In term Discography Is used when children or both problems in calligraphy as in spelling (dysortography) .
Learning to read will involve a wide variety of knowledge, skills and abilities that in many cases will be really complicated to master by many children who may have a Disorder of written expression (Matute, Roselli and Ardila, 2010).
Disorders of written expression are part of specific learning disorders and refer to the presence of writing skills Below that expected for age, intellectual level and school year the child (Matute, Roselli and Ardila, 2010).
The written expression implies a set of motor skills and information processing that can be altered and therefore manifest With difficulties in spelling, calligraphy, spacing, composition, or organization on paper (Learning Disabilities Association of Ameria, 2016).
All alterations in written expression will significantly infer in school performance and in all those activities that require Writing as a fundamental tool (Matute, Roselli and Ardila, 2010).
Relationship between written expression and dysgraphia
Although most children do not usually present significant difficulties in writing, more problems are Written expression, many of which may be due to the educational system, the family environment, socioeconomic status and even Neurobiological and genetic (Ventura et al., 2011).
Writing is a fundamental tool in daily life, it allows us to express ideas, knowledge, through graphic signs. In addition, it is not An easy-to-acquire process, until it reaches an optimal level of automation requires continued practice in addition to the provision of various Cognitive resources to respond simultaneously to all the demands of this ability (Ventura et al., 2011).
To achieve a legible handwriting, an error-free spelling, or construct a text with a coherent structure, it is essential that we master several Subsystems of writing (Matute, Roselli and Ardila, 2010):
- The graphic stroke.
- The graphical composition of the word and the orthographic aspects.
- The separation between words.
- The spelling accent.
- The score.
- The grammar.
- The coherence between texts.
On the other hand, there will also be a series of cognitive prerequisites when dealing with the learning of writing (Matute, Roselli and Ardila, 2010):
- Language and metalanguage : A minimal linguistic level will be necessary to construct compositions - phonological skills, semantic aspects, Processing units.
- Memory and attention : The efficient control of attentional resources will facilitate the task of selecting the important elements and, on the other hand On the other hand, operational memory will allow us to maintain the topic of the text. In addition, long-term memory will allow us to recover all knowledge Semantic relation to the construction of language.
- Reading : Writing and reading will share processes however, a good reader child will not necessarily be a good writer as well.
- Executive functions : Will be essential for the planning and organization of the text, for the selection of the strategy of suitable construction
And also the simultaneous management of all linguistic subsystems. - Affective variables : Different clinical reports have related variables such as anxiety, worry and motivation with writing.
What is dysgraphia?
In the dysgraphia we will be able to observe different deficiencies that are going to cause that the writing abilities of a child are Substantially below expectations.
It is frequent to observe difficulty to understand written text, grammatical errors, punctuation errors in the elaboration of fats, organization Deficient paragraphs, misspellings and poor calligraphy.
If we deal with the characteristics described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Illness (IV), disorders of written expression Are characterized by:
TO. Ability to write, evaluated through standardized tests and administered individually, are significantly below The expected for the chronological age of the individual, his IQ and the schooling proper to his age.
B. Criterion A disorder significantly interferes with academic achievement or activities of daily living that involve achievement Of written texts (eg, writing grammatically correct sentences and / or organized paragraphs).
C. If there is a sensory deficit, difficulties in the ability to write exceed those associated with it.
How many children do you have?
At the moment the number of children with this type of alterations is not exactly known; However, specialists in this area estimate that The figure may be parallel to that obtained in cases of reading disorder.
Different studies have shown a prevalence varying around 1.3% for calligraphy problems, 3.7-4% spelling problems and 1-3% Difficulties writing stories. Others point out that the frequency of students with difficulties ranges from 6-22% (Matute, Roselli and Ardila, 2010).
Despite these, a more recent research conducted in the USA by the University of Maryland (2002) found that approximately 3-10% Of schoolchildren presented some disorder of written expression, presented problems when spelling; Errors in punctuation, grammar and In addition, poor writing (Ventura et al., 2011)
Associated Pathologies
It is not uncommon to observe alterations in written expression associated with other disorders specific to learning (Matute, Roselli and Ardila, 2010):
- Learning Disability of Reading.
- Disorder of calculus or dyscalculia.
- Deficit in language.
- Perceptual deficit.
- Deficit in the motor.
In addition, it is also possible to observe alterations in written expression in many children affected by the disorder Attention deficit and Hyperactivity (ADHD) Or delay in mathematical performance. On the other hand, it may also be part of the Gesterman Developmental Syndrome Non-verbal learning disorder (Matute, Roselli and Ardila, 2010).
Causes of dysgraphia
In general, as in other learning disorders we can consider that there are etiological factors, both genetic, neurobiological, Perinatal as well as environmental.
At the neurological level, different researches have shown that there is no single region responsible for writing, but the development of this Activity is achieved through a wide network of cortical regions.
