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Dysgraphia: The Symptoms and Causes of Dysgraphia

The word dysgraphia was coined from the Greek words dys meaning ill or difficult and graphein meaning to write, and is used to describe a severe problem with handwriting. Synonyms for dysgraphia include motor agraphia, developmental motor agraphia, special writing disability, specific handwriting disability, specific learning disability in handwriting. The problem is characterized by the following symptoms: 

• Generally illegible writing.
• Letter inconsistencies.
• Mixture of upper/lower case letters or print/cursive letters.
• Irregular letter sizes and shapes.
• Unfinished letters.
• Struggle to use writing as a communicative tool.

Man is unique in his ability to communicate ideas in symbolic language, and for centuries writing has been an important method of communication. Even in these days of self-correcting typewriters and the magic of computer word processing, written communication is a necessary competency. In school, it is the usual medium through which students convey to teachers what they have learned. In many situations, adults also find writing a necessity that they cannot avoid. For a person with dysgraphia, writing can therefore be an uphill battle. 

The Underlying Shortcomings

As early as 1896 Baldwin noted that human learning is a stratified process. This implies that certain skills have to be mastered first, before it becomes possible to master subsequent skills. One has to learn to count before it becomes possible to learn to add and subtract. In the same way, there are skills that a child must have mastered first, before he or she will be proficient in handwriting. Unless these underlying shortcomings are addressed first, the child’s handwriting will not improve.

In her book Learning Disabilities: Theories, Diagnosis, and Teaching Strategies, Janet Lerner states that some of the underlying shortcomings that interfere with handwriting     performance are (1.) poor motors skills, (2) faulty visual perception of letters and words, and (3.) difficulty in retaining visual impressions. The student’s problem may also be in cross-modal transfer from the visual to motor modalities.  

The Audiblox program addresses all the above-mentioned skills: It automates visual perception, improves visual memory, addresses motor skills, and teaches sensory-motor integration. In this way dysgraphia can be overcome ― and prevented! 

Pilot Study 

In November 2001 an Audiblox pilot study commenced at Trinity CE Junior School in Keswick, a small town in Cumbria, UK. Eleven children, with an average age of 9 years and 9 months, at the time the poorest readers in the school, and generally behind in all other areas, were selected for the study. An abbreviated version of the complete Audiblox program for classroom use, of which the training is video-based, was used as the method of intervention. This abbreviated program addresses the skills of visual perception, memory, and sensory-motor integration, but does not address motor skills. (Please note: This abbreviated version is no longer available.) 

Four times per week, for half an hour before school, these children attended the lessons. When the study ended a few days before Good Friday in 2002, a total of 56 half-hour lessons had been conducted. 

At the end of the pilot study the parents were sent a questionnaire and asked to judge their children's progress in various areas on a 5-point scale, “1” indicating no improvement and “5” indicating an astounding improvement. Areas that had to be judged were reading fluency, reading comprehension, willingness to read, enjoyment of reading, attitude to homework, ability to concentrate, spelling, handwriting, memory and self-confidence. Below are the average scores that were allocated to the various areas: 

The Audiblox class at Trinity CE Junior School in Keswick

Group tutoring/classroom tutoring: While the skills of visual perception, visual memory, and sensory-motor integration are addressed during Audiblox group classes, exercises to develop motor skills should be given as homework whenever a child has a handwriting problem. Exercises for homework include the Paper Crumpling exercises and the Beanbags exercises.

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