Graphic skills and writing: understanding and supporting dysgraphia
Dysgraphia is a handwriting disorder that manifests as slow, illegible, tiring, or painful writing. Affecting 5 to 10% of school-age children, it can be isolated or associated with other disorders (dyslexia, DCD, ADHD). This comprehensive guide presents the causes, manifestations, and effective remediation strategies.
📋 In this article
What is dysgraphia?
Dysgraphia is a learning disorder that specifically affects the quality of handwriting, in the absence of intellectual deficit or acquired neurological disorder. It is characterized by persistent difficulties in executing graphic gestures, despite appropriate teaching and sufficient practice.
Dysgraphic writing may present one or more of the following characteristics:
- Illegibility: poorly formed, unrecognizable letters
- Slowness: writing speed significantly below peers
- Fatigue: rapid exhaustion when writing, pain
- Irregularity: variable size, slant, spacing
- Tension: excessive tension, too much pressure
🔬 Dysgraphia and Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD)
Dysgraphia is often a manifestation of DCD (formerly "dyspraxia"). DCD affects motor coordination in general, and writing in particular. However, dysgraphia can also be isolated or associated with other disorders (dyslexia, ADHD) without confirmed DCD.
Writing prerequisites
Writing is a complex activity that mobilizes numerous skills. Difficulties in any of these components can lead to graphic disorders.
| Domain | Required skills | Possible difficulties |
|---|---|---|
| Fine motor skills | Digital dexterity, coordination of small hand muscles | Imprecise gesture, clumsiness |
| Muscle tone | Muscle tension regulation, postural stability | Tension or hypotonia, rapid fatigue |
| Eye-hand coordination | Visual guidance of gesture, precision | Difficulty following lines, labored copying |
| Visual perception | Shape discrimination, spatial orientation | Letter confusion, reversals |
| Spatial awareness | Organization on the paper space, writing direction | Poor use of space, margins |
| Kinesthetic memory | Trace automation, motor sequences | Non-automated gesture, searching for the trace |
Types of dysgraphia
Several classifications exist. Here are the most frequently described profiles:
Motor dysgraphia (or "clumsy")
Related to fine motor skills and coordination difficulties. The child knows what they want to write but cannot control their gesture. Letters are poorly formed, shaky, irregular. Often associated with DCD.
Spatial dysgraphia
Related to difficulties in spatial awareness. The child has trouble organizing their writing on the page: margins not respected, lines not followed, irregular spacing, "staircase" writing.
Dysgraphia related to dyslexia
Dysgraphia often accompanies dyslexia. Phonological representation difficulties impact encoding and can affect handwriting. Attention to spelling overloads working memory and degrades the gesture.
"Cramped" or hypertonic dysgraphia
Characterized by excessive tension and hand cramping. Heavy writing that sometimes goes through the paper, rapid fatigue, pain in the hand and forearm.
Warning signs by age
In kindergarten (3-5 years)
- Avoids drawing and coloring activities
- Difficulty properly holding crayons
- Shaky or imprecise strokes
- Cannot reproduce simple shapes (circle, square)
- Colorings that go well outside the lines
In 1st-2nd grade (6-7 years)
- Illegible writing despite efforts
- Significant slowness in copying
- Letters of irregular size
- Doesn't follow the lines
- Tires quickly or complains of pain
- Atypical and tense pencil grip
Beyond 3rd grade
- Writing doesn't become automatic
- Growing gap with peers
- Avoids written tasks, very short productions
- Quality deteriorates when speed increases
- Impact on academic results
Assessment and diagnosis
The diagnosis of dysgraphia is generally made by an occupational therapist or a psychomotor therapist, the two first-line professionals for this disorder. They evaluate:
- Writing quality: legibility, letter formation, regularity
- Writing speed: number of letters per minute, compared to norms
- Posture and pencil grip
- Fine motor skills: dexterity, coordination
- Muscle tone and tonic regulation
- Visual and visual-spatial prerequisites
Standardized tests like the BHK (Concise Assessment Scale for Children's Handwriting) allow quantifying dysgraphia and tracking evolution.
⚠️ Ruling out secondary causes
Before concluding dysgraphia, potential medical causes must be ruled out: visual disorders (orthoptic assessment), neurological disorders, or pain (joint hypermobility for example). Medical opinion may be necessary.
