DYSLEXIA

What is Dyslexia?

Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.

Dyslexia is included within the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004), within “specific learning disability (SLD)”, one of the 13 disability categories. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V; American Psychiatric Association, 2013) includes dyslexia within “learning disorder.” Unfortunately, the inconsistency in terminology and the lack of one universally agreed upon definition of dyslexia has caused some confusion among special educators, administrators, and parents. However, most agree that dyslexia is a distinct type of SLD that presents in a difficulty with phonological coding (Shaywitz et al., 2004; Snowling, 2009).

(Wery and Dilibero, 2016)

For the past 60 years (more or less), dyslexia has been considered a type of learning disorder, referred to as “specific reading disability” or “specific learning disorder with impairment in reading.” It is likely that the growing interest in dyslexia today reflects a growing dissatisfaction with the present state of learning disabilities in the USA, especially as it pertains to dyslexia. It is a well-known fact that no matter what criteria are being used currently to identify specific reading disabilities/dyslexia, those practices are making little or no distinction between readers with dyslexia and garden variety poor readers. Both the dyslexia and the specific learning disabilities professionals and parents should welcome the newfound interest in dyslexia by the state and federal governments. Perhaps one of the results will be the adoption of widely accepted diagnostic criteria that will allow clinicians and assessment professionals to accurately separate individuals with dyslexia from other poor readers.

(Hammill and Allen, 2020)

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Prevalence

The percentage of people with dyslexia is unknown, but it has been estimated to be as low as 5% and as high as 17% of the population. While dyslexia is more often diagnosed in boys, this is partly explained by a self-fulfilling referral bias among teachers and professionals. It has even been suggested that the condition affects men and women equally.

(Wikipedia, n.d./Dyslexia)

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Etiology (causes)

The causes of dyslexia are not agreed upon, although the consensus of neuroscientists believe dyslexia is a phonological processing disorder and that dyslexics have reading difficulties because they are unable to see or hear a word, break it down to discrete sounds, and then associate each sound with letters that make up the word.

Poor working memory may be another reason why those with dyslexia have difficulties remembering new vocabulary words. Remembering verbal instructions may also be a struggle. Dyslexics who have not been given structured language instruction may grow to depend on learning individual words by memory rather than decoding words by mapping phonemes (speech sounds) to graphemes (letters and letter combinations which represent individual speech sounds).

(Wikipedia, n.d./Characteristics of dyslexia)

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Screening

“New Hampshire state law, RSA 200:58 and RSA 200:59, focuses on children who struggle learning to read based upon potential indicators of dyslexia and other related disorders (i.e., dysgraphia, dysphasia, phonological processing disorder, reading fluency disorder). The RSAs define dyslexia, require public schools to screen for potential indicators of http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/xv/200/200-58.htmdyslexia no later than November 30 in kindergarten or first grade, and require school districts to provide evidence-based, intervention strategies to address the child’s individual needs.”  (NH DOE, n.d.)

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Characteristics

Dyslexia is characterized by learning difficulties that can include:

Difficulty with oral language:

• Late in talking
• Difficulty in pronouncing words
• Difficulty in acquiring vocabulary or age-appropriate grammar
• Difficulty following directions
• Confusion in right/left, before/after, top/bottom, etc.
• Difficulty in learning alphabet
• Difficulty in learning nursery rhymes or songs
• Difficulty with word retrieval or naming problems

Difficulty with reading:

• Difficulty learning to read
• Difficulty with phonological awareness (identifying rhyming words or counting syllables)
• Difficulty with phonemic awareness (hearing and manipulating sounds)
• Difficulty with auditory discrimination (distinguishing different sounds in words)
• Difficulty in learning the sounds of letters
• Difficulty remembering names
• Difficulty in remembering the orders of letters
• Misreading common words
• Omitting common words
• Guessing through longer words
• Poor reading comprehension
• Slow, laborious oral reading

Difficulty with written language:

• Trouble organizing ideas on paper
• Many spelling mistakes
• Performs well on spelling tests, but continues to have spelling mistakes in daily work
• Difficulty in proofreading

(Wikipedia, n.d./Management of Dyslexia)

Because of literacy problems, an individual with dyslexia may have difficulty with handwriting (dysgraphia). This can involve slower writing speed than average, poor handwriting characterized by irregularly formed letters, or inability to write straight on a blank paper with no guideline

(Wikipedia, n.d./Characteristics of dyslexia)

Spelling is a demanding task for all children learning to write. Some children, however, require interventions that are specifically tailored to their needs. For example, children with dyslexia, showing deficits in spelling knowledge and strategies, often fail to produce accurate spellings for words. For these children, learning to spell poses a major challenge and represents a significant barrier to the development of their ability to compose texts. Indeed, although children with dyslexia can acquire some composition skills, they struggle with those that are specifically related to written language.

(Chapleau and Beaupre-Boivin, 2019)

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Common Dyslexia Myths

As reading and writing have become increasingly crucial for success in and out of school, students with dyslexia are often at-risk for academic failure, lower reading self-efficacy (Burden, 2008), and lower self-esteem (Alexander-Passe, 2006) as well as an increased risk of dropping out of school (U.S. Dept. Of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Office of Special Education Programs, 2006). Due to the potential for poor school and post-school outcomes, teachers, parents, and advocates often feel desperate to locate and employ accommodations and interventions to help students with dyslexia read.

Teachers and other practitioners need to be able to discriminate between those interventions that have been empirically shown to be effective (evidence-based practices) from those that have not. While some may conclude that an intervention that fails to produce a positive effect may not do good, but probably does not do harm, others disagree.

Inert interventions may in fact cause other forms of harm, in depriving resources (time and financial) away from those interventions that have demonstrated efficacy. That time and resource could be use on other interventions that are more likely to improve students’ reading ability. Further, the use of unsubstantiated interventions can impact the credibility of the profession, and lead to the public losing trust in special educators (Lilienfeld, Lynn, & Lohr, 2015).

