Ditto to all the advice you've received above. My ds is dysgraphic, and we didn't see it in his schoolwork really until 2nd grade because the writing tasks were so minimal and the expectations so low (plus it is truly developmentally typical for some kids to still be reversing letters like b/d and p/q up through the end of 1st grade.
A few things about dysgraphia:
* It's not an issue with physical fine motor skills - it's a disconnect in the neurological ability to develop automaticity. My ds, like many dysgraphics, is a talented artist who can draw with amazing precision and detail. He can't remember how to form letters - he has to rethink how to draw them each time he uses handwriting, for each word and each letter. When you're drawing pictures, it's new every time, and you're drawing from something you either see in front of you or in your head. Your pencil also doesn't leave the paper frequently like it does with handwriting. Very different process from handwriting.
* There are a few different "flavors" of dysgraphia. Some dysgraphia is connected to fine motor, some to visual processing. Some dysgraphics are extremely challenged with spelling while others aren't. Some have odd pencil grips, some don't. I am sorry that I can't recall exactly which symptom fits which type of dysgraphia, but if you google you should be able to find the info easily.
* Most dysgraphic will be able to tell you a story or answer a question in *significantly* more detail verbally than when using handwriting. You could try scribing for your dd on her homework or making up your own "test" to see if there's a significant improvement when the burden of handwriting is removed.
These are also a few things I'd watch for (in addition to what's already been mentioned above in previous replies):
* Does she hold her wrist while she writes? Or her elbow? Does she use good posture or bend around or hold her head in an odd position?
* Does she break her pencil lead frequently?
* Do her papers look crumbled up when she's done writing?
* What does her handwriting (and output) look like relative to classmates?
* What does her teacher say about her handwriting?
And I'll second what Elizabeth and suevv noted about the word "boring" - it was a real catch-all answer at our house up until around the beginning of 4th grade - when our ds had a bit of a developmental growth spurt in which he was able to describe how he was feeling with accuracy.
One other question I'm curious about - does your dd resist writing when the task might be fun? Instead of thank-you notes (which 2 out of 3 of my kids would resist, whether or not they are dysgraphic lol!)... does she like shopping or cooking? Could you ask her to write a list or recipe out and see if she is still really slow and begging to not do the work? Or ask her to write a caption on one of her pictures? Just anything that was writing that was related to something that was fun for her
Best wishes,
polarbear