In this way, depending on the different stages that make up the act of writing, we can highlight the participation of different verbal areas (Matute, Roselli and Ardila, 2010):
- Perception and compression of message : Bilateral primary auditory cortex, left temporal associative cortex and occipital areas.
- Message transcoding : Angular gyrus and supramarginal gyrus.
- Motor act : Sensory areas, associative motor cortex, hippocampus, prefrontal areas.
Several authors suggest that the origin of disorders of written expression can be found in a dysfunction of the Right cerebral hemisphere . Without However, others assume that it underlies language-mediated left hemisphere Verbal (Matute, Roselli and Ardila, 2010).
Does dysgraphia disappear in adults?
The American Psychiatric Association (2003) has noted that little information is currently available on the long-term evolution of these Alterations.
Generally, it usually persists throughout the primary and secondary school stage and can be sporadically observed in older or older children. Adults (Matute, Roselli and Ardila, 2010).
Alterations of written expression, usually in calligraphy, can be observed from an early age, while in older children Deficiencies will relate fundamentally to the skills of text composition and the expression of ideas (Matute, Roselli and Ardila, 2010).
Types of dysgraphia
We may perform classifications of disorders of written expression according to the type of writing subsystem that is affected or Present difficulties: motor dysphoria, dysortography, other disorders of written expression.
- Motor dysgrafias : Difficulties in the motor mechanisms involved in the graphic stroke - pencil grasp, position, posture Body, stroke, coordination, spatial organization, rhythmic movements.
- Dysortography (Developmental discography) : Difficulties in spelling acquisition - substitution, omission, letter exchange, Substitution of phonemes, etc.-
- Other disorders of written expression : Separation of words, punctuation, grammar, coherence of texts.
In spite of this classification, it is very common to find clustered disorders of written expression under the generic epigraph of dysgraphia .
The Learning Disability Association of America Defines dysgraphia as the presence of difficulties in writing to children when they work School or activities that require the use of writing. It affects both writing ability and final motor skills (Learning Disabilities Association of Ameria, 2016).
In addition, it is possible that a child with dysgraphia present specific problems such as: difficult to read lyrics, inconsistencies in the distribution of Space, poor space planning, poor spelling, and / or difficulty composing a text (Learning Disabilities Association of Ameria, 2016).
In this way, these are some of the signs and symptoms that we can identify in writing (Learning Disabilities Association of Ameria, 2016):
- Unreadable or italicized writing.
- Mix of different strokes, lowercase-capitals, sizes or irregular shapes and / or inclination of the letters.
- Words or letters unfinished or omitted.
- Uneven space between words and / or letters.
- Abnormal position of the wrist, body or paper.
- Difficulty in letter copying, pre-visualization.
- Slow and difficult writing.
- Distribution of space on paper.
- Unusual pencil grip.
- Difficulty taking notes to dictation or creative writing.
Treatments for dysgraphia
With early and adequate intervention, it is possible that the majority of children with this type of alterations will achieve an efficient and Functional of his writing.
In the intervention with this type of alterations we can use different strategies:
- Accommodation : Providing alternatives to written expression - oral evaluations -
- Modification : Make changes in expectations and tasks to avoid a loss of confidence and self-esteem.
- "Treatment" : It is the fundamental intervention, to provide strategies to improve writing skills and correction of errors.
Although different approaches exist in the intervention of this disorder, they are usually intervened through educational programs. These usually Specific alterations of the writing presented by the student, together with the cognitive areas that may present a performance lower than Expected (Matute, Roselli and Ardila, 2010).
It is frequent that in the case of the youngest children, it is mainly involved in the motor and calligraphic aspects, whereas in the children of Older students usually work on textual aspects that facilitate their academic performance (Matute, Roselli and Ardila, 2010).
CONCLUSIONS
Disorders of written expression often go unnoticed or underestimated compared to other types of disorders. It is frequent that We associate many of the symptoms of this disorder with the difficulties or daily problems that may appear in the normal course of learning the writing.
From the early stages of children's lives we must pay special attention to all aspects of communication and language and Which will be the fundamental basis for the development of other cognitive skills as well as social and emotional development.
References
- DSF. (S.f.). What is Dysgraphia? Retrieved from the SPELD Foundation: https://dsf.net.au/what-is-dysgraphia/
- LDA. (2016). Dysgraphia . Retrieved from"Learning Disabilities Association of America:
- National Center for Learning Disabilities. (2016). What is Dysgraphia? Obtained from LD online- The educator's guide to learning disabilities and
ADHD: http://www.ldonline.org/article/12770/ - Rosselli, Mónica; Matute, Esmeralda; Alfredo, Ardila;. (2010). Neuropsychology of Child Development. Mexico: The Modern Manual.
- Ventura, M., Martí, Y., Pechoabierto, N., & Gil, J. (2011). What is and how to deal with the disorder of written expression: practical orientations.