Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Dysgraphia Remediation?

My DS (12) was diagnosed with dysgraphia (and ADHD) and needs help in writing and I don't know what I'm looking for in help. His handwriting is not beautiful but legible and he can type but he says he doesn't know how to get the thoughts out of his brain on the paper. So, it's not really the mechanical part so additional OT doesn't help the matter. If he has to do creative writing, he has no problem. He is a wonderful storyteller with descriptive language and dialogue in his stories. For some reason, when it is a research report or anything non fiction, he will sit and stare at the blank paper or screen. Even when he has essentially created an outline, he can't seem to form it out. I've suggested he use talk to text to get thought downs and then he can edit into something that makes sense and he said he would try that but is there some other manner? I can see this will be a big problem in school because most of the subjects rely heavily on research projects. I would like to have him work with someone over the summer but I don't know what expertise that is. Is there remediation for dysgraphia when it's not the mechanical issue so much? Any suggestions appreciated.

My son has a diagnosis of written expression disorder. Some people group written expression disorder under dysgraphia. Others separate it as dysgraphia as more of a motor issue and written expression disorder as a cognitive issue.

Anyhow, what you’re describing is struggling with “written expression”, not a motor issue.

It’s super hard to find any data on this diagnosis. Understood.org has some high level information.

Some things that have helped my son with written expression:

Learning models or formulas for writing paragraphs and essays. Hamburger paragraphs is a common model. He learned 3 and 5 paragraph essay models at school.

Learning the writing process. Particularly prewriting.

Working memory can be a component in written expression problems… prewriting, highlighting/underlining sentences to reference, creating an outline can help

If you can sit with your son and talk about what he’s going to write and you write a rough outline of what he’s planning, that models Prewriting and helps with memory. (This is called scribing)

My kid has an accommodation at school where he gets a graphic organizer for his regular written responses. It’s not a fill in the blank worksheet. At the top will be the question he needs to answer, then a checklist of what is expected in his response. It’s usually something like this:
- give a basic answer to the question
- support your answer with information from the text:
- paraphrase
- quote the text
- summarize your response
Then there’s a checklist for proof reading: capitalization, understanding, punctuation, spelling

Speech to text can be helpful if he finds speaking easier than writing. (Although hard to use at school b/c it’s noisy)

Scribing can be helpful - you write what he says. You can use this as a scaffold. Something like teaching a paragraph model, having a visual of that model, having your child read a passage about some information, then asking him to write a paragraph using the model… but when he “writes” he’s going to say it to you and you are going to do the writing. At first, you can maintain the grammar, spelling, punctuation. As he starts to get the hang of it, you can be a little sloppier & have him fix the spelling/punctuation/grammar. Later you can just write notes or an outline. I might write 1) sally is sad 2) quote about tears 3) paraphrase quote on pg 14 4) conclusion. then my kid has a rough map about what he needs to write, but is doing most of the work.

As for who to look for… I’d look for someone who tutors writing and has experience with dysgraphia, written expression problems and ADHD. I’d tell them specifically what types of assignments he has trouble with. I’d ask them to tutor on those writing types and use visual models like writing process & paragraph and essay models. From my understanding ADHD and written expression problems often go hand in hand, so I would guess that a lot of writing tutors have experience with this.

My kid has worked with an SLP on written expression. That’s an option, but probably best suited for kids who have larger language issues.

I find it easiest and most useful to tutor him at home
using his homework. That’s where we’ve made the most progress.

Watch for anxiety, prior bad experiences writing or with writing instruction. My kid had bad school experiences from having an undiagnosed and therefore unsupported writing disability. There was anxiety, avoidance, big emotions that we had to work through too. Try to come at it from a position of I’m trying to support you and help you understand yourself, rather than you have a problem and you need to be fixed. There can be a lot of emotion wrapped up in the struggle. Feeling like there’s a road map to improving those skills (rather than staring at a blank sheet of paper) and being patient with the emotions eventually worked itself out. He still has a writing disability, but he has a bunch of strategies to approach writing.

There’s a book called “late, lost and unprepared” that is about executive functioning. There are a couple pages in the book about executive functioning & writing and practical tips for helping with this… that may be helpful to you.