Dysgraphia affects a child’s ability to form words and letters, space words properly, and express thoughts in writing. These apps can help.

Many students with dysgraphia struggle with spelling, handwriting, and expressing their thoughts on paper when writing. ‎While an individualized, multi-sensory instructional plan is most ideal for remedying these academic challenges, there are many tech tools that can help kids with dysgraphia build these key skills. Try some of the apps detailed below.

iTrace
‎Handwriting, letter spacing, and fine motor skills are all areas that are typically challenging for kids with dygraphia. iTrace is a great tool for helping students build these important skills. With this app, children as young as age 3 can practice letter, number, and word formation, and can even work on spelling their name properly. An animated “hand” demonstrates tracing each letter before the child writes it, serving as a helpful model for proper formation. Parents can even add their own words, select background music, and receive progress reports on the status of their child’s writing. iTrace is a useful tool for helping your child master these key writing skills.

ABC Pocket Phonics
This is another great app for teaching students in grades pre-K-1 proper letter formation when writing, along with letter/sound recognition and how to blend sounds together when spelling. Kids are introduced to various phonemes, starting with basic consonants and short vowels and gradually increasing to more complex sounds, and are asked to say each phoneme, write it, and apply it to a word. At the end of each unit, they are awarded with stars based on selecting the correct phonemes to complete certain words and accurately tracing letters. This app is Orton Gillingham–based and much more fun for most kids than traditional pen-and-paper phonics activities.

Montessori Crosswords
Montessori Crosswords is another great app for building spelling skills. Preschool and elementary-aged students learn to spell words by dragging letters into a crossword frame that is associated with selected pictures. Students start with basic CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words and drag letters to spell simple words like can‎, dog, and mat, and later progress to words containing blends (like flag, plug, and glad), words with consonant and vowel digraphs (like ship, bath, and feet), and multi-syllabic words. When they correctly spell a word, colorful confetti fills the screen, providing children with a fun and engaging experience.

Dragon Dictation
Many kids with dysgraphia have intelligent and creative ideas but struggle to express them on paper when writing. Dragon Dictation is a voice recognition app that allows students to dictate their ideas orally and have them presented on a screen, rather than transcribing them. ‎ To use the app, students hit “record” and begin speaking, then hit “stop” when they are done. They can then cut and paste their text and save it elsewhere, or send it out via email, text, or social media. It’s important that kids speak clearly when using this app, and it’s helpful for an adult to check the text for accuracy after it has been dictated.

Inspiration Maps
Inspiration Maps helps students with dysgraphia organize their ideas into visual maps. Children can create organized mind maps using a touch screen as a means of brainstorming before writing a paragraph, essay, or speech. They can add colors, icons, pictures, and photos to their mind maps, making the process fun and engaging. Once completed, they can convert their map to a linear outline, or can print it, share it via email, or save it to DropBox, iTunes, or the app itself. Templates are available, or students can create their own maps.

Students with dysgraphia typically face continued spelling and writing challenges as they progress through school. These apps can help ease these struggles and set them up for academic success.

The post Best Apps For Your Child With Dysgraphia appeared first on EBL Coaching.

Children with dysgraphia often struggle with forming letters and words correctly, spacing words properly on a page, and generally have difficulty expressing their thoughts on paper.

Your child struggles to properly hold a pencil. His handwriting is messy and he has trouble with letter spacing and spelling. Writing a paragraph is a completely daunting task. If your child experiences these challenges, he may have dysgraphia.

Dysgraphia is defined as a specific learning disability that affects writing. Children with dysgraphia often struggle with forming letters and words correctly, have ‎trouble spacing words properly on a page, and generally have difficulty expressing their thoughts on paper when writing. Yet with the right strategies and tools, your child can learn to tackle the increasing writing demands of school. Try the ideas detailed below:

Feel the letters!
Many kids with dysgraphia have trouble learning to form letters and numbers properly when writing. To build this skill, try creating a multi-sensory experience. Have your child trace letters in a tray of salt or colored sand while she says the formation of each letter aloud. For instance, as she traces the letter “A,” she might say “around, up, and down,” or “down, up, and around” for p. You might also have her trace letters on your back or palm, or you can do the same to her while she closes her eyes to better experience the sensation of each letter’s formation. For gross motor exercises, try having her sky-write each letter or number while standing up, or squirt some foam on the shower door and have her write letters and numbers, using large hand formations.

