Dysgraphia (Carly Rohrbacker)

1.  How does it feel to be the parent of your child?

Emma is a sweet, caring, outgoing girl, and we are so proud of her. She is fantastic at public speaking, and so persuasive! She is also extremely musical. She started piano lessons at age 4 and has been playing ever since! She loves it! I point these things out because we have taught Emma not to define herself by her shortcomings. When Emma thinks about herself, we want her to see the sweet, confident girl, the outstanding pianist and caring older sister that we see. Since Emma’s difficulty writing has caused her so much trouble in school, it has been amazing to see her gain confidence from blossoming in other areas. She has lots of friends and is very confident in all other areas, but her dysgraphia has caused her a lot of pain and frustration. As her parents, we have done everything we can to ensure her success, but it is sometimes frustrating. Dyslexia is a well known learning disability, but dysgraphia is less known. Because of this, it was difficult to diagnose, and it is sometimes hard to get teachers on our side. Our daughter’s disability is much more than carelessness and sloppiness, but some people have a hard time understanding that, which only frustrates Emma more. In the past, it has made me angry, since I do not like to see people blame my daughter when I know that she is trying so hard. Now that we have progressed more in helping Emma, however, things have gotten easier. Emma also has had excellent teachers the past couple of years.

2.  How is your child developmentally the same or different from other children at the various ages?

Emma understands so much more than people often give her credit for. We saw this from a very young age. In Kindergarten and first grade, Emma had extreme difficulty making letters and words. Sometimes, she would only write half of words, creating unintelligible lines of print. Sometimes, her letters would be completely smashed together so that no one could read them, and sometimes, they would be spaced apart the wrong way.  However, when asked to orally spell words, Emma always got them right. She had a perfect understanding of the content she was being taught at school, but she absolutely could not express her understanding in writing. Math proved difficult for her as well, especially when she began to learn two-digit addition and subtraction. She struggled with lining the numbers up. For a long time, we just couldn’t understand why Emma had so much difficulty transferring her obvious knowledge onto paper, both in math and writing. She grew frustrated, and we did too. Even today, now that Emma has received help and has learned strategies to cope with her learning disability, she struggles at times. Writing is always going to be a bit of a struggle for her. Regardless, our little girl is extremely intelligent! She has a memory like a sponge and can orally explain absolutely everything she learns at school. Emma has just as much knowledge as children her age, or maybe even more, but she has difficulty with writing at her grade level.

3.  What professionals/agencies do you deal with? What services are available to you and your child?

When Emma was in second grade, her teacher felt that she might have a learning disability. She called for a Student Study Team to determine what could be done for her. Testing revealed that Emma has dysgraphia. The school has provided Emma with support for her writing difficulties. Emma’s teachers accommodate her needs, providing alternative assessments occasionally, such as oral reports and tests instead of written ones. They also provide her with special pencil grips and paper to help Emma write more easily. As Emma has moved into the older grades, her teachers have worked with her on learning to edit her own work. Emma has developed a checklist of things to go over when she is done with a piece of writing. Sometimes, Emma works at a different pace or has a less extensive writing assignment than the rest of her class.

4.  How did you find out about the above services?

As I mentioned before, Emma’s second grade teacher was really instrumental in helping us find assistance for Emma. She truly believed that Emma’s issues with writing stemmed from much more than just laziness and sloppy penmanship.

5.  What financial burden, if any, are you experiencing?

After we found out about Emma’s dysgraphia, we invested in a Write Track, which was not incredibly expensive, but helped Emma immensely in organizing lines of text. It is a relatively simple plastic tool that has a window showing one line at a time for the child to write in. Emma enjoyed using it at first, but she no longer needs it. We also invested in the software program PointScribe, which was more expensive. This helped Emma with letter formation. Although Emma was in second grade at the time, we had noticed that she was forming many of her letters incorrectly. We try to stay up to date on developments in writing aids. In third grade, Emma’s teacher recommended a tutor to us. The tutor is a retired teacher who actually spent most of her career teaching students with learning disabilities. She has a lot of experience with children who have dysgraphia. Emma’s tutor works with her once a week, and Emma really loves her. She charges $30 an hour, which is a small price to pay for the help she provides Emma.

6.  What other information do you want to share?

 Children with learning disabilities are not “slow” or “stupid.” Emma has dealt with a lot at school – frustration, kids calling her names, and all the rest. Emma’s first grade teacher, though she was generally a good teacher, did not understand Emma’s disability, and made Emma feel guilty because she could not write correctly. If you think that your child has a learning disability, do research! Don’t keep silent, and get help! Also, embrace all the unique strengths that your child has. Emma is a fantastic musician, very social, and a caring friend to many. We have really tried to build up her confidence by reminding her of what she’s good at, and of the fact that she really is smart! I really think that Emma has benefited from her learning disability, because she has learned how to work hard and overcome obstacles. I tell her how proud I am of her every single day. In many ways, my daughter is my hero.


My Glog: http://ccr321.glogster.com/dysgraphia/