A child having dysgraphia despises written work as they face problems with letter identification and formation. Spellings and expressing their thoughts in words are major areas in which they face difficulties, making any written work a tedious task for them.
By making written tasks fun, these students are more likely to enjoy the process thereby developing an interest towards the ‘written words’.
Expose your student to as many textures as possible before moving on to paper and pencil. Writing on a zip lock bag filled with coloured shampoo, tracing letters on sand or sand paper, air writing etc. These tactile experiences will help the child get a good understanding of the letter formation.
Categorize the alphabets as Giraffe letters (b, d, f, h, k, l, t), Chicken letters (a, c, e, m, n, o, r, s, u, v, w, x) and Monkey letters (g, j, p, q, y, z) to help them with letter identification.
Tell your student to mold the clay into the alphabets of his name, his best friend’s name etc.
Before handing them a dull lead pencil, let them explore writing with colours using crayons, sketch pens, color pencils, brush pens, glitter pens etc. so as to help the student develop a better grip before moving onto pen and/or pencil.
Every day try to get your student to write just for a minute. Not more than that! It could be sentence with an interesting word or just how his/her day was. This timed activity is an amazing way to build up his/her creative writing in a gradual manner.
It can be a while for a child to take a liking towards writing. Be supportive and encourage them positively. Keep reminding them that their consistent effort is paying off. Appreciate every small effort. As a benchmark, put up their best handwriting on the soft board to serve as a reminder of what they are capable of.
Ms. Batul Ghadiyali
Junior School Teacher
The Aditya Birla Integrated School