Finally, the most harm may come when students who have already experienced significant struggle and academic failures related to learning to read, have yet another experience with failure when they are not able to read significantly better using a method that is not evidence based. A repeated failure experience can further damage students’ self-efficacy and academic self-esteem.

Instead, students with dyslexia need well-qualified teachers and interventionists, who can skillfully implement intensive instruction (Moats, 2009). This intensive, systematic intervention is likely to include direct multisensory instruction in the areas of phonological awareness, phonics, and fluency (Mather & Wendling, 2012; Shaywitz, 2003; Snowling & Hulme, 2012) that is both sequential and cumulative, and taught to automaticity (Moats, 2009).

(Wery and Dilibero, 2016)

Research does not suggest that specially-tailored fonts (such as Dyslexie and OpenDyslexic) help with reading. Children with dyslexia read text set in a regular font such as Times New Roman and Arial just as quickly, and they show a preference for regular fonts over specially-tailored fonts.

There is currently no evidence showing that music education significantly improves the reading skills of adolescents with dyslexia.

(Wikipedia, n.d./Dyslexia)

The dyslexia myth of “backwards reading” persists as a remnant of the visually based theories about reading (see Lilienfeld et al., 2010 for a discussion). This myth has been resistant to change likely due to the complexity of research on dyslexia coupled with a lack of venues for disseminating increasingly complicated representations of science to the public. There is also the problem that some children with dyslexia do make letter reversals in their writing, which serves to reinforce the notion of “backwards reading.” However, letter reversals are developmentally common during early literacy acquisition in typically developing children as well (Vellutino, 1979) and such reversals early in literacy acquisition (i.e., kindergarten) are unrelated to later reading abilities (i.e., grades 2,3) (Treiman et al., 2014). Long-standing lines of research have shown that children with dyslexia do not show visual-spatial weaknesses with non-linguistic stimuli, such as geometric designs (Vellutino et al., 1975a) or letters in unfamiliar orthographies (i.e., Hebrew; Vellutino et al., 1975b). This pattern indicates that it is the linguistic features of letters and words that contribute to the reversal errors, rather than a general visual-spatial processing problem. The widespread misunderstanding regarding the causal role of letter reversals in dyslexia can be understood in the context of the common logical error of inferring causation from correlation. While children with dyslexia can reverse letters, and sometimes do so beyond developmentally typical windows, letter reversals are not a cause of their reading problems.

(Anderson, Sarlo, Pearlstein and McGrath, 2020)

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, vision problems do not cause dyslexia. “Scientific evidence does not support the efficacy of eye exercises, behavioral/perceptual vision therapy, training glasses, or special tinted filters or lenses in improving the long-term educational performance in these complex pediatric neurocognitive conditions.”(pg. e849).   (Handler and Fierson, 2011)

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Interventions and strategies

• General Overview

Most teaching is geared to remediating specific areas of weakness, such as addressing difficulties with phonetic decoding by providing phonics-based tutoring. Some teaching is geared to specific reading skill areas, such as phonetic decoding; whereas other approaches are more comprehensive in scope, combining techniques to address basic skills along with strategies to improve comprehension and literary appreciation. Many programs are multisensory in design, meaning that instruction includes visual, auditory, and kinesthetic or tactile elements; as it is generally believed that such forms of instruction are more effective for dyslexic learners. Despite claims of some programs to be “research based”, there is very little empirical or quantitative research supporting the use of any particular approach to reading instruction as compared to another when used with dyslexic children.

Torgesen (2004) emphasized the importance of explicit instruction for remediation as well as the need for intensity that is completely different from regular classroom instruction. To make gains in reading, students need highly structured, sequential interactive activities and close monitoring, directly connecting the known with the new, with sufficient time for practice of new skills to build automaticity and fluency. The size of the instructional group is also important, ideally between 1:1 and 1:3.

(Wikipedia, n.d./Management of Dyslexia)

Dyslexic children require special instruction for word analysis and spelling from an early age. The prognosis, generally speaking, is positive for individuals who are identified in childhood and receive support from friends and family. The New York educational system (NYED) indicates “a daily uninterrupted 90-minute block of instruction in reading”, furthermore “instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary development, reading fluency” so as to improve the individual’s reading ability.

(Wikipedia, n.d./Dyslexia)

• Specific Strategies from International Dyslexia Association

 

Academic Remediation

Early identification and treatment is key to helping individuals with dyslexia achieve in academic and life. Appropriate remedial instruction is a structured literacy approach:

• Structured Literacy: Effective Instruction for Students with Dyslexia and Related Reading Difficulties
  • Phonology – is the study of sound structure in the spoken word. These skills included rhyming, counting words in a spoken sentence, and clapping syllables in spike words. The ability to segment words into their compound sounds, phonemes.
  • Sound-Symbol Association – awareness of phonemes of spoken language, the learner must map the phonemes to symbols (printed letters). This skill must be taught in two directions: visual to auditory (reading) and auditory to visual (spelling).
  • Syllable Instruction – a syllable is a unit or written language with one vowel sound. Instructions must include the 6 basic syllable types in English (closed, vowel-consonant-e, open, consonant-le, r-controlled, and vowel pair).
  • Morphology – morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning in any language. The study of base words, roots, prefixes, and suffixes.
  • Syntax – set of principles that dictate sequence and function of words in sentences. This concept includes grammar, sentence variation, and mechanics of language.
  • Semantics – aspect of language with focus on meaning.
  • Systematic – an organization of material that follows a logical pattern of the language
  • Cumulative – the steps of teaching is based on previous concepts.
  • Explicit Instruction – requires the deliberate teaching of all concepts with student-teacher interactions.

