Think back to when you were in elementary school and learning to write the small letter "a" for the first time. Neurologically, your eyes had to focus on the blackboard to see the letter and then transfer that image to the brain's occipital lobe. Your brain's parietal lobe interpreted this visual signal in addition to interpreting and understanding your teacher's verbal instructions. Your temporal lobe interpreted the symbol as the letter "a" and started to memorize the meaning, sound and shape of the letter. All this information was then transferred to your frontal lobe, where your arm, hand and finger movements would be controlled.
In addition to being mentally prepared, you had to master the physical mechanics of writing. You had to hold the pencil correctly between the thumb and forefinger, and use the remainder of your hand to balance the pencil. Your wrist and hand had be loose enough to smoothly move the pencil across the paper, but not so loose that the pencil slipped from your grasp. You also had to hold the pencil at the proper angle in order to form the letters correctly.
At your teacher's command, your mind and body came together and you wrote your first letter. At first, your writing was slow and the letters malformed, but with each practice session, your writing improved and it took less time to master new letters.
Dysgraphia occurs when something in this intricate process goes wrong.
Dysgraphia is a learning disability that's first noticed in children when they begin learning to write. But having bad handwriting in and of itself does not necessarily mean a child has dysgraphia. Some people, noticeably doctors and other health care professionals, simply have bad handwriting. What sets dysgraphia apart from poor handwriting is that no matter how hard a child tries, his or her handwriting does not improve.
Dysgraphia is broken down into three categories: dyslexic dysgraphia, motor dysgraphia and spatial dysgraphia. Each category has unique symptoms medical experts look at to determine if a child suffers from dysgraphia.
A child afflicted with dyslexic dysgraphia will have numerous spelling and punctuation errors, or omit entire syllables. The child may switch letters, such as writing a "b" instead of a "d". Numbering may be out of sequence or distorted. The child may mix cursive letters with printed letters. The child may also substitute words, such as writing boy' for girl', or have difficulty expressing his or her thoughts into words.
In the second category, motor dysgraphia sufferers exhibit physical symptoms. They may lack the fine motor coordination needed to correctly form and space letters. They may have poor dexterity or muscle tone. The child may hold the pencil at an odd angle, or position the paper oddly in an effort to achieve the correct letter slant. The letters may be partially or poorly formed. The writing process is slow and very labored. The child may experience physical pain while writing.
For the third category, spatial dysgraphia, the child's handwriting is outside the margins or oddly placed on a page. There are inconsistent spaces or missing spaces between letters or words.
The causes for childhood dysgraphia are still being understood. Unlike adults, where a stroke, disease or head trauma are primarily responsible for adult dysgraphia, there are numerous reasons for childhood dysgraphia. Brain injuries, birth defects or severe trauma are not the main reasons for childhood dysgraphia. Identified causes include malfunctions between the various brain lobes, an inability of the motor function and mental process involved in writing to work together, an inability to visualize letters, an inability to remember how to form letters, and motor inability to correctly form letters.
Children suffering with dysgraphia will also experience emotional and mental anguish in addition to the intellectual difficulties associated with learning disabilities. "All the other kids in my class can writewhy can't I? What's wrong with me? I must be stupid." Going to school becomes an exercise in frustration and humiliation. The child will be singled out as slow in class and may endure endless rounds of teasing and name-calling.
It takes a trained professional to accurately determine if a child suffers from dysgraphia and to design a proper course of treatment. The first step is to let the child know that there is absolutely nothing wrong with him or her. Dysgraphia is a learning disability and the child has no control over it. With proper diagnosis and treatment, the healing can begin and the child take his or her rightful place in the classroom.