Dysgraphia Testing
We offer high-quality assessments of a student’s writing abilities conducted by a licensed and certified school psychologist. Dysgraphia (also called “Specific Learning Disorder with Impairment in Written Expression or simply Writing LD) is a learning disability that affects writing abilities. It can manifest itself as difficulties with spelling, poor handwriting, and trouble putting thoughts on paper. Because writing requires a complex set of motor and information processing skills, saying a student has dysgraphia is not sufficient. A student with disorders in written expression will benefit from specific accommodations in the learning environment, as well as additional practice learning the skills required to be an accomplished writer.
Just having bad handwriting doesn’t mean a person has dysgraphia. However, since writing is a developmental process – children learn the motor skills needed to write, while learning the thinking skills needed to communicate on paper – difficulties can also overlap.
If a person has trouble in any of the areas below, additional help may be beneficial.
- Tight, awkward pencil grip and body position
- Illegible handwriting
- Slow, labored writing
- Mixing print and cursive letters
- Spacing letters and words oddly
- Avoiding writing or drawing tasks
- Tiring quickly while writing
- Unfinished or omitted words in sentences
- Difficulty organizing thoughts on paper
- Poor spelling
- Run-on sentences and lack of paragraph breaks
- Difficulty with syntax structure and grammar
- Large discrepancy between written ideas and ideas demonstrated through speech
Testing for dysgraphia is a comprehensive process and often includes the following components:
- Intelligence testing
- Cognitive processing
- Spelling skills for real and nonsense words
- Vocabulary
- Grammar
- Punctuation
- Logical sentences
- Sentence combining
- Written expression skills
After the comprehensive testing, a feedback session is scheduled with the parents usually within two weeks (either in-person or by video conference). The conference will discuss assessment results as well as review the comprehensive written report detailing test findings and a treatment recommendation plan. If testing shows that your child has Dysgraphia, there are next steps to follow to get help.
Most feedback sessions are scheduled within two weeks of data collection. It is important to us at ETS to get you the information you need as soon as possible.
Dr. Bell is also available to attend school meetings to review test results, to help with intervention planning, or to advocate for the needs of your child.