Classroom Accommodations (UDL) 

Although there are no treatments or quick cures for dyslexia there are many techniques that can be used to assist dyslexic students in the classroom while reading skills are being remediated. These include such things as:

• Accommodations for Students with Dyslexia
  • Oral testing
  • Untimed tests
  • Audiobooks
  • Eliminate or reduce spelling tests
  • Minimizing the need to read out loud
  • Allow students to record the Teacher explaining homework to ensure an accurate account of the homework is done.
  • Accept dictated homework
  • Reduce homework load
  • Grade on content, not spelling nor handwriting
  • Reduce copying tasks
  • Avoid or reduce essay tests
  • Providing teacher handouts to supplement the notes taken
  • Using materials that are not visually overcrowded
  • To increase motivation, giving assignments in areas in which the student has a strong interest, for example, sports stories, biographies of inventors or rock musicians, or fiction about teenage issues.
  • Use an appropriate layout, including a larger font size, larger line spacing (1.5) and a clear font – sans-serif fonts are usually recommended.
  • Using appropriate font size. Research does not suggest that the use of specially tailored fonts helps with dyslexia.
• Notice how these accommodations align with the 3 Principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL).

(Wikipedia, n.d./Management of Dyslexia)

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Assistive Technologies

Accessible publishing works to make reading easier for all who struggle with the standard one-size-fits-all method of book publishing. Accessible publishing works with publishers and Print on Demand technology which allows the reader to choose how the books will be published. Available format variations include choosing the font size (from 11 point font through to 28 point font), whether the font is bold, italic or regular, and choosing the amount of line spacing.  Accessible publishers, such as ReadHowYouWant, also work to make books available in Braille, e-books, audiobooks and DAISY.

New formats such as streamline text have been developed that help dyslexic people to track (move from one line to the next) more fluently. These work by adding ‘sign-posts’ into the text to show where to go next.

Teachers are also using audiobooks as a way of teaching textbooks in an engaging way to those with dyslexia. In the United States, the nonprofit Learning Ally offers the world’s largest library of human-narrated audio textbooks, and a second organization, Bookshare, offers a wide selection of synthetic-read audiobooks. These audiobooks work well for individuals who have word reading accuracy and fluency difficulties (i.e. dyslexics).

Individuals with dyslexia require more practice to master skills in their areas of deficit. In the circumstances where typically developing children need 30 to 60 hours training, the number of hours that has resulted in optimistic conclusions concerning the remediation of dyslexia is between 80 and 100 hours, or less if the intervention is started sufficiently early.

A recent study has shown that the usage of an FM system drives neural plasticity in children with dyslexia. An FM system is a personal assistive listening device, consisting of a wireless microphone worn by the teacher, and a wireless receiver similar to a Bluetooth receiver worn on the ears by the pupil. Measurements of the brain’s response to speech sounds showed that the children who wore the device for one year responded more consistently to the very soft and rapidly changing elements of sounds that help distinguish one consonant from another (cat, bat, pat etc.). That improved stability was linked with reading improvement based on standardized measures of readability – which, as a long-term benefit, points to brain plasticity.

(Wikipedia, n.d./Management of Dyslexia)

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Note: In much of the research you will see the terms dyslexic and dyslexic children. This is not the people first language we strive for in the field of special education.

When you are looking for assistive technology make note of the date of the information. A lot of the information on the internet is dated.  For example

• tape recorders- audio recorder
• books on tape- audiobooks
• portable word processors- tablet/Chromebook

(Lombardi, 2022)

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From a UK/ Scottish Students Perspective- This is What Dyslexia is Really Like| BBC The Social

https://youtube.com/watch?v=mpqluwIstjM%3Ffeature%3Doembed%26rel%3D0

[BBC Scottland], (Nov. 5, 2020). his is What Dyslexia is Really Like| BBC The Social

from https://youtu.be/mpqluwIstjM

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Supplementary Resources

International Dyslexia Association (2020) Dyslexia Assessment: What Is It and How Can It Help? from https://dyslexiaida.org/dyslexia-assessment-what-is-it-and-how-can-it-help-2/

A Resource Guide for Dyslexia and Other Related Disorders from the New Hampshire Deptartment of Education.

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References

Anderson A, Sarlo GL, Pearlstein H and McGrath LM (2020) A Review of Online Dyslexia Learning Modules. Front. Educ. 5:118. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2020.00118.  https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2020.00118/full This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).

[BBC Scottland], (Nov. 5, 2020). his is What Dyslexia is Really Like| BBC The Social [videl file}from https://youtu.be/mpqluwIstjM

Chapleau, N., Beaupré-Boivin, K., Interventions to Support the Development of Spelling Knowledge and Strategies for Children with Dyslexia, Education, Vol. 9 No. 1, 2019, pp. 1-8. doi: 10.5923/j.edu.20190901.01. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY).
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Hammill, D.D., Allen, E.A. A Revised Discrepancy Method for Identifying Dyslexia. J Pediatr Neuropsychol 6, 27–43 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40817-020-00079-2  https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40817-020-00079-2#citeas This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Handler, S.M., MD, Fierson, W.M.,MD; Learning Disabilities, Dyslexia, and Vision from the American Academy of Pediatrics Joint Technical Report (Pediatrics, March 2011, Vol. 127, Issue 3) pgs. 818-849

Wery, J.J., Diliberto, J.A. The effect of a specialized dyslexia font, OpenDyslexic, on reading rate and accuracy. Ann. of Dyslexia 67, 114–127 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-016-0127-1This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons CC BY license

Wikipedia, (n.d.) Dyslexia From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyslexia

Wikipedia, (n.d.) Characteristics of dyslexia. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Characteristics_of_dyslexia

Wikipedia, (n.d.) Management of Dyslexia From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management_of_dyslexia

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Updated 1/13/23

DYSCALCULIA

 

Dyscalculia (/ˌdɪskælˈkjuːliə/), is a disability resulting in difficulty learning or comprehending arithmetic, such as difficulty in understanding numbers, learning how to manipulate numbers, performing mathematical calculations and learning facts in mathematics. It is sometimes informally known as “math dyslexia”, though this can be misleading as dyslexia is a different condition from dyscalculia.