Remediation principles
Handwriting remediation is primarily conducted by the occupational therapist or psychomotor therapist, depending on the child's profile. It relies on several axes:
1. Working on prerequisites
Before working on writing itself, strengthen the foundations: fine motor skills (manipulation, cutting, modeling clay), posture, tone, eye-hand coordination. Preparatory graphics (loops, bridges, waves) may be necessary.
2. Correcting pencil grip
A tripod grip (thumb, index, middle finger) is recommended but not mandatory. The essential thing is that the grip is functional and pain-free. Adapters (grips) can help. Caution: modifying an established grip is difficult and not always necessary.
3. Automating the gesture through repetition
The goal is for the graphic gesture to become automatic to free cognitive resources. This requires regular and structured practice, starting with simple strokes before moving to letters, then words.
4. Using directional models
Letters with arrows indicating stroke direction are more effective than simple static models. They allow automating the correct gesture from the start and avoiding "bad habits".
Practical strategies
Posture and setup
- Feet flat on the floor, straight back, forearms on the table
- Paper tilted (30° to the left for right-handers)
- Table at proper height: elbows at 90°
- Sufficient lighting, coming from the side opposite to the writing hand
Material selection
- Proper-sized pencil: neither too thin, nor too thick
- Grip or adapter if necessary
- Paper with colored lines: baseline, sky line, grass
- Slanted surface if needed (improves posture)
Learning progression
- Start with basic gestures: lines, loops, bridges, waves
- Introduce letters by families of similar gestures
- Work on one difficulty at a time: first shape, then size, then connection
- Short frequent sessions rather than long spaced sessions
Our downloadable tools
✏️ Preparatory graphic worksheets
Basic strokes before letters: lines, loops, bridges, waves, spirals. Structured progression from simple to complex. Multiple levels.
Download🔤 Directional letter models
Alphabet with indication of stroke direction and order. Helps automate the correct gesture. Print and cursive available.
Download📝 Adapted writing lines
Colored ruling (Seyès, double line, learning lines) in different sizes. Helps with spatial awareness on the line.
Download✋ Fine motor exercises
Activities to develop dexterity: manipulation, cutting, folding, threading. Prepare the hand for writing.
DownloadAccommodations and compensations
When remediation is not sufficient or as a complement, accommodations help compensate for difficulties:
| Type | Possible accommodations |
|---|---|
| Reduced writing | Course photocopies, fill-in-the-blank texts, multiple choice instead of written answers |
| Extended time | Time and a third, extended deadlines for written productions |
| Digital tools | Computer, tablet with keyboard (generally from 3rd-4th grade onwards) |
| Adapted supports | Colored lines, special paper, slanted surface |
| Adapted assessment | Don't penalize presentation, evaluate content |
💻 Transitioning to computer
The computer is an effective compensation for severe dysgraphia, especially from middle school where the amount of writing increases. This requires learning the keyboard (touch typing ideally) and an adaptation period. Handwriting continues to be worked on in parallel as it remains useful in many situations.
Frequently asked questions
The occupational therapist and psychomotor therapist are the two first-line professionals. The occupational therapist focuses on gesture and material adaptation, the psychomotor therapist on tonic and postural aspects. Graphotherapists (handwriting reeducators) also intervene, often in private practice. The speech therapist can intervene when dysgraphia is associated with a written language disorder.
Not systematically. What matters is that the grip is functional (allows legible and fluent writing) and pain-free. Modifying a grip anchored for a long time is difficult and can temporarily destabilize writing. Professional advice (occupational therapist) is recommended before embarking on a modification.
With appropriate remediation, most children improve significantly. However, some retain residual difficulties into adulthood. Compensation tools (computer notably) then allow bypassing the disorder. The goal is not necessarily "perfect" writing but functional writing that allows communication and learning.
Yes! Beyond the practical aspect (taking notes, filling forms...), handwriting has cognitive benefits: it promotes memorization and spelling learning. Studies show that we retain better what we've written by hand than what we've typed. However, for children with severe dysgraphia, digital remains precious help.
✍️ Ready to support writing difficulties?
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Discover all tools →Article written by the DYNSEO team in collaboration with occupational therapists. Last update: December 2024.
