Q: My child can read, but has difficulty writing. Is it possible my child has dysgraphia and exactly what does that mean?
Answer:
Generally speaking, dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia are closely
related aspects of disability. Dyslexia affects the ability
to learn to read, dysgraphia the ability to process writing,
and dyscalculia affects a child's ability to do mathematical
calculations.
Often a child has difficulty in one or more areas, but typically
one area is notably more severe than the others and that is
where the "primary" disability lies.
Since your child can now read well, I would say.. Yes, it
PROBABLY is dysgraphia. As recommended by Stacy, Handwriting
Without Tears is an excellent program for getting started.
You may also find it beneficial to teach your child keyboarding
skills. Depending on the age, Disney has a "fun" typing program,
and older children like Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. About
15 minutes per day will suffice for advancement, but the work
must be done daily or ground will be lost.
Also, for a child with dysgraphia, it is often difficult for
them to formulate their ideas, organize them in their mind,
then go through the physical process of putting the information
onto paper. It is too much for their brains to process and
hold simultaneously and they loose their thoughts in the process
of trying to write. It is extremely beneficial for learning
to avoid writing during the remedial period. In other words,
write for remediation purposes, but let the child dictate
their answers to other schoolwork requiring writing. The children
can often dictate wonderful ideas, stories, and answers to
questions when writing is taken out of the equation. Thus,
you do not want to slow their learning in all other subject
areas by requiring tedious amounts of writing. Once the child
is remediated, writing will come more readily, but will likely
always be a relatively disliked task.
Hope that helps!
Sandy
http://www.LearningAbledKids.com/