Dyscalculia does not reflect a general deficit in cognitive abilities or difficulties with time, measurement, and spatial reasoning. Estimates of the prevalence of dyscalculia range between 3 and 6% of the population. In 2015, it was established that 11% of children with dyscalculia also have ADHD.  Dyscalculia has also been associated with people who have Turner syndrome and people who have spina bifida.  (Wikipedia/dyscalculia, n.d)

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A range of terms are used to refer to problems in learning mathematical concepts and skills, including Math Difficulties, Math Disability, Mathematical Learning Disability, Mathematics Disorder, Specific Disorder of Arithmetic Skills, Math Anxiety, and Developmental Dyscalculia ( DD). These terms are similar in that all implicate low numeracy skills. However, they are not synonymous  Here we differentiate general Mathematics Disorder [MD: e.g., DSM-IV:  from Developmental Dyscalculia in several important ways.

In Developmental Dyscalculia the learning problem:

1) is specific to the domain of arithmetic (reading and spelling skills are within the normal range);

2) manifests partly as problems in learning and remembering simple arithmetic facts (such as single-digit sums or products; e.g., 3+4 = 7), rather than more general problems in computation;

3) is typically defined by very low scores on standardized tests of arithmetic achievement, e.g., below the 8th or even 5th percentile, which is equivalent to standard scores below 78

4) reflects a specific impairment in brain function that gives rise to unexpected problems in basic numerical processing, such as automatic or implicit processing of quantities or numbers

(Rubinsten & Tannock, 2010)

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• An important distinction between Developmental Dyscalculia and Mathematical deficits stemming from external factors.

Mathematical performance deficits, Developmental Dyscalculia, may arise because of a wide range of factors, from poor teaching to low socio-economic status, to behavioral attention problems. However, a subset of children with math difficulties, possibly with the most-severe impairments, appears to suffer from a developmental learning disorder that undermines the ability to process basic numerical magnitude information, and that impairment in turn undermines the acquisition of school-level arithmetic skills. This disorder, “primary developmental dyscalculia,” should not be confused with “secondary developmental dyscalculia,” which refers to mathematical deficits stemming from external factors such as those described above. Instead, primary DD is associated with impaired development of brain mechanisms for processing numerical magnitude information and is thus driven by endogenous neurodevelopmental factors.  (Gaven & Ansari, 2013)

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The term ‘dyscalculia’ was coined in the 1940s, but it was not completely recognized until 1974 by the work of Czechoslovakian researcher Ladislav Kosc. Kosc defined dyscalculia as “a structural disorder of mathematical abilities.” His research proved that the learning disability was caused by impairments to certain parts of the brain that control mathematical calculations and not because symptomatic individuals were ‘mentally handicapped’. Researchers now sometimes use the terms “math dyslexia” or “math learning disability” when they mention the condition. Cognitive disabilities, specific to mathematics were originally identified in case studies with patients who experienced specific arithmetic disabilities as a result of damage to specific regions of the brain. More commonly, dyscalculia occurs developmentally as a genetically linked learning disability which affects a person’s ability to understand, remember, or manipulate numbers or number facts (e.g., the multiplication tables). The term is often used to refer specifically to the inability to perform arithmetic operations, but is also defined by some educational professionals and cognitive psychologists such as Stanislas Dehaene and Brian Butterworth as a more fundamental inability to conceptualize numbers as abstract concepts of comparative quantities (a deficit in “number sense”), which these researchers consider to be a foundational skill upon which other mathematics abilities build. Symptoms of dyscalculia include the delay of simple counting, inability to memorize simple arithmetic facts such as adding, subtracting, etc. There are few known symptoms because little research has been done on the topic.  (Wikipedia/dyscalculia, n.d)

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Diagnosis

At its most basic level, dyscalculia is a learning disability affecting the normal development of arithmetic skills. A consensus has not yet been reached on appropriate diagnostic criteria for dyscalculia.

Other than using achievement tests as diagnostic criteria, researchers often rely on domain-specific tests (i.e. tests of working memory, executive function, inhibition, intelligence, etc.) and teacher evaluations to create a more comprehensive diagnosis. Alternatively, fMRI research has shown that the brains of the neurotypical children can be reliably distinguished from the brains of the children with dyscalculia based on the activation in the prefrontal cortex. (Wikipedia/dyscalculia, n.d)

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Etiology and Prevalence

Developmental Dyscalculia (DD) describes a specific and severe deficit in the ability to process numerical information that cannot be ascribed to sensory difficulties, low IQ or inadequate education, and that results in a failure to develop fluent numerical computation skills.  Untreated, DD typically persists beyond the school-age years into late adolescence and adulthood. Epidemiological studies indicate that DD is as common as reading disorders and affects 3.5% – 6.5% of the school-age population.  Moreover, DD runs in families and is heritable, which implicates genetic factors in its etiology, though to date, none have been reported,  (Rubinsten & Tannock, 2010)

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Characteristics

The earliest appearance of dyscalculia is typically a deficit in subitizing, the ability to know, from a brief glance and without counting, how many objects there are in a small group. Children as young as five can subitize six objects, especially looking at a die. However, children with dyscalculia can subitize fewer objects and even when correct take longer to identify the number than their age-matched peers. Dyscalculia often looks different at different ages. It tends to become more apparent as children get older; however, symptoms can appear as early as preschool. Common symptoms of dyscalculia are having difficulty with mental math, trouble analyzing time and reading an analog clock, struggle with motor sequencing that involves numbers, and often they will count on their fingers when adding numbers.

