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.

Originally published on the New Jersey Kids Online website

As children move through school, the writing demands increase rapidly. Students must first master proper letter formation, then learn to write words, sentences, stories, and soon multi-paragraph essays. ‎Some students enjoy expressing their thoughts on paper, but for others, this task is downright daunting. Help your child develop stronger writing skills with the ideas detailed below.

Simply beginning the writing process can be challenging for many students. They often feel overwhelmed and at the thought of having to compose a well-written sentence or paragraph. To combat these fears, encourage your child to start by simply jotting down ideas about a given topic. For instance, if your child is asked to write a paragraph on why he likes winter, he can start by‎ listing ideas about the joys of winter. He might write in list format, for instance: one can play in the snow, roast marshmallows, go skiing or snowboarding, travel, and spend time around a fireplace. Once these ideas are on the page, he can then highlight the three or so points he plans to include in his writing.

Create a Brainstorm Web

After your child has selected the points she plants to elaborate on in her paragraph, she should brainstorm these ideas in an organized fashion. While there are different formats she can use for brainstorming, a web diagram is a useful tool. She can, for instance, brainstorm for a basic five sentence paragraph by writing the topic in a rectangular box at the top of the page, connecting it to three circular bubbles beneath it (for the three key points, such as playing in the snow, skiing, and roasting marshmallows), and finally ending with another rectangular box at the bottom for the concluding sentence. Computer-based programs, such as Kidspiration can also serve as engaging multi-sensory options for brainstorming.

Start Writing

Once your child has listed his ideas and then created a brainstorm diagram, he can turn those boxes and bubbles into complete sentences to form his paragraph. Have him turn the “topic” box into a topic sentence, such as “There are many fun and engaging activities one can do during the winter.” Next, he can turn each detail bubble into full sentences. For example, “You can play outside building snowmen. You can go skiing or snowboarding. You can also roast marshmallows around a fire.” Finally, he should turn the bottom box into a conclusion sentence, which can express his opinion on the topic, such as “I love winter” or “Winter is my favorite time of year.”

Remember to self-check!

Many students have a tendency to speed through their work to “get it over with” and often forget to self-check their writing. Rather than telling them to simply “check” their work, teach them specific tools for how to go about doing so, such as the COPS acronym, which stands for Capitalization, Organization, Punctuation, and ‎Spelling. Have her write the COPS acronym vertically at the bottom of her paragraph with a check box next to each letter. Once she is done writing her paragraph, encourage her to go back and check for each individual item on the check list (one at a time) and check off each one once she makes the relevant corrections.

Writing demands in school increase at a rapid pace. Help your child learn to effectively express her ideas on paper in an organized, well-structured manner and she will be well on her way to school success.

The post Help Your Child Build Stellar Writing Skills appeared first on EBL Coaching.