Writing, Handwriting and Dysgraphia: A Parent’s Guide
Bad writing can mean different problems. One is the handwriting: letters that wander, sizes that change, a hand that hurts. Another is getting ideas down: a child tells you the whole story out loud, then writes four flat sentences. They need different help. Dysgraphia is a word for a pattern of trouble with writing. People use it for different things.
Browse this section
Signs and symptoms
What writing trouble can look like.
- Copies Fine but Struggles to Write Their Own Sentences
- Dysgraphia in Adults: What Studies Found and Where to Turn
- Handwriting Load vs Composition Load: Where Is It Breaking Down?
- Handwriting Struggles in Kindergarten: What's Typical and What's Not
- Signs of Dysgraphia: What to Look For as Your Child Grows
- Slow Writing: Where the Time Can Go
- The "Types of Dysgraphia" You'll Read About — and Why Experts Disagree
- The Awkward, Contorted Writing Posture
Is it dysgraphia or something else?
Overlaps with dyslexia, ADHD and coordination.
Causes and myths
What sits under writing trouble, and claims worth checking.
Handwriting practice
Letters, grip, spacing and size.
Spelling and written expression
Spelling, planning and putting ideas into words.
Tools and technology
Typing, dictation and other tools.
Assessment and teaching at home
Evaluations, and writing when you teach at home.
More articles
TL;DR
- Writing is several jobs at once. Trouble with the handwriting and trouble getting ideas down are different problems. Tell them apart first.
- A quick check: ask your child to say the piece out loud while you write it down. Compare it with what they wrote.
- Handwriting improves most consistently with handwriting practice; motor work alone has not been shown to improve it. Check any program that says otherwise.
- Work on handwriting, spelling and composing side by side.
- Dysgraphia is a word for a pattern of trouble with writing. Nothing on this page is a diagnosis.
Where does the writing get stuck?
Ask your child to tell you what they were going to write. Out loud, with no pen and no page. Or write it down for them while they talk.
Some children tell a rich, funny story out loud. Then they write four flat sentences about it. For that child, the ideas are there. Getting them onto paper is the hard part. That gap is about getting words onto paper, not about your child.
Other children say as little as they write. In our view, something else is going on then. It is worth a separate look.
This check takes a few minutes. It tells you where to look. A child can have trouble with both. Spelling can be part of either.
When the marks on the page are the problem
Letters of different sizes. Words drifting off the line. A grip that looks painful. A hand that aches after a paragraph. Writing that is neat for two lines and then falls apart.
Santangelo and Graham (2016) pooled studies of teaching handwriting. Handwriting lessons made handwriting clearer and faster than other lessons or none. What they call motor instruction has not been shown to make handwriting better. Their summary does not say what that term covers. Some programs promise better handwriting from an activity that is not writing. Check that claim before you pay for it.
Keep the handwriting practice going. Show your child where each letter starts, which way it goes, and in what order. Then practice the letters themselves. Keep sessions short and frequent. Handwriting falls apart when the hand is tired.
When getting it onto paper is the problem
A child writing a sentence does several jobs at once. They hold the idea. They choose the words and spell them. They form the letters. They keep the sentence in mind while the hand catches up.
Letters and spelling that are not yet automatic compete with the ideas for attention. This is one real reason a child writes less than they know. It is not the only one.
Calling it "lazy" only means the effort has not met the right method yet.
One useful step is to split the jobs for a while. Plan the piece together first. Then talk it through. Write the first draft down as your child says it. Then bring the spelling and handwriting back in, one at a time.
De La Paz and Graham studied students in grades 5 to 7 with learning disabilities. Dictation plus taught planning gave better essays than a comparison group. The authors concluded that planning matters when a child dictates. So teach the planning, not only the scribing. The point is to let a child try the parts one at a time. It is not to take the work away for good.
Spelling
Spelling needs its own attention. In a 2014 review of 53 studies, Graham and Santangelo found that teaching spelling directly works. Graham and Santangelo also found gains in spelling while writing, not only on tests.
Some children spell the same word three ways in one piece. Notice that as a pattern, not as carelessness.
Where dysgraphia fits
Dysgraphia is a word for a pattern of trouble with handwriting, spelling, or getting thoughts onto paper. People use the word for different things. A US psychiatric manual, the DSM, lists trouble with written expression under specific learning disorder. Its 2013 edition lists spelling, grammar and organizing ideas, not handwriting. You may also hear written expression disorder or specific learning disorder.
Where the line is drawn changes how many children are counted. Katusic and colleagues (2009) studied 5,718 children born in Rochester, Minnesota, from 1976 to 1982. They used three formulas for written-language disorder. Depending on the formula, 6.9% to 14.7% of the children were counted. That is written-language disorder, not handwriting.
Our rule is to describe patterns on these pages. We do not put a name on a child. We say a child "is developing writing skills."
