms of dysgraphia and dysgraphia in children also appear as follows:

• Not leaving enough spaces between letters and words.
• Inability to write on the line correctly.
• Writing in a larger font than normal.
• Writing slowly or less quickly than normal.
• Inability to spell words correctly.
• There are grammatical errors and errors in sentence structure.
• Writing letters upside down.
• Dysgraphia may be accompanied by an inability to transfer writing from a board or books.

Attention must be paid to the symptoms of dysgraphia in children, in order to ensure reaching the correct diagnosis of the problem, and to confirm the presence of other learning difficulties, in order to begin treating writing difficulties or dysgraphia early, and to get the child to the best possible academic level.

How to diagnose dysgraphia in children

Attention must be paid to diagnosing dysgraphia in children in order to begin treatment and search for activities to treat writing difficulties , and include the child in them, as well as to guide the children’s teachers and parents on the correct way to deal with the child. The method of diagnosing dysgraphia in children is as follows:

• Taking the child's family medical history, and investigating the possibility that the problem exists in one of the family members.
• Checking for other learning difficulties such as ADHD , autism , or dyslexia, as dysgraphia is often accompanied by dyslexia, and dysgraphia is often present in the presence of other learning difficulties.
• Conducting tests to measure the writing speed and method of writing, in order to determine the progress of the condition, and also to determine the type of dysgraphia the child has.
• Asking about the child’s academic level, his progress in school, and his different abilities compared to his peers.

Treatment of dysgraphia or dysgraphia in children

As mentioned earlier, an urgent diagnosis of dysgraphia in children helps in starting a dysgraphia treatment plan early, thus helping the child to progress academically, and ensuring that he avoids psychological problems that may occur as a result of this problem, such as the child feeling discriminated against, or feeling oppressed by pressure from teachers. The dysgraphia treatment plan also includes including the family and teachers at school in this plan, and the treatment plan must include activities to treat writing difficulties, due to the diversity of treatment methods and approaches. The dysgraphia treatment plan is developed by doctors and psychological specialists.

How to treat dysgraphia in children

• Giving a child with this problem extra time to write homework, copy writing from the board, or complete tests that require a lot of writing also gives him some self-confidence that helps him improve.
• Give the child more practice in writing, and help him read what he writes, as this works to correct the child’s spelling and helps him write words that are grammatically and orthographically correct.
• Providing tools that may help the child improve the quality of handwriting and improve pen grip, such as easy-to-grip pens and papers with appropriate spacing between lines.
• Teaching the child the correct sitting position and how to do it, as the correct sitting position helps improve handwriting and supports the writing method.
• Reducing writing-based assignments and replacing them with electronic assignments, or replacing assignments that are transferred with pre-printed assignments.
• Provide continuous support and encouragement to the child, and give appropriate rewards for every progress he makes.
• Be patient, as it requires continuous and ongoing training for long periods of time in most cases until the child reaches a good academic level.

Activities to treat dysgraphia in children

Treating dysgraphia without writing difficulties requires continuous writing training, which is helped by the following activities:

• The presence of books that teach how to draw letters, such as books that contain dotted letters.
• A child can be taught how to improve his handwriting through books and lessons that teach the art of writing in different fonts.
• Use applications that contain dotted letters, which teach how to draw letters correctly.

Read more about: 5 activities to train your child to write

Activities to treat writing difficulties in children

There are many activities that can be done to treat dysgraphia or writing difficulties in children. Examples of these activities include the following:

• Using electronic applications that help teach reading and writing, in which the child can write letters and color them, and the application can also correct the child and read the words he writes.
• Make models of letters out of cardboard, foam, or clay, especially letters that the child has difficulty writing, and cut them out and color them.
• Use educational books that contain letters to color.
• Training on different story collections, which contain short stories. These books help develop the child’s reading and writing skills in general.
• Teaching the child to pronounce what he writes helps him practice writing letters correctly in spelling.
• Teach your child how to form sentences by creating a story out of simple sentences to give your child a way to form sentences correctly.

Treating dysgraphia requires more patience and working on improving the writing method through direct training on writing in the classroom, in addition to activities to treat various writing difficulties in children in the classroom or at home, in order to bring the child’s academic level to the best possible academic level, and help him enhance his self-confidence and develop his various skills.

The School Academy.com provides courses and consultations in the field of learning difficulties. These courses are presented by a group of the most skilled psychological specialists. The courses and consultations are also online, which provides freedom in choosing the appropriate time for you. These consultations help you determine the best way to deal with your child who suffers from learning difficulties, and how to help him in the best way to reach the best possible academic level.