Dyscalculia is characterized by difficulties with common arithmetic tasks. These difficulties may include:

• Difficulty reading analog clocks.
• Difficulty stating which of two numbers is larger.
• Inability to comprehend financial planning or budgeting, sometimes even at a basic level; for example, estimating the cost of the items in a shopping basket or balancing a checkbook.
• Visualizing numbers as meaningless or nonsensical symbols, rather than perceiving them as characters indicating a numerical value (hence the misnomer, “math dyslexia”).
• Difficulty with multiplication, subtraction, addition, and division tables, mental arithmetic, etc.
• Inconsistent results in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
• When writing, reading and recalling numbers, mistakes may occur in the areas such as: number additions, substitutions, transpositions, omissions, and reversals.
• Poor memory (retention and retrieval) of math concepts; may be able to perform math operations one day, but draw a blank the next; may be able to do book work but then fails tests.
• Ability to grasp math on a conceptual level, but an inability to put those concepts into practice.
• Difficulty recalling the names of numbers, or thinking that certain different numbers “feel” the same (e.g. frequently interchanging the same two numbers for each other when reading or recalling them).
• Problems with differentiating between left and right.
• A “warped” sense of spatial awareness, or an understanding of shapes, distance, or volume that seems more like guesswork than actual comprehension.
• Difficulty with time, directions, recalling schedules, sequences of events, keeping track of time, frequently late or early.
• Difficulty reading maps.
• Difficulty working backwards in time (e.g. What time to leave if needing to be somewhere at ‘X’ time).
• Difficulty reading musical notation.
• Difficulty with choreographed dance steps.
• Having difficulty mentally estimating the measurement of an object or distance (e.g., whether something is 3 or 6 meters (10 or 20 feet) away).
• Inability to grasp and remember mathematical concepts, rules, formulae, and sequences.
• Inability to concentrate on mentally intensive tasks.
• Mistaken recollection of names, poor name/face retrieval, may substitute names beginning with the same letter..

(Wikipedia/dyscalculia, n.d)

 

https://youtube.com/watch?v=HVf_OHK2hHQ%3Ffeature%3Doembed%26rel%3D0

[The National Center for Learning Disabilities],(2021, May 11). What is Dyscalculia, [Video file]. from https://youtu.be/HVf_OHK2hHQ (7:46 minutes)

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Persistence in children

Although many researchers believe dyscalculia to be a persistent disorder, evidence on the persistence of dyscalculia remains mixed.[20]

Persistence in adults

There are very few studies of adults with dyscalculia who have had a history of it growing up, but such studies have shown that it can persist into adulthood. It can affect major parts of an adult’s life. Most adults with dyscalculia have a hard time processing math at a 4th grade level. For 1st-4th grade level, many adults will know what to do for the math problem, but they will often get them wrong because of “careless errors”, although they are not careless when it comes to the problem. The adults cannot process their errors on the math problems or may not even recognize that they have made these errors. Visual-spatial input, auditory input, and touch input will be affected due to these processing errors. People with dyscalculia may have a difficult time adding numbers in a column format because their mind can mix up the numbers, and it is possible that they may get the same (wrong) answer twice due to their mind processing the problem incorrectly. People with dyscalculia can have problems determining differences in different coins and their size or giving the correct amount of change and if numbers are grouped together, it is possible that they cannot determine which has less or more. If a person with dyscalculia is asked to choose the greater of two numbers, with the lesser number in a larger font than the greater number, they may take the question literally and pick the number with the bigger font. Adults with dyscalculia have a tough time with directions while driving and with controlling their finances, which causes difficulties on a day-to-day basis.

College students and other adult learners

College students, particularly may have a tougher time due to the fast pace and change in the difficulty of the work they are given. As a result of this, students may develop a lot of anxiety and frustration. After dealing with their anxiety for a long time, students can become averse to math and try to avoid it as much as possible, which may result in lower grades in math courses. However, students with dyscalculia often do exceptionally well in writing, reading, and speaking.  (Wikipedia/dyscalculia, n.d)

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Types

Research on subtypes of dyscalculia has begun without consensus; preliminary research has focused on comorbid learning disorders as subtyping candidates. The most common comorbidity in individuals with dyscalculia is dyslexia. Most studies done with comorbid samples versus dyscalculic-only samples have shown different mechanisms at work and additive effects of comorbidity, indicating that such subtyping may not be helpful in diagnosing dyscalculia. But there is variability in results at present.

Due to high comorbidity with other disabilities such as dyslexia and ADHD, some researchers have suggested the possibility of subtypes of mathematical disabilities with different underlying profiles and causes. Whether a particular subtype is specifically termed “dyscalculia” as opposed to a more general mathematical learning disability is somewhat under debate in the scientific literature.

• Semantic memory: This subtype often coexists with reading disabilities such as dyslexia and is characterized by poor representation and retrieval from long-term memory. These processes share a common neural pathway in the left angular gyrus, which has been shown to be selective in arithmetic fact retrieval strategies and symbolic magnitude judgments. This region also shows low functional connectivity with language-related areas during phonological processing in adults with dyslexia. Thus, disruption to the left angular gyrus can cause both reading impairments and difficulties in calculation. This has been observed in individuals with Gerstmann syndrome, of which dyscalculia is one of a constellation of symptoms.
• Procedural concepts: Research by Geary has shown that in addition to increased problems with fact retrieval, children with math disabilities may rely on immature computational strategies. Specifically, children with mathematical disabilities showed poor command of counting strategies unrelated to their ability to retrieve numeric facts. This research notes that it is difficult to discern whether poor conceptual knowledge is indicative of a qualitative deficit in number processing or simply a delay in typical mathematical development.
• Working memory: Studies have found that children with dyscalculia showed impaired performance on working memory tasks compared to neurotypical children.  Working memory problems are confounded with domain-general learning difficulties, thus these deficits may not be specific to dyscalculia but rather may reflect a greater learning deficit. Dysfunction in prefrontal regions may also lead to deficits in working memory and other executive function, accounting for comorbidity with ADHD.  (Wikipedia/dyscalculia, n.d)

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Math Anxiety

According to the data Rubinsten and Tannock, there is clear evidence that, for  Developmental Dyscalculia (DD), math words had an anxious influence mainly when it comes to addition and multiplication arithmetic problems. What may be some of the reasons for this phenomenon? Normally developing children enter school with informal knowledge about numbers and arithmetic; knowledge that is based on their daily experiences of counting and calculation. Once entering school, however, much educational training is focused on basic multiplication and addition arithmetic facts. Consider, however, a child with DD who is innately deficient in his/her ability to process numbers, to count and to calculate. This child, from a very young age, has to answer addition and multiplication questions for which there is almost always only one correct answer. This situation, combined with the culture of solving these problems quickly, can lead students with DD towards a negative attitude style and ultimately learned helplessness to arithmetic in general (i.e., the affectively related influence that negative affective words had on solving simple arithmetic problems). Also, this situation can lead to a specific and accentuated fear and avoidance when it comes to the retrieval of addition and multiplication problems from memory (i.e., the affectively related influence that math words had on solving mainly multiplication and addition problems).

