Topic: Dysgraphia

The Effects of Dysgraphia to Students’ Performance.

Learning disabilities are neurologically-based processing problems. These processing

problems can interfere with learning basic skills such as reading, writing and/or math. They can
also interfere with higher level skills such as organization, time planning, abstract reasoning, long
or short-term memory and attention. It is important to realize that learning disabilities can affect
an individual’s life beyond academics and can impact relationships with family, friends and in the
workplace.

Dysgraphia is a deficiency in the ability to write, primarily handwriting, but also coherence.
Dysgraphia is a transcription disability, meaning that it is a writing disorder associated with
impaired handwriting, orthographic coding, and finger sequencing. It often overlaps with other
learning disabilities such as speech impairment, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or
developmental coordination disorder. In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders, dysgraphia is characterized. Dysgraphia can appear as difficulties with spelling and/or
trouble putting thoughts on paper. Dysgraphia is a neurological disorder that generally appears
when children are first learning to write. Experts are not sure what causes it, but early treatment
can help prevent or reduce problems. Dysgraphia is characterized by the person having difficulty
converting the sounds of language into written form (phonemes into graphemes), or knowing
which alternate spelling to use for each sound.

A person with dysgraphia may write their letters in reverse, have trouble recalling how
letters are formed, or when to use lower or uppercase letters. A person with dysgraphia may also
struggle to form written sentences with correct grammar and punctuation, with common problems
including ommitting words, words ordered incorrectly, incorrect verb and pronoun usage and word
ending errors. People with dysgraphia may speak more easily and fluently than they write.
Handwriting is a complicated process that involves controlled motor skills, working memory, word
organization, thinking about words and their meanings, and generating ideas. If dysgraphia appears
in childhood, it’s usually the result of a problem with orthographic coding. This is an aspect of
working memory that allows you to permanently remember written words, and the way your hands
or fingers must move to write those words.
 With dysgraphia, kids or adults have a harder time planning and executing the writing of
sentences, words, and even individual letters. It’s not that you don’t know how to read, spell, or
identify letters and words. Instead, your brain has problems processing words and writing.

When dysgraphia develops in adults, the cause is usually a stroke or other brain injury. In
particular, injury to the brain’s left parietal lobe may lead to dysgraphia. You have a right and left
parietal lobe in the upper part of your brain. Each is associated with a range of skills, such as
reading and writing, as well as sensory processing, including pain, heat, and cold.

The researchers would like to know more about how this learning disability affects the
students’ ability to write, and do activities that requires their fine motor skills and other
performances as well. Second, we would also want to have a closer look whether this disability
has great impact on their future such as, their performance on higher education and pursuing their
career.

Submitted by: Manuel, Coreene

Manilag, Kimberly Rose