Practice storytelling!
Children with dysgraphia often struggle to organize their ideas into well-constructed stories and paragraphs. To help build this skill, teach your child to tell stories aloud in an organized fashion. For instance, when you return from a vacation, ask him for an opening line by saying, “We did so many fun activities on our vacation!” and then ask him ‎to discuss his three favorite activities and why he loved each one. He might say one of his favorite activities was playing on the beach, since he built a giant sand castle, jumped the waves, and swam in the ocean. He may say another favorite activity was eating every meal with his family and enjoying special treats, like Belgian waffles, chocolate ice cream, and frozen lemonade. Finally, he may say that his third favorite activity was spending time with his cousins, which included swimming with them, sharing stories, and laughing. Then have him end his story with his overall thoughts on the vacation, like “I had so much fun on my vacation and can’t wait for the next one!” You can try this exercise with just about any experience—a day at school, a play date, or a meal he just ate. The more you practice helping him organize his ideas orally, the easier it will become when writing.

Learn to type
The physical act of writing involves so many components: Letter and word formation, spacing, spelling, sentence construction, written organization, and so many other challenging tasks, especially for kids with dysgraphia. Typing can ease some of these challenges. It eliminates letter formation and spacing challenges, and computers can help with spelling with the use of spell check. When the physical challenges of writing are reduced, ideas often flow much more easily. ‎ If typing is not an option, though, learning to write in cursive, rather than print, can help your child with letter reversals, spelling, spacing, and the overall flow of writing.

Brainstorm!
Many kids—even those who don’t have dysgraphia—have trouble getting started with their writing. Brainstorming can be very helpful in easing this challenge. Encourage your child to start by creating a brainstorm web with her ideas. If she wants to write about why she loves math, for instance, before she begins writing, she should draw a bubble in the middle of the page and write “why I love math.” Then, branching out from the middle bubble, she can add details on why she loves math, like “It helps with problem solving,” “It’s fun!” and “It plays a role in everyday life.” Then branching out of those detail bubbles, she may even add supporting details on why each of those reasons make her love math so much. Once her brainstorm web is complete, it becomes a much easier process to translate that information into an organized written format. Computer programs like Inspiration and Kidspiration are great tools for creating electronic versions of these brainstorm webs.

‎As students progress through school, they will inevitably be required to write longer and more complex stories, paragraphs, and essays. Help your child with dysgraphia build his writing skills with these ideas, and he will be well on his way to academic success!

The post Does Your Child Have Dysgraphia? appeared first on EBL Coaching.

It’s more than just putting pen to paper: How writing by hand helps students learn better.

In our tech-centered world, some argue that the physical act of writing is becoming archaic. Pencils and lined paper seem old fashioned, while typing, swiping, and pressing seem more relevant and nouveau. Those who favor eliminating handwriting from our schools’ curriculum feel that time can be better spent on other, seemingly more important, topics. They may argue that learning handwriting does not lead to greater college and career-readiness. While these arguments certainly have merit, the value of learning and practicing handwriting goes well beyond the simple act of tapping a pen to a sheet of paper. Here are some of the important benefits of handwriting:

1.) Brain stimulation. The physical act of handwriting stimulates parts of the brain,  helping us learn and retain information. With the kinesthetic motion of writing, information shifts into our long-term memories. Thus, students who are studying for exams are more likely to remember key information that they transcribe. Those who take notes from lectures or hand write data are more likely to remember these details for the long haul. In fact, research tells us that certain areas of the brain art activated when writing, but not when typing.

2.) Idea elaboration. Many students struggle to elaborate their ideas when writing. They often write the minimum amount needed to complete an assignment, and struggle to add details and further descriptions. For most students, writing by hand, rather than typing, actually enables them  to write faster and to put more information on a page. Typing just might further inhibit students’ abilities to elaborate when writing rather than enhancing it.

3.) Helps those with learning challenges. Cursive writing helps students minimize reversals, reduce spelling errors, and increase speed when writing. Students with dyslexia and learning challenges tend to need help in all of these areas, and cursive makes spelling and written expression much easier for them.

4.) Improves note-taking. Students who take pen-to-paper notes must complete multiple processes in order to take effective notes: listening, processing information, and rewriting the information in their own words. Those who use computers, on the other hand, often try to capture every word when taking notes rather than listening and processing the information simultaneously. Thus, pen-to-paper notes may lead to a better understanding and retention of information.

5.) Sentimental value. In the business world, hand written correspondences tend to have more value to the reader than typed ones. Everyone loves receiving a hand written note or card; there is a personal touch that can be lost in a typed note. Furthermore, so ‎many of our historical transcripts, such as the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, are written in cursive. Without learning cursive and practicing with it, students will be unable to read these significant documents.

There are now many apps that allow users to hand write on their tablets, helping to fuse “old-fashioned” handwriting with modern technology. Yet the benefits of writing by hand are still bountiful, and can help foster academic and personal growth.

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