What to work on
Work on handwriting, spelling and composing side by side. Each one gets better when it is taught. Handwriting practice makes handwriting better, but its effect on composing is not settled. Santangelo and Graham (2016) found gains in composing. A US federal panel, the What Works Clearinghouse, found few studies that measured writing quality. Those few found no evidence of a gain from handwriting and spelling practice. The panel still thinks it helps. So teach composing as well.
What about typing?
A keyboard takes away forming the letters. It does not take away spelling, composing or holding the sentence in mind. It is worth trying, and worth watching closely.
Typing has to be taught, like handwriting. Feng and colleagues (2019) found that children slow by hand tend to be slow at a keyboard too.
Our position is this. Ask whether a support builds the skill, or replaces the expectation that it gets built. For a keyboard, the answer depends on the task. In a science test, typing lets the science show. In a handwriting lesson, it replaces the practice. We would keep building handwriting through the elementary years. Type where the point is the content.
What to ask a school
Specific questions get specific answers.
- "Is the problem the handwriting, the spelling or the composing?" Ask how his spoken answers compare with his written ones. A teacher hears his answers and reads his writing every day.
- "Can he have a printed copy instead of copying from the board?" It is a small change. It takes a whole task off the page.
- "Are the ideas graded apart from the spelling and handwriting?" In our view, one mark for both blames his ideas for his spelling or handwriting.
- "Is spelling being taught directly?"
- "Is letter-formation practice part of his writing lessons?" Ask this if he mostly gets fine motor activities.
One more question is worth asking: "What does he do when the writing gets hard?" Some children put off the first mark. They sharpen pencils, look for a different pen, or ask for the bathroom. To us, that delay is often a sign the writing is hard, not defiance. It is worth raising. And in our view, a child handled as defiant is not getting help with the writing.
In the classroom
A printed copy instead of copying from the board costs nothing. It shows you quickly how much of the problem was the copying.
Grade the ideas apart from the spelling and handwriting. Say which one you are grading.
A short email home: "He tells me far more than he writes. I would like to plan with him and scribe his drafts, for two weeks. Then we can see his writing with the handwriting out of the way."
Key Takeaways
Tell handwriting apart from getting ideas onto paper before you choose what to work on. Hear the piece out loud first.
Handwriting improves most consistently with handwriting practice; motor work alone has not been shown to improve it. Treat any other promise as a claim to check.
For composing, teach planning, then write the draft as your child says it. In De La Paz and Graham's study, planning plus dictation beat a comparison group on essays. The students were in grades 5 to 7 and had learning disabilities.
Teaching spelling directly works, and it shows up in children's writing (Graham and Santangelo, 2014).
Work on handwriting, spelling and composing side by side.
Ask your child to tell you the piece they have to write. Type it or write it down as they say it. Do not correct anything. Read it back to them. Later, let them write it on their own. Set the two side by side. Notice whether the spoken version holds more.
”What to do tonightWhat to use next
A set of questions you answer about what you see at home. A screener is a starting point, not a diagnosis. If your child might need formal accommodations (an IEP or 504 plan), or you suspect a vision, hearing, or medical cause, pursue a professional evaluation too — that's the only route to those supports.
What the hand is doing — worked alongside handwriting practice rather than in place of it; motor work on its own has not been shown to improve handwriting.
Common questions from parents
His handwriting is unreadable but he is bright. Are those connected?
To us, handwriting is a poor guide to how well a child thinks. A child's writing often shows less than they know. Protect what he believes about himself. To us, a page covered in corrections tells a child something you did not mean to say.
Should I let her type instead?
Try it, and watch what happens. A keyboard takes away forming the letters. She still has to spell, compose and hold the sentence in mind. Typing has to be taught, like handwriting. We would keep building her handwriting through the elementary years. Use typing where the point is the content. Compare one piece she typed with one she wrote by hand. The answer is in those two pieces.
He holds the pencil strangely. Does it need fixing?
Three studies looked at the grips of mostly typical fourth graders. All three found the common grips wrote about as clearly (Dennis and Swinth, 2001; Koziatek and Powell, 2003; Schwellnus and colleagues, 2012). Koziatek and Powell, and Schwellnus and colleagues, also found them about as fast. Schneider and colleagues reviewed 13 studies in 2023. They suggest an inefficient grip can make writing less clear and more tiring. They call the research inconclusive. None of the three studies tested changing a grip. If he writes comfortably and clearly, an unusual grip is not by itself a problem. Pain, tiredness, or writing that falls apart after a few lines are worth raising.
Is it dysgraphia?
People use that word in different ways. For this week, you do not need the word. You need to know where the trouble is: the marks, the spelling or the composing. There is also a free dysgraphia screener. It is a set of questions you answer about what you see at home. A screener is a starting point, not a diagnosis. If your child might need formal accommodations (an IEP or 504 plan), or you suspect a vision, hearing, or medical cause, pursue a professional evaluation too — that's the only route to those supports.