My handwriting has affected my whole life, and not ever in good ways. Things like when I was in high school I had really bad handwriting, so bad that I remember a day in which my classmates asked me if I was writing in Sanskrit. I was not. To this day people still joke that I need to be a doctor because of my poor writing skills. Even my mom tried to help by for years pushed the kindergarten writing tablets, the ones with the huge lines, at me in the hope that I would keep trying to fix my writing. Well here I am years later and my writing is still bad especially when I am in a hurry, but I have worked on it enough that most people can read it which is a big improvement.
You see along with having dyslexia and I have a secondary disability called dysgraphia. If you have dyslexia most likely you have dysgraphia too. I hate having it. I can see what I want to write, how it looks, sometimes even how it is spelled, but when I go to put it down on paper it comes out very different then what I saw. It is usually hard to read, spelled wrong, and just plain wrong. It is sooooooo frustrating. That is what I deal with every time I go to write something down on paper.
The best way I can come up with describing dysgraphia is that there is this huge disconnect from my brain to my hand. These disconnect affects things like movement, handwriting, how the letters appear on paper, and so on. It is by far the part I hate about having dyslexia, but the lucky thing about us this that we have an amazing piece of technology that can fix most of the problems- the computer.
I love living in an age that has this great machine that connects people in new ways, helps people, and overall makes life better. I have found that I can write on a computer a lot easier that I can on a piece of paper. I still write on paper, but I love writing on a computer. I mean the computer has spell-check and grammar check which this very (very) helpful. I wish I could upload a photo of my real handwriting so you could see how bad it is, but just take my word on this one.
There are some things to be looking for with dysgraphia-
- Strong verbal skills, but poor writing skills
- Generally illegible handwriting
- Avoiding writing or drawing tasks
- Tiring quickly while writing
- Inconsistencies: mixture of print & cursive, upper & lower case, or irregular sizes,
- Shapes, or slant of letters
- Reversals & syllable omissions
- Unfinished words or letters & omitted words
- Slow or labored copying
- Tight, awkward pencil grip and body position
- Inconsistent spacing of letters and words
- Difficulty organizing thoughts on paper
I show signs of all of these. Most are “fixable” by finding out what works for you or using the computer more, and just practicing writing something that is interesting to you. Like a short story or even just slowly coping a story you like. I like writing stories in 55 words. For me I have to slow down and try to write in a way that people can read. Some days that works, others not in the slightest.
I will say that it never completely disappears, and that there will be good and bad days. Mainly having friends that will be a proofreader for papers and other things is very helpful because you may not always find the problems in your own writing. Just find a way to keep writing no matter how hard it is, and remember that there are also tools to help, even my Mom approved kindergarten tablets. Never give up -just find a way for your brain to work best with you, not against you.
Until next time!
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