Dysgraphia

Dysgraphia is a specific disorder of written expression. The term "dysgraphia" is derived from the Greek word "grafein", which means "to write", and the prefix "dys-", which denotes something as "impaired" or "abnormal".

Dysgraphia is a specific disorder of written expression. The term "dysgraphia" is derived from the Greek word "grafein", which means "to write", and the prefix "dys-", which denotes something as "impaired" or "abnormal".

Dysgraphia is a specific learning disorder that affects the overall layout of written work, the mastery of simple letters, the ability to imitate shapes, the association of sounds with letters, and the sequencing of letters.

It is characterized by impaired motor skills, difficulties with movement automation, and problems with motor and sensory-motor coordination. Children with dysgraphia struggle to remember letter shapes and confuse letters that look similar. Their handwriting is often disorganized, awkward, and clumsy. Students with this disorder may take a long time to learn to write within the lines and maintain consistent letter height. Their handwriting is slow and laborious, and they often display incorrect pencil grip. Excessive focus on the graphical aspect of writing can make it difficult for them to concentrate on spelling rules.

The causes of dysgraphia are primarily related to deficits in gross and fine motor skills, movement coordination, overall body organization, visual and motor memory, attention, spatial orientation, and the coordination of systems that convert auditory or visual input into graphic form. This includes difficulties in the connection between phonemes and graphemes during dictation, as well as the ability to convert printed letters into cursive ones.

When writing, children with dysgraphia may exhibit two extremes in terms of pace. Their writing may be either extremely slow or overly fast and rushed. Most often, the issue is a combination of poor fine motor skills, reduced visual imagination (inability to visualize letter shapes), and the inability to remember the motor patterns required to form letters.

Manifestations of dysgraphia in elementary school

• Poor layout of written work

• Unable to keep pace with classmates, making more mistakes, especially during dictations or time-limited tasks

• Difficulties with math — students may struggle to write down numbers correctly and face problems solving word problems

• Inability to produce neat handwriting and organize text clearly on a page

• Problems maintaining horizontal alignment of letters

• Writing with excessively large or small letters

• Phonetic writing, i.e., writing words as they are heard

• Inability to make corrections simultaneously while writing

Source: Bartoňová, Miroslava (2018)

Primary reflexes and dysgraphia

Primary reflexes can cause a range of symptoms associated with dysgraphia.

Moro reflex

• Negatively affects concentration

• Increases sensitivity to visual and auditory stimuli, causing the child to be easily distracted, constantly looking around to see "what's flying by."

• Hyper-sensitivity to sensory input — in response, children may shut down and become unresponsive to their surroundings.

• Disrupts body perception (proprioception).

Asymmetrical tonic neck reflex (ATNR)

• When a child looks to the right (as soon as their head crosses the midline of the body), the arm and fingers on that side reflexively extend. This makes learning to write properly much more difficult.

• To compensate, children often rotate the paper by up to 90° to avoid fighting against the reflexive extension of the fingers. This also leads to unusual letter slants — letters may lean too far forward or backward.

• Causes tight gripping of the pencil.

• Hinders hand-eye coordination.

• Prevents the development of cross-pattern movements, which in turn disrupts the cooperation between brain hemispheres.

Palmar reflex

• When the child grasps a pencil, the palmar reflex prompts them to reflexively curl their fingers into a fist. This is why young children often hold the pencil with a full-hand grip (palmar grasp).

Tonic labyrinthine reflex (TLR)

• Alters muscle tone. When the child looks down at their notebook, their body reacts as if it wants to curl into a fetal position. This change in tone causes hypotonia (low muscle tone), which leads children to rest their head on their hand or lean on the desk when writing. As they lean forward, they exert more pressure on the pencil.

• Hinders body awareness and spatial orientation (often accompanied by dysfunction of the vestibular system). As a result, children may reverse letters and numbers.

• Impairs gross motor skills and movement coordination.

Symmetrical tonic neck reflex (STNR)

• Causes difficulty switching focus from near to far objects and back (e.g., copying text from the board to a notebook).

• Impairs balance and hand-eye coordination.

• When sitting, children may wrap their feet around the chair legs, sit on their feet, or find other ways to stabilize their legs. In response to the reflexive extension of the legs, they may rock back and forth on their chair — the classic "rocking on a chair" behavior.

Author of the article: PhDr. Marja Volemanová, PhD.

Sources used:

• Bartoňová, Miroslava (2018). Specific Learning Disorders. Brno: Paido.

• Volemanová, Marja (2019). Persistent Primary Reflexes: An Overlooked Factor in Learning and Behavioral Issues. Statenice: INVTS.