These students struggle to translate their thoughts and knowledge, which then denies their teachers the opportunity to understand what they know. An astute teacher or parent may suspect dysgraphia in a student by observing writing performances. All too often, however, the student's performance is interpreted as poor motivation, carelessness, laziness, or excessive speed. While these observations may be very real, they are on the surface, and the underlying cause may be a dysgraphic pattern which is not within the student's control. Understand the student's inconsistencies and performance variabilities.
Many dysgraphic students are more comfortable with manuscript printing.
Encourage student to become comfortable using a word processor on a computer. Students can be taught as early as 1st grade to type sentences directly on the keyboard. Encourage consistent use of spell checker on the computer to decrease the overall demands of the writing task. Encourage use of an electronic spell checker with a speaking component to decrease the overall demands. Have student proofread papers after a delay and use strategies for editing.