What is Dysgraphia?

An Introduction to Dysgraphia

Dysgraphia: (Greek) dys = impaired   +   graphia = writing by hand

Dysgraphia is a processing disorder which results in problems with writing. There are five types of dysgraphia: Dyslexic, Motor, Spatial, Phonological, and Lexical. "In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), dysgraphia is characterized as a learning disability in the category of written expression when one’s writing skills are below those expected given a person’s age measured through intelligence and age appropriate education." -Wikipedia 

Symptoms of Dysgraphia

• A mixture of upper case/lower case letters
• Irregular letter sizes and shapes
• Unfinished letters
• Struggle to use writing as a communications tool
• Odd writing grip
• Many spelling mistakes (Sometimes)
• Decreased or increased speed of writing and copying
• Talks to self while writing
• General illegibility
• Reluctance or refusal to complete writing tasks
• Crying and stress (which can be created by the frustration with the task of writing and/or spelling. This can also be brought on in dysgraphic students by common environmental sources such as high levels of environmental noise and/or over-illumination).
• Experiencing physical pain in the hand and/or arm when writing
• Poor use of lines and spaces   -Handwriting Solutions

If you suspect your child might have dysgraphia here is more information about the subject and some ideas to help various age groups with this learning disability. An official diagnosis can only be given by a neuropsychologist or a neurologist. Mind the Children does not diagnose learning disabilities.

Creative Writing Made Easy and Fun!

My favorite go-to when one of our foster children needed extra motivation in a certain subject was,

"Do you want to play a game?"

I don't know about your kids but our kids could not resist playing a game with Mom or Dad!

Create! Press has a great game for encouraging creative writing for grades three and up. According to their website, Create-A-Story is designed to help students:

• Structure a story
• Develop characters and plots
• Use dialogue
• Set up conflict and resolution
• Write with confidence and imagination
• Experience the joy of writing

Want more reasons for choosing this exciting game? See Cathy Duffy's Review! It's one of her Top Picks, too!

&

Learning® Teachers' Choice Awards Finalist

Does Your Child Have the Guts to Play with This?

Okay, so the title sounds a little creepy, but I challenge you to spark your child's interest of the human body with this tactile learning tool!

What child can resist squishy intestines to play with? If your child can stomach playing with this I would recommend it as a great supplement for life science!

It comes with these components:

• A book that takes you on the journey of your life 
• 12” plastic human body model and stand 
• 12 plastic bones and muscles 
• 9 removable squishy vital organs 
• Body parts Organ-izer 
• Tweezers 
• Forceps

The Kids' Schooling, Preschool and Kindergarten

Uno's readers from school

Uno

Uno is really making progress in Kindergarten. His teacher was surprised at how well he did when she tested him again. He comes home singing all kinds of learning songs which, I assume, he is hearing at school. (counting by 5's and 10's, for instance.) He also seems to love science and always has something to say about catching ladybugs or planting a flower at school. About the only thing he cannot do yet is write a story, but, hey, he's only in Kindergarten!

The girls really caught onto this one.

The most exciting thing to me is that Uno is now reading! His teacher sent home some early readers and he read the first one through very well. I think we are now on book 3. Reading to the children is part of our evening routine, and sometimes Josh lets Uno read some easy words, too. When the children first arrived they could not sit still long enough for us to read a book to them. Now, they will choose to sit quite often throughout the day and "read" books!

...and on the back of the cards are the symbols.

Dos

The days have been so busy and I've been so tired that I haven't been as consistent with the girls' home schooling. I think I am supposed to have Dos enrolled in Headstart but they did not have an opening. She was disappointed because she wants to go to school like her brother. I plan to get her registered in May, though.

a homemade Montessori "sandpaper letters"

At this point, I am taking it slowly with her so she can master the concept of what the numbers and letters mean, as opposed to just teaching them the symbols. For instance, I am teaching the sounds of the letters of the alphabet, not the names yet. Although, for a while I taught them the A beka chart "A says a a apple, etc."

In Math, I am teaching what zero, one, two, and three mean instead of focusing on the symbols (0,1,2,3). I tried starting out that way actually, using both the symbol and quantity and they had no idea what I was talking about, so I started over with a different approach. I'm using a little bit of the Montessori method but not totally.

So far, Dos knows almost all of her colors except she usually mixes up yellow and blue. We play the memory matching game with color flash cards. She understands the quantities of zero, one, two, three, and four. I tried some pre-handwriting readiness worksheets but she doesn't seem to have the motor skills to write yet. I'm using the Montessori sandpaper letters, focusing on lower case only. It has been weeks since I went over the sounds of the letters with her but I just tested her and she still remembers 13 of the sounds! I had only gone over it a few days, maybe a week. I'm impressed.

girls still confused on this one

Tres

I am doing the same thing with Tres as I am with Dos but a little slower since she isn't quite getting it as fast.  She knows the names of the colors but seems to only recognize the color orange. She does, however, know which ones match. As far as quantities go, she understands zero, one, and two so far. I'll have to test her to  see which sounds she knows but often I'll see her point to a letter and say "horse!" (the letter h) or "apple" (the letter a). *I just tested her and she knew 7 of the sounds!

They love this matching game!

I want to work with the girls more, especially since I just tested them and they remembered so much after so many weeks!  Hopefully, I'll be able to work with all three of them this summer and get Uno caught up if he is still behind and give the girls a good foundation with their understanding of letters and numbers.