Mutterings Of A Mindless Mommy

I first heard the term dysgraphia a few months ago when my mother mentioned it to me.  She is a public school educator and somewhere during her day she heard about dysgraphia and immediately thought of my son.  I looked a little bit at it and thought ‘maybe, maybe-not’ and filed it away for future reference.  Every now and then it would come up and I’d read more about it and think again ‘maybe, maybe-not’.  After a report from Alexander’s teacher today I’m thinking ‘well, maybe.’  As I’ve mentioned previously he is learning above grade level in all subjects except for writing.  His 4th quarter progress report came home and in the writing section it says this “When writing, Alex usually writes with lower case letters and ends his sentences with a period.  However, the wording of his sentences often does not make sense.  Please help Alex focus on what he wants to say and then follow through with the correct sequence of words.”  Hmm…definitely food for thought.

So what, exactly, is dysgraphia?  Dysgraphia is officially a learning disability that affects a person’s writing abilities.  It can manifest in many ways including (but not limited to) trouble putting thoughts on paper, poor handwriting, and problems with spelling.  The National Center for Learning Disabilities has listed the following as warning signs for dysgraphia:

• Tight, awkward pencil grip and body position

• Illegible handwriting

• Avoiding writing or drawing tasks

• Tiring quickly while writing

• Saying words out loud while writing

• Unfinished or omitted words in sentences

• Difficulty organizing thoughts on paper

• Difficulty with syntax structure and grammar

• Large gap between written ideas and understanding demonstrated through speech.

So you can see while I am still only in the ‘maybe’ stage - its hard to measure some of these concepts in a kindergartener.  However as his writing is progressing we are seeing some of these issues manifest.  The ones that pertain to Alexander are pencil grip/posture, avoiding writing/drawing tasks, tiring quickly while writing, saying words out loud while writing, unfinished or omitted words in sentences, and large gap between written ideas and understanding demonstrated through speech.  So right now its hard to determine what would be considered age-appropriate and what would be considered a deficiency.

From the research I’ve done on dysgraphia it looks like an occupational therapist is a good place to start with regards to diagnosing and treating dysgraphia.  I have put a call in to Alexander’s OT to see if she has any experience with it - I figure we’re already seeing her we might as well get her take on the matter if she has knowledge on the subject.  Evidently there are several tests that can aid a professional in determining whether a child has dysgraphia including the Slingerland Screening Tests for Identifying Children with Specific Language Disability and the Test of Early Written Language .

So how does dysgraphia relate to Asperger’s Syndrome?  Dysgraphia is one of the conditions that is seen at an increased rate among children with Asperger’s Syndrome.  Basically its a not-so-uncommon comorbidity.  Is it a comorbidity for Alexander?  Time will only tell.