Dysgraphia vs Dyslexia: What Each Word Means

By Laura Lurns · Reviewed by Philip Weaver · Last reviewed 2026-09-30

What is the difference between dysgraphia and dyslexia?

As we read the two words, dyslexia starts from reading and spelling words. Dysgraphia starts from writing. Spelling sits in both.

No study we hold tests home signs for telling dysgraphia from dyslexia. Here is what each word points at, and where to look.

What does "dyslexia" point at?

Dyslexia is a name for a pattern of trouble reading words, spelling, or both.

The International Dyslexia Association (IDA) wrote a new definition in 2025. The definition describes trouble reading words or spelling, in accuracy, speed or both. The 2025 definition does not name handwriting.

What does "dysgraphia" point at?

This word is harder. People use it for different things. Here is how some sources use it.

• 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.
• The World Health Organization's list, ICD-11, names spelling, grammar and organizing ideas. It names no handwriting skill.
• Some experts define dysgraphia by handwriting (Berninger and O'Malley May, 2011; the International Dyslexia Association, 2020). The IDA places the trouble in handwriting "and sometimes spelling".
• A review for children's doctors uses the word for any trouble with writing (Chung, Patel and Nizami, 2020).
• One German study picked its dysgraphia group with a spelling test (Döhla, Willmes and Heim, 2018). It had no handwriting measure.

To us, two people using the word may be talking about different children.

Where does spelling fit?

Spelling sits in both words. The IDA's 2025 dyslexia definition names spelling. An IDA fact sheet on dysgraphia names spelling too, as "sometimes" part of it (2020).

In one research group's scheme, dysgraphia is trouble forming letters by hand (Berninger, Richards and Abbott, 2015). In that scheme, dyslexia is trouble spelling and reading words. That study grouped 88 volunteer children by their test results. Its groups were set by the same kind of tests it then compared. It is one scheme, not the definition.

The German study above called its children dysgraphic on spelling alone (Döhla, Willmes and Heim, 2018).

To us, the same spelling trouble may be called dyslexia by one person and dysgraphia by another. In our view, spelling trouble alone does not tell you which word fits. Look at the reading and the handwriting too.

Can a child have both?

Yes, the two can come together in one child. Trouble with writing and trouble with reading often go together. Several studies we hold found this, in different kinds of samples. They counted different things, so no one rate applies to all children. The research we hold does not settle whether one causes the other.

An IDA fact sheet from 2020 goes further. It says children with dysgraphia "usually have other problems such as difficulty with spelling and written expression, as well as dyslexia". That is a fact sheet, not a study.

One US school study followed children from grade 1 to grade 4 (Costa, Edwards and Hooper, 2016). It counted children who met its bars for both writing and reading trouble. Its early writing test included writing the alphabet against a clock. Costa's study gives no rate for children in general.

The 2015 scheme study above found children with dyslexia who also met its handwriting bar (Berninger, Richards and Abbott, 2015). Its dysgraphia group was picked for having no reading trouble. So that study cannot show how often dysgraphia comes without reading trouble.

Two German studies found learning troubles together more often than chance (Moll and colleagues, 2014; Landerl and Moll, 2010). Moll and colleagues found this for spelling and reading. We could read only the 2010 study's summary. In both, the writing measure was spelling, not handwriting. In Moll and colleagues' study, the count changed with where the line was drawn.

When more than one area is hard, we look at more than one.

Can you tell them apart at home?

In our view, not from home signs alone. No study we hold tests home signs for telling dysgraphia from dyslexia. In our view, a sign you see at home shows where to look, not what it is.

In our view, look at which job goes wrong. Is it reading the words, spelling them, forming the letters, or getting ideas down?

Here are the four jobs. We chose the examples under each. They are not a test.

• Reading the words. Slow reading aloud. Guessing at a word from its first letter.
• Spelling them. The same word spelled different ways in one piece.
• Forming the letters. Handwriting that is very hard to read. Writing much slower than classmates.
• Getting ideas down. Trouble getting thoughts onto paper. Trouble organizing ideas, or getting started.

A child can have trouble in more than one. Each item is one sign, not an answer on its own. Handwriting improves most consistently with handwriting practice; motor work alone has not been shown to improve it.

Try this. Ask your child to tell you what they were going to write. Write it down as they talk. Then compare it with what they wrote on their own. Another day, listen to them read a page aloud. Note where each one goes wrong. That shows which job is hard. It does not tell you which word fits.

Our rule is to describe patterns on these pages. We do not put a name on a child.

What helps

Handwriting, spelling and getting ideas down each get better when taught.

• Handwriting. Santangelo and Graham (2016) pooled studies of teaching handwriting. Handwriting lessons made handwriting clearer and faster than other lessons or none.
• Spelling. In a 2014 review of 53 studies, Graham and Santangelo found that teaching spelling directly works. They also found gains in spelling while writing, not only on tests.
• Getting ideas down. Two reviews support teaching children how to plan and revise (Graham and Perin, 2007; Gillespie and Graham, 2014). The first covered grades 4 to 12. The second covered students with learning disabilities.

Work on handwriting, spelling and composing side by side. Spelling improves with spelling instruction. Reading improves with reading instruction.

In our view, the first step is usually to work out what is hard. Keep teaching while you do. We would not wait for a name before helping.

A diagnosis describes where your child is today. It does not predict where they will be after a year of the right kind of practice.

When to ask for help

Each of these is a reason to ask for help on its own.

• Little change, even with steady practice and good teaching.
• Writing well below your child's other schoolwork.
• A teacher who raises a concern about writing.
• Extreme upset about writing.
• Complete avoidance of writing.
• Hopelessness about learning.
• Sadness or worry that lasts.
• Significant delays in speech, language or motor development.
• A skill that was there and has gone. Our position is that a lost skill goes to a doctor first, not a tutor.

Start with the teacher. Say what you are seeing at home, and what you have tried. Beyond the teacher, the right person depends on what it turns out to be about. If the work is too hard, someone who works on that school skill. If worry or mood is the thing, someone who works with children's mental health. In our view, delays in speech, language or movement are worth raising with your child's doctor. In our view, if you are worried enough to ask, a professional evaluation is worth asking about.

Any talk of hurting themselves is a same-day call to your doctor or a crisis line.