Writing Instruction

DYSGRAPHIA: A learning disability that inhibits a persons ability to communicate well through writing.

Although there were many things that stuck with me when listening to this week's power point, there was one idea that really stuck with me because of a personal connection. I wanted to write about it because it is a pretty uncommon thing many people don't know about, and I think as teachers we should be aware of these kinds of possibilities in our classrooms. The part of the power point that talked specifically on grading students based on their work and not just on semantics made me think about my younger sister. She has dysgraphia (a learning disability similar to dyslexia) which really affects her ability to write clearly and spell words correctly.

When she was younger, we just thought she had bad handwriting and troubles spelling. Although her teachers pointed to low comprehension levels- we knew better. My sister is incredibly smart, and has been an avid reader since she was young. She knew definitions, and vocabulary words way more advanced than her peers- but because of this learning challenge, she cannot spell to save her life. She hated writing exercises and spelling tests, because it was something she just could not achieve at, no matter how hard she tried. Once she went through the proper tests, and we found out exactly what it was that was holding her back, she was able to get some help. Although it wasn't really necessary for her to get an IEP for this learning challenge, my mom did make a point to talk to her teachers about it, so that they would be aware of it.

Some teachers were excellent about helping her, and not grading her harshly when it came to writing in class. They would gently correct, and help her recognize her mistakes, but they were not harsh about it. They were the type of teachers who had that climate that fostered writing.

Other teachers were not as helpful, and particularly for spelling tests, just marked it wrong if it wasn't perfect. (Part of her challenge is what Amy called "inventive spelling" in the power point.) She still felt that embarrassment and frustration, and it just got her nowhere.

I am not saying that teachers should give students special treatment in situations like this, but it was interesting to see when she started becoming more comfortable writing. She is now almost 17 years old and her handwriting is still hard to decipher. She often asks our 12 year old sister how to spell words when she is doing homework.

This was just a great example to me of teachers who can both encourage and discourage students from writing. My sister has some pretty legitimate reasons to not like writing, but because of the teachers she has had, she has been able to overcome it and at least enjoy writing a little.

If you want to learn more about dysgraphia, (or if I didn't explain it very well above) you can click here. This website actually has lots of resources for teachers.