Students with Dysgraphia: 5 Classroom Tips

Dysgraphia is a language-based learning difference that affects a student’s ability to produce written language. In the early grades, students with dysgraphia may have difficulty with consistent letter formation, word spacing, punctuation, and capitalization. In later grades, they may have difficulty with writing fluency, floating margins, and legible writing. Students with dysgraphia are often labeled “sloppy,” “lazy,” or “not detail-oriented” in a classroom setting, but students with dysgraphia are often trying very hard (if not harder than others) just to keep up. Dysgraphia is an invisible disability that often goes hand in hand with dyslexia. Like students with dyslexia, students with dysgraphia are often acutely aware of what they’re not capable of relative to their peers.

Dysgraphia can be helped with occupational therapy to strengthen fine motor skills, support written expression, and speed up language processing. If a student is struggling with writing in a way that goes beyond what is developmentally appropriate, they should receive an evaluation by an occupational therapist for remediation. Early intervention for orthographic processing, fine motor coordination, and written expression can help alleviate the difficulties that students with dysgraphia face. Here are 5 ideas about curriculum, accommodations, and tools that can help teachers in supporting students with dysgraphia.

1. Provide access to speech-to-text tools. Assistive technology accommodations can support students with dysgraphia in their classroom writing tasks in all grades. There are several free, easy-to-use speech-to-text dictation tools. Students can use Google’s voice typing function in the Chrome browser, Dragon Dictation, or Apple’s Speak Screen functions.

2. Teach cursive writing. Cursive writing has fewer starting points than disconnected print letters, which translates to improved writing speed, more consistent letter sizing, and neater overall appearance of writing. Watch a free webinar on the importance of cursive writing instruction for students and use cursive writing books from Handwriting Without Tears to teach cursive writing as early as first grade.

3. Teach typing. Typing can be easier than writing once students are fluent with keyboards. Teach typing skills starting as early as kindergarten and allow for ample typing practice in the classroom. Many schools and districts have typing programs to support their students’ budding typing skills. Great online typing programs include Nessy Fingers Touch Typing (which costs money), TypingClub, and the games at Typing.com.

4. Allow note-taking accommodations. Copying notes from a whiteboard can be a particular challenge for students with dysgraphia. Allow students to take pictures of lecture notes to review later. Students can use a free optical character reader (OCR) like Prizmo Go (for iOS) or Google Keep (for Android) to automatically read text from the photos to review those notes.

5. Use graph paper for math assignments and tests. Graph paper helps students with dysgraphia stay in the lines, which becomes increasingly important in the later grades when they’re faced with more complex math tasks. Reduce unintended errors by providing graph paper for student tests or as a background for homework assignments. Use the free printable math grids at Do2Learn.

These are just a few things that may help a student with dysgraphia in the classroom, but primarily it’s important to be creative about accommodations and to communicate with students about their individual needs. When students feel understood and supported in the classroom, the positive social-emotional impact has ripple effects through their whole school experience.

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Allison Green
Boston Tutoring Services