Dysgraphia tutoring should help a student become a stronger, more confident writer.
Unfortunately, that isn’t always the case.
I talk with parents whose children have spent months, sometimes years, getting help with writing. They’ve practiced handwriting. They’ve copied sentences. They’ve worked on grammar worksheets. They’ve been given writing prompts and told to “add more details.”
When they’re handed a blank page and asked to write a paragraph, they freeze.
They stare at the paper.
They erase the same sentence five times.
They say don’t know what to write.
They get frustrated.
They shut down completely.
And then you hear the heart breaking comments like, “I hate writing.”
As a mom of children with learning disabilities, someone who is Dyslexic myself, and the founder of 3D Learning Experts. I’ve learned that struggling writers are very often misunderstood.
The problem isn’t that they don’t practiced writing enough. Most often, it’s they have practiced the wrong things.
And that’s one of the biggest reasons Dysgraphia tutoring can fail to produce meaningful progress is the instructors don’t understand the root of the problem.
When most people hear the word Dysgraphia, they immediately think handwriting is the problem. That’s part of the picture for some students. It isn’t the whole picture.
The International Dyslexia Association explains that Dysgraphia can involve impaired handwriting and spelling, and that students may need explicit instruction in handwriting, spelling, and composition.
Writing is incredibly complex.
Think about everything your brain may be doing when you write:
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You have to generate an idea
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Organize your thoughts
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Remember what you want to say
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Retrieve words
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Spell those words
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Construct sentences
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Remember punctuation and grammar
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Physically write or type, and
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Hold onto the next thought while doing all of that.
That’s a LOT.
Epecially for a student with Dysgraphia, multiple writing steps can require so much mental energy that there isn’t enough capacity left for everything else. That’s why, so often, our students can verbally share an amazing story out loud and then write very little. The ideas are there. Getting those ideas from their brain onto the page is where everything gets stuck.
Students with Dysgraphia Are Often Mislabeled as Lazy
No one likes to do things that are difficult and for students with dysgraphia writing avoids writing.
They take forever to get started.
They write the shortest answer possible.
They don’t proofread.
They rush.
They complain.
Teachers and other adults often interpret those behaviors as:
They aren’t trying.
They’re being lazy.
They just don’t like writing.
The International Dyslexia Association specifically notes that poor writing and difficulty completing writing assignments can be mistakenly attributed to laziness or lack of motivation when Dysgraphia is actually contributing to the problem.
That’s an important distinction because we can’t motivate a child out of a skill deficit.
It is important to identify the skill that’s breaking down and teach it.
What Ineffective Dysgraphia Tutoring Can Look Like
One of the problems with traditional tutoring is that it often focuses on completing the assignment sitting in front of the student.
The student has an essay due Friday?
Let’s get the essay finished.
They have a paragraph for homework?
Let’s help them write the paragraph.
They need to correct their grammar?
Let’s fix the grammar.
The assignment gets completed.
Everyone feels relieved until the next assignment arrives. Then the student needs the same amount of help all over again.
That’s assistance, not intervention.
What Effective Dysgraphia Intervention Should Include
Effective Dysgraphia tutoring should be working toward something much bigger:
Helping the student become less dependent on others. At 3D Learning Experts, we aren’t focused on a student finishing today’s writing assignment. Instead were concerned with teaching them the skills to become independent. We’re asking: What is preventing this student from writing independently? That’s a completely different question.
Depending on the student’s learning profile, effective instruction may need to address:
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spelling and encoding
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sentence construction
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grammar and punctuation
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vocabulary
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organizing ideas
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paragraph structure
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planning before writing
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sequencing ideas
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expanding sentences and adding meaningful details
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revising and editing
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keyboarding or appropriate assistive technology
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strategies for getting started
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executive-function demands involved in writing
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building independence with the entire writing process
The Writing Block Is Real
Parents know exactly what I’m talking about when I say writing block. You give your child a prompt. Ten minutes later, the page is still blank.
You ask: “What do you want to say?”
They respond with: “I don’t know.”
You offer an idea, then suggest another one. They turn them all down and pretty soon everyone is frustrated. If you ask the same student about Minecraft, horses, World War II, basketball, Taylor Swift, airplanes, or whatever they’re passionate about, you can’t get them to stop talking.
That tells me something important, the problem may be accessing, organizing, and translating those ideas into written language. Students with written-expression difficulties may know the information verbally while struggling to determine what to write or where to begin when asked to put it on paper. That’s why telling a struggling writer to “just start writing” isn’t much of an intervention strategy. They need tools for getting started.
How 3D Learning Experts Helps Dysgraphic Students Break Through Writing Blocks
This is an area we specialize in at 3D Learning Experts.
When a student struggles with writing, we don’t assume the solution is simply more writing. We look underneath the struggle:
Can the student verbally explain their ideas?
Can they organize those ideas?
Can they create a complete sentence?
Does spelling consume so much mental energy that they lose their thought?
Can they sequence information?
Do they know how to turn one idea into a paragraph?
Can they determine what’s important?
Those questions matter.
Our goal is to give dysgraphic students a system for writing instead of continually rescuing them from writing assignments. We explicitly teach students how to organize their thinking, construct sentences, develop paragraphs, take notes, and move their ideas from their head onto the page. And we scaffold the process. At first, a student may need significant support. Then they gradually start writing more independently.
At 3DLE, success isn’t: “My tutor helped me write a great essay.”
Success is: “I know what to do when I’m asked to write an essay.”
That difference is huge.
I don’t want our students to need us forever. I want them to learn strategies they can carry into high school, college, the workplace, and adulthood.
We want to give students skills and tools.
Before Choosing Dysgraphia Tutoring, Find Out Where the Breakdown Is
“What does the data tell us about my child?”
At 3D Learning Experts, our 3D Learning Profile Assessment helps us look at the student’s current skills so we can better understand where intervention needs to begin. Because two children can both struggle with writing for completely different reasons. One may have strong ideas and weak spelling. Another may spell beautifully and have no idea how to organize a paragraph. Another may understand paragraph structure yet become overwhelmed by the executive-function demands involved in planning a longer assignment. Our assessment drives the intervention.
Your Child May Have More to Say Than Their Writing Shows
Parnets, if you only remember one thing, remember this: the paper you see isn’t always an accurate reflection of what’s happening inside your child’s brain. Your child may understand far more than they’re able to demonstrate in writing.
They may have creative ideas they can’t organize.
They may know the answer and be unable to get it onto the page quickly enough.
They may be capable of complex thinking while producing writing that looks several grade levels below what you’d expect.
That’s why the right Dysgraphia instruction matters. Our goal is to make writing something they know how to do, if they learn to love writing along the way, that is a bonus. When a child finally has a process that works for their brain, something wonderful happens. The blank page becomes a little less scary. The arguments start decreasing. The words begin coming. Eventually, the student starts realizing: “I can do this.” That’s the progress we’re looking for.
Is Your Child Struggling With Dysgraphia or Written Expression?
If writing assignments routinely lead to shutdowns, tears, avoidance, extremely short answers, hours of work, or constant parent involvement, don’t assume your child simply needs to try harder. It is important to find out why writing is so difficult.
At 3D Learning Experts, we specialize in working with students with Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, Dyscalculia, and related learning challenges through individualized virtual instruction designed around the way each student learns. Start by exploring our educational resources and articles for parents or schedule a free Clarity Call with 3D Learning Experts to get your child the help they need, today.