Dysgraphia
in Baton Rouge, LA
Children with dysgraphia can struggle with handwriting and have difficulty expressing their thoughts on paper, which can affect their academic performance, self-esteem, and future success. But you may be surprised to learn that dysgraphia can be a symptom of a different condition. Keep reading to learn more about this dysgraphia, what can cause it, and how our team at Dynamic Therapy Specialists can empower your child to master written expression.
What Is Dysgraphia?
Dysgraphia is a learning disorder that affects a child’s ability to write coherently and legibly. It can include struggles with spelling, grammar, and organizing thoughts on paper. This condition is typically caused by differences in how the brain coordinates the actions needed to write.
Signs of Dysgraphia
Recognizing the signs of dysgraphia early is essential for effective intervention. Common signs and symptoms of dysgraphia in children may include:
- Messy or illegible handwriting
- Difficulty forming letters or numbers
- Inconsistent spacing between words or letters
- Poor spelling and grammar in written work
- Reversing the direction of letters or numbers
- Trouble writing evenly (in a straight line)
- Frustration when writing
What Can Cause Dysgraphia?
While dysgraphia can be a correct diagnosis, it can sometimes be a symptom of an underlying developmental delay or disorder. The act of writing your thoughts down on paper may seem simple, but it’s actually a complex activity that requires a ton of basic skills such as:
- Fine motor control to manipulate the pencil
- Memory to recall how to spell words
- Spatial awareness to write words clearly
- Organization to present thoughts clearly in writing
- Visual perception to copy letters and words when learning to write
- Visual discrimination to see the differences between similar shapes like “d” and “b”
- Hand-eye coordination to put the pencil to paper and write
A delay or struggle with any of these skills can lead to writing challenges that look like dysgraphia. For example, unintegrated reflexes can affect any of the skills required for writing. Children with unintegrated reflexes can perform the same actions as their peers, but they often have to work twice as hard to focus, remember, and perform actions that should be muscle memory.
How We Address Dysgraphia
At Dynamic Therapy Specialists, we take a holistic approach to pediatric therapy. Rather than simply teaching children how to compensate for the skills they struggle with, we take a bottom-up approach by focusing on remediation first. By evaluating the foundational areas of your child’s development such as their reflex integration, we can identify and address any underlying causes of their dysgraphia symptoms.
Think of it this way: you have to learn to walk before you can learn to run. It’s not that you can’t learn how to run, but if you never learned how to walk first, you’ll be missing the basics that you need to support learning how to run. By prioritizing skill remediation over compensation, we empower children to build a strong foundation for future growth and development.
Schedule an Evaluation Today
If your child struggles with writing and you worry they might have dysgraphia, or if they’ve received a diagnosis of dysgraphia, our team at Dynamic Therapy Specialists will go above and beyond to help. Call us at (225) 767-5032 to schedule an evaluation, and let’s work together to improve your child’s quality of life.