Dysgraphia - Causes and Signs of Dysgraphia

The following categories of dysgraphia are classified according to violations of certain writing operations:

• Articular-acoustic dysgraphia, which occurs due to violations of articulation, pronunciation of sounds, phonemic perception.
• Acoustic, which occurs due to violations of phonemic recognition.
• Dysgraphia against the background of underdevelopment of language analysis and synthesis.

• Agrammatical, which occurs when the lexical and grammatical side of speech is not formed.
• Optical, which occurs as a result of underdevelopment of visual-spatial perception.

In addition to the above categories, speech therapy notes mixed forms of pathology:

• Specific writing disorders. Dysgraphia: dysphonological (phonological, paralytic) and metalinguistic (resulting from language dysfunction). Dysorthographia: morphological and syntactic.
• Non-specific writing disorders. They occur due to lack of pedagogical activities, mental retardation, mental retardation, etc.

Causes

The process of mastering writing is closely related to the level of development of all aspects of oral speech, so organic and functional causes play the main role in the development of dysgraphia. Also, the etiology of dysgraphia is based on underdevelopment or damage to the brain: pregnancy pathology, birth injuries, meningitis and encephalitis, infectious and severe somatic diseases that lead to exhaustion of the baby's nervous system.

The socio-psychological group of factors that contribute to the development of dysgraphia include family bilingualism, unclear and incorrect speech of others, insufficient speech contacts, neglect of the child's speech development by adults, early literacy training of the child when he is psychologically unprepared. At risk are children with all sorts of speech disorders, mental retardation, etc. In adults, dysgraphia occurs with traumatic brain injuries, strokes, and brain surgeries.

Symptoms

Dysgraphia manifests itself in typical and repetitive errors in the writing process that are not related to ignorance of the rules. Errors are characterized by displacement and substitution of visually or phonetically similar letters and sounds in writing, disruption of the letter-syllabic structure of the word, agrammatisms, etc.

The handwriting of people with this diagnosis is usually illegible, the writing rate is slow, the height and slope of letters change, they can slip off the line, etc.

In the articular-acoustic form, incorrect pronunciation is observed, oral speech is characterized by similar errors that occur in writing.

In the acoustic form, there are no violations in oral speech, but phonemic perception is underdeveloped. Written errors are accompanied by the replacement of letters corresponding to phonetically similar sounds. Against the background of a violation of language analysis, there is a division of words into syllables and sentences into words. The patient can skip, repeat or rearrange syllables and letters, write unnecessary letters in words or not write their endings. This type of pathology is most common among students. In agrammatic dysgraphia, there is an incorrect declension of words by case, gender and number, an incorrect sequence of words and their omissions. This type of dysgraphia occurs against the general background of speech underdevelopment, for example, with alalia or dysarthria.

Optical dysgraphia is manifested by the replacement or mixing of graphically similar letters. Errors in this form are manifested by incomplete spelling of words or the addition of unnecessary elements to words, mirror writing of letters is observed. Also, the pathology can often be accompanied by non-speech manifestations: decreased performance, neurological disorders, decreased concentration, difficulty memorizing.

Diagnostics

To determine the organic etiology of dysgraphia, an examination by a neurologist, ophthalmologist, otolaryngologist is required. A speech therapist determines the level of development of the speech apparatus. Diagnostics of written speech is aimed at separating dysgraphia from an elementary ignorance of spelling and identifying the form of pathology. The examination consists of several stages. The initial stage consists of studying and analyzing written works.

To determine the factors that contributed to the occurrence of pathology, the level of development of the child is carefully studied, priority attention is focused on the central nervous system. Then the articulatory apparatus, speech and manual motor skills, etc. are studied. After a detailed examination of the development of oral speech, they move on to the study of written speech. Speech therapy diagnosis is made based on the results of the analysis of the speech examination.

Treatment

Correction of dysgraphia is developed taking into account the mechanisms and forms of writing disorders. General methods for correcting pathology consist of restoring pronunciation and phonemic processes, enriching vocabulary and developing the grammatical part of speech, forming coherent speech.

Development of the analytical and synthetic sphere, auditory and spatial perception, memory and thinking, has a significant place in the complex of speech therapy methods. Acquired oral speech skills are recorded using written assignments. Patients with dysgraphia may be prescribed medication and rehabilitation treatment for the underlying disease: physiotherapy, massage, exercise therapy, hydrotherapy, etc.

Prevention

Preventive measures to prevent dysgraphia should be carried out from the first years of a child's life. They consist of developing higher mental functions that ensure full mastery of the processes of writing and reading, sensory functions, spatial representations, graphomotor skills, etc. Timely therapy for oral speech disorders, prevention of phonetic, phonetic-phonemic and general speech underdevelopment, play an important role in preventing dysgraphia.