Hembree  showed that cognitive-behavioral interventions for math anxiety had a positive influence on math achievement test scores. These findings are quite significant in terms of the relationship between math anxiety and math achievement, and specifically in relation to DD. For people with DD, childhood difficulties with numerical processes and poor math achievement intensify math anxiety, which further impedes math achievement. As educators come to appreciate the key role played by math anxiety, interventions that reduce it may become a key part of the math educational system. It might be that one of the most effective ways to reduce math anxiety is to improve math achievement from an early age through interventions focused on children with DD thus turning the cycle of failure-fear-failure to one of success-confidence-success. This is especially true if the assumption that DD is an innate condition is correct. Such programs would be an important way of helping students cope with the frustrations inherent in the learning of mathematics, and thereby improve math achievement.

(Rubinsten & Tannock, 2010)

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Intervention

To date, very few interventions have been developed specifically for individuals with dyscalculia. Concrete manipulation activities have been used for decades to train basic number concepts for remediation purposes. This method facilitates the intrinsic relationship between a goal, the learner’s action, and the informational feedback on the action. A one-to-one tutoring paradigm designed by Lynn Fuchs and colleagues which teaches concepts in arithmetic, number concepts, counting, and number families using games, flash cards, and manipulatives have proven successful in children with generalized math learning difficulties, but intervention has yet to be tested specifically on children with dyscalculia. These methods require specially trained teachers working directly with small groups or individual students. As such, instruction time in the classroom is necessarily limited. For this reason, several research groups have developed computer adaptive training programs designed to target deficits unique to dyscalculic individuals.

Software intended to remediate dyscalculia has been developed. While computer adaptive training programs are modeled after one-to-one type interventions, they provide several advantages. Most notably, individuals are able to practice more with a digital intervention than is typically possible with a class or teacher.  As with one-to-one interventions, several digital interventions have also proven successful in children with generalized math learning difficulties

Several digital interventions have been developed for students with dyscalculia specifically. Each attempts to target basic processes that are associated with math difficulties. Digital interventions for dyscalculia adapt games, flash cards, and manipulatives to function through technology.

While each intervention claims to improve basic numeracy skills, the authors of these interventions do admit that repetition and practice effects may be a factor involved in reported performance gains. An additional criticism is that these digital interventions lack the option to manipulate numerical quantities. While the computer game provides the correct answer, the individual using the intervention cannot actively determine, through manipulation, what the correct answer should be. Butterworth and colleagues argued that games like The Number Bonds games, should be the direction that digital interventions move towards. Such games use manipulation activities to provide intrinsic motivation towards content guided by dyscalculia research. (Wikipedia/dyscalculia, n.d)

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Instructional strategies for students with Dyscalculia from DO-IT

Rochelle Kenyon lists the following strategies for teaching a student with math-related learning disabilities.

• Avoid memory overload. Assign manageable amounts of work as skills are learned.
• Build retention by providing review within a day or two of the initial learning of difficult skills.
• Provide supervised practice to prevent students from practicing misconceptions and “misrules.”
• Make new learning meaningful by relating practice of subskills to the performance of the whole task.
• Reduce processing demands by preteaching component skills of algorithms and strategies.
• Help students to visualize math problems by drawing.
• Use visual and auditory examples.
• Use real-life situations that make problems functional and applicable to everyday life.
• Do math problems on graph paper to keep the numbers in line.
• Use uncluttered worksheets to avoid too much visual information.
• Practice with age-appropriate games as motivational materials.
• Have students track their progress.
• Challenge critical thinking about real problems with problem solving.
• Use manipulatives and technology such as tape recorders or calculators.

This list was adapted from the following source: Garnett, K., Frank, B., & Fleischner, J. X. (1983). A strategies generalization approach to basic fact learning (addition and subtraction lessons, manual #3; multiplication lessons, manual #5). Research Institute for the Study of Learning Disabilities. New York, NY: Teacher’s College, Columbia University.

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Dyscalculia: Teaching Strategies and Modifications From [Teachings in Education]  (3:05 minutes)

https://youtube.com/watch?v=BWaam8s9wSs%3Ffeature%3Doembed%26rel%3D0

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For more math accommodations and teaching strategies to, consult some of the following online articles:

Kenyon, R, (2000) Accommodating Math Students with Learning Disabilities From https://www.ncsall.net/index.html@id=325.html

Manitoba.ca.(n.d.) Supporting Students with Mathematics Disability. From https://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/docs/support/learn_disabilities/module5.pdf

Mathematics for Students with Learning Disabilities from Language-Minority Backgrounds: Recommendations for Teaching by Diane Torres Raborn.

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Assistive Technology

Assistive technology does not “cure” a specific learning disability. These tools compensate rather than remedy, allowing a person with an LD to demonstrate their intelligence and knowledge. Adaptive technology for the person with an LD is a made-to-fit implementation. Trial and error may be required to find a set of appropriate tools and techniques for a specific individual. Ideally, a person with an LD plays a key role in selecting their technology. The teacher should help to determine what works and what does not. Once basic tools and strategies are selected, they can be “test driven,” discarded, adapted, and/or refined.  (DO-IT, n.d.)

