CDL's Graphomotor and Writing Page

Handwriting is a complex skill that involves several subskills:

• Visual-perceptual skills (the ability to accurately perceive what we see - such as recognizing the letter A when shown the letter A and to be able to distinguish the letter A from the letter B)

• Orthographic coding (the ability to remember what letters, letter patterns and words look like when writing)

• Motor planning and execution (the ability to carry out a motor movement such as kicking a ball)

• Kinesthetic feedback (the brain's ability to know where the body is located in space without seeing it - such as being able to touch your nose with your eyes closed)

• Visual-motor coordination (the ability to match motor output with what is seen - being able to hit a ball with the bat)

Handwriting, as with many other neurological processes, largely goes unnoticed unless it doesn't work well. Even when noticed, handwriting problems are often poorly understood.

When students have dysgraphia (trouble with writing), they are frequently labeled as "lazy", "unmotivated" and/or "oppositional" because they avoid writing. At times, they are able to produce neat handwriting but only at a very slow pace. They are often accused of writing neatly "when they want to". When required to write, students who have handwriting problems often engage in avoidance behaviors such as taking trips to the bathroom, sharpening their pencils or getting Kleenex from their backpacks. Sometimes they just sit and stare. Even disrupting the class and getting in trouble may be less painful for them than writing. Work that could be completed in one hour takes three hours because they put off the dreadful task of writing. Because written language is generally communicated via the pen or pencil, handwriting is an important component of a neurodevelopmental or psychoeducational evaluation because it has a great impact on school success.

Would you like to know more about Writing?
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