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Living with Dsycalculia

https://youtube.com/watch?v=_djdPIZrFno%3Ffeature%3Doembed%26rel%3D0

[BBC The Social], (2019, Mar. 11), Living with Dyscalculia (It’s Not Just “Number Dyslexia” [Video File] From https://youtu.be/_djdPIZrFno  (3:04 minutes)

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Extended Reading

Grigore, M. (2020). Towards a standard diagnostic tool for dyscalculia in school children. CORE Proceedings, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.21428/bfdb1df5.d4be3454 https://core.pubpub.org/pub/ttoew31a/release/1

Rubinsten O (2015) Link between cognitive neuroscience and education: the case of clinical assessment of developmental dyscalculia. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 9:304. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00304  https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2015.00304/full

Sharma, M, C, (2022). Some Remediation Principles for Dyscalculia adn Acquired Dyscalculia,  From https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/dyscalculia/professor-mahesh-c-sharma-full-article-bda-handbook-2022 

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References

DO-IT, University of Washington, (2021) What are strategies for teaching a student with a math related learning disability? From https://www.washington.edu/doit/what-are-strategies-teaching-student-math-related-learning-disability (CC BY SA)

DO-IT, University of Washington, (2021), Why is accessible math important? From https://www.washington.edu/doit/why-accessible-math-important?3=  (CC BY SA)

Price, Gavin R., and Daniel Ansari. “Dyscalculia: Characteristics, Causes, and Treatments.” Numeracy 6,
Iss. 1 (2013): Article 2. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5038/1936-4660.6.1.2 (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Rubinsten, O., Tannock, R. Mathematics anxiety in children with developmental dyscalculia. Behav Brain Funct 6, 46 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1186/1744-9081-6-46 (CC BY 2.0) https://behavioralandbrainfunctions.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1744-9081-6-46#citeas 

Wikipedia, (n.d.) Dyscalculia From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyscalculia (CC SA)

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updated 1/15/23

DYSGRAPHIA

Dysgraphia is a specific learning disability (SLD) as well as a transcription disability, meaning that it is a writing disorder associated with impaired handwriting, orthographic coding and finger sequencing (the movement of muscles required to write disorder.

In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), dysgraphia is characterized as a learning disability in the category of written expression when one’s writing skills are below those expected given a person’s age measured through intelligence and age-appropriate education. The DSM is not clear on whether or not writing refers only to the motor skills involved in writing, or if it also includes orthographic skills and spelling.

There are at least two stages in the act of writing: the linguistic stage and the motor-expressive-praxic stage. The linguistic stage involves the encoding of auditory and visual information into symbols for letters and written words. This is mediated through the angular gyrus, which provides the linguistic rules which guide writing. The motor stage is where the expression of written words or graphemes is articulated. This stage is mediated by Exner’s writing area of the frontal lobe. The condition can cause individuals to struggle with feedback & anticipating and exercising control over rhythm & timing throughout the writing process.

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The underlying causes of the disorder are not fully understood but dysgraphia is known to be a biologically based disorder with genetic and brain bases. More specifically, it is a working memory problem caused by specific neurodevelopmental dysfunction. In dysgraphia, individuals fail to develop normal connections among different brain regions needed for writing. People with dysgraphia have difficulty in automatically remembering and mastering the sequence of motor movements required to write letters or numbers. Dysgraphia is also in part due to underlying problems in orthographic coding, the orthographic loop, and graphomotor output (the movements that result in writing) by one’s hands, fingers and executive functions involved in letter writing.[3] The orthographic loop is when written words are stored in the mind’s eye, connected through sequential finger movement for motor output through the hand with feedback from the eye.

Family history of specific learning disabilities may play a role. It’s been observed that children with developmental dysplasia, developmental dysgraphia and developmental dyslexia may be more likely to have family members with one of these conditions. Genetic studies suggest that verbal executive function tasks, orthographic skills, and spelling ability may have a genetic basis. Genes on chromosomes 6 and 15 may play some role with SLDs as they have linked to poorer reading, poorer spelling and lower phonemic awareness.

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Dysgraphia is nearly always accompanied by other learning disabilities and/or neurodevelopmental disorders such as dyslexia, attention deficit disorder or oral and written language learning disability (OWL LD)  and this can impact the type of dysgraphia a person has. Tourette’s syndrome, ASD and dyspraxia are also common diagnoses among people with dysgraphia. Developmental dysgraphia was originally described as being a disorder that occurs solely in dyslexic individuals. Dysgraphia was not studied as a separate entity until mid-20th century, when researchers discovered there were different types that occur without dyslexia. People with dyslexia and dysgraphia experience similar synchronization difficulties and issues with spelling. However, dyslexia does not seem to impair physical writing ability or dramatically impact fine motor skills and dysgraphia does not impact reading comprehension. Methods for evaluating, managing and remedying dysgraphia are still evolving.

(Wikipedia, n.d./Dsygraphia)

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The Main Types of Dysgraphia

https://youtube.com/watch?v=k9DSzVUxKIw%3Ffeature%3Doembed%26rel%3D0

[Kellane], (2021, Jan. 25). The Main Types of Dysgraphia [Video File] From https://youtu.be/k9DSzVUxKIw (2:31 minutes)

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Characteristics

People with dysgraphia can often write on some level and may experience difficulty with other activities requiring reciprocal movement of their fingers and other fine motor skills, such as; tying shoes, fastening buttons or playing certain musical instruments. However, dysgraphia does not affect all fine motor skills. People with dysgraphia often have unusual difficulty with handwriting and spelling which in turn can cause writing fatigue. Unlike people without transcription disabilities, they tend to fail to preserve the size and shape of the letters they produce if they can’t look at what they are writing. They may lack basic grammar and spelling skills (for example, having difficulties with the letters p, q, b, and d), and often will write the wrong word when trying to formulate their thoughts on paper. The disorder generally emerges when the child is first introduced to writing. There is accumulating evidence that individuals with SLDs and DCD do not outgrow their disorders. Accordingly, it’s been found that adults, teenagers, and children alike are all subject to dysgraphia. Studies have shown that higher education students with developmental dysgraphia still experience significant difficulty with handwriting, fine motor skills and motor-related daily functions when compared to their peers without neurodevelopmental disorders.

The symptoms to dysgraphia are often overlooked or attributed to the student being lazy, unmotivated, careless or anxious. The condition may also be dismissed as simply being an expression of attention deficiency or having delayed visual-motor processing. To be diagnosed with dysgraphia, one must have a cluster, but not necessarily all, of the following symptoms:

• Poor legibility
• Excessive erasures
• Misuse of lines and margins
• Poor spatial planning on paper
• Relies heavily on vision to write
• Irregular letter sizes and shapes
• Frequent reliance on verbal cues
• Inattentiveness over details when writing
• Mixed upper case and lower-case letters
• Switching between cursive and print letters
• Difficulty visualizing letter formation beforehand
• Slow writing speed or inefficient speed of copying
• Inconsistent form and size of letters, or unfinished letters
• Difficulty understanding homophones and what spelling to use
• Handwriting abilities that interfere with spelling and written composition
• Struggles with translating ideas to writing, sometimes using the wrong words altogether
• Issues following rules of sentence structure or grammar when writing, but not when speaking
• Tight, awkward or painful grip of writing utensil or feeling pain while writing (eg; cramps in fingers, wrist and palms)
• Odd wrist, arm, body, or paper orientations (eg; bending arm into an L shape, holding paper down with non-dominant hand)
• Synchronization difficulties like writing and thinking at the same time (eg; creative writing, taking notes, tapping and judging line orientation concurrently)

The symptoms of dysgraphia can change as one ages. Dysgraphia may cause students emotional trauma often due to the fact that no one can read their writing, and they are aware that they are not performing to the same level as their peers. Emotional problems that may occur alongside dysgraphia include impaired self-esteem, lowered self-efficacy, reduced motivation, poorer social functioning, heightened anxiety, and depression. They may put in extra efforts to have the same achievements as their peers, but often get frustrated because they feel that their hard work does not pay off.  Dysgraphia is a hard disorder to detect as it does not affect specific ages, gender, or intelligence.  The main concern in trying to detect dysgraphia is that people hide their disability behind their verbal fluency/comprehension and strong syntax coding because they are ashamed that they cannot achieve the same goals as their peers.

It’s not uncommon for individuals with dysgraphia to be intellectually gifted, possess a rich vocabulary and have strong comprehension of language when speaking or reading, though their disorder is often not detected or treated; which may also be in part to developmental dyslexia receiving far more academic and medical attention than developmental dysgraphia. In addition, gifted children with transcription disabilities seldom receive programming for their intellectual talents due to their difficulties in completing written assignments.

(Wikipedia, n.d./Dsygraphia)

https://youtube.com/watch?v=jmBg_BvDL-c%3Ffeature%3Doembed%26rel%3D0

[The National Center for Learning Disabilities], (2021, Apr. 6). What is Dysgraphia? [Video File]. from https://youtu.be/jmBg_BvDL-c

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Interventions and Strategies

Treatment for dysgraphia varies and may include treatment for motor disorders to help control writing movements. Helping students with dysgraphia overcome writing avoidance and accept the purpose and necessity of writing may be needed. The use of occupational therapy can be effective in the school setting, and teachers should be well informed about dysgraphia to aid in carry-over of the occupational therapist’s interventions. Treatments may address impaired memory or other neurological problems. Some physicians recommend that individuals with dysgraphia use computers to avoid the problems of handwriting. Dysgraphia can sometimes be partially overcome with appropriate and conscious effort and training. The International Dyslexia Association suggests the use of kinesthetic memory through early training by having the child overlearn how to write letters and to later practice writing with their eyes closed or averted to reinforce the feel of the letters being written. They also suggest teaching the students’ cursive writing as it has fewer reversible letters and can help lessen spacing problems, at least within words, because cursive letters are generally attached within a word.

The National Center for Learning Disabilities suggests that children with dysgraphia be handled in a case-by-case manner with an Individualized Education Program, or provided individual accommodation to provide alternative ways of submitting work and modify tasks to avoid the area of weakness. Students with dysgraphia often cannot complete written assignments that are legible, appropriate in length and content, or within a given time. It is suggested that students with dysgraphia receive specialized instructions that are appropriate for them. Children will mostly benefit from explicit and comprehensive instructions, help translating across multiple levels of language, and review and revision of assignments or writing methods. Direct, explicit instruction in letter formation and guided practice will help students achieve automatic handwriting performance before they use letters to write words, phrases, and sentences. Some older children may benefit from the use of a personal computer or a laptop in class so that they do not have to deal with the frustration of falling behind their peers.

It is also suggested by Berninger that teachers must decide if their focus will be on manuscript writing (printing) or keyboarding. In either case, it is beneficial that students are taught how to read cursive writing as it is used daily in classrooms by some teachers. It may also be beneficial for the teacher to come up with other methods of assessing a child’s knowledge other than written tests; an example would be oral testing. This causes less frustration for the child as they are able to get their knowledge across to the teacher without worrying about how to write their thoughts. Students with dysgraphia may benefit from special accommodation by their teachers when being required to write. Accommodations that may be helpful include, but are not limited to; offering larger pencils or pencils with special grips, supplying paper with raised lines to provide tactile feedback, allowing extra time for classwork assignments, scaling down large written assignments and breaking down long written assignments into multiple shorter assignments.

(Wikipedia, n.d./Dsygraphia)

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Assistive Technology

Kelly, K. (n.d.). 8 tools for kids with dysgraphia. Understood for All, Inc. https://www.understood.org/articles/en/8-tools-for-kids-with-dysgraphia

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References

[Kellane], (2021, Jan. 25). The Main Types of Dysgraphia [Video File] From https://youtu.be/k9DSzVUxKIw (2:31 minutes)

[The National Center for Learning Disabilities], (2021, Apr. 6). What is Dysgraphia? [Video File]. from https://youtu.be/jmBg_BvDL-c

Wkipedia, (n.d.) Dysgraphia from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysgraphia

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Updated 7/17/22