Dear Neurolinks,

My son’s handwriting is illegible. His teacher constantly asks him to redo his work because she simply can’t read it. His words are spaced incorrectly and look like one long continuous word; words are all over the page instead of on the dotted lines provided, and many of them are backwards. He also takes so long to complete his work that the class moves on before he’s finished a fraction of it. This really frustrates him. Could it be more than just a case of poor handwriting?

– Puzzled Dad

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Dear Puzzled Dad,

It’s difficult to determine without an evaluation, but it sounds like your son is suffering from Dysgraphia, a learning disability that affects writing. This means that your son finds it difficult to process what he’s supposed to be writing. There are three processing areas related to Dysgraphia: focus, directional discrimination, and position in space. This means that your son finds it difficult to concentrate and keep his eyes and mind on his writing, and he’s unable to distinguish which direction he should be writing in.

Writing is probably not the only thing your son is struggling with. His ball throwing skills are most likely pretty poor as well. This is because the real problem is his struggle to establish where things are in relation to their surroundings. So he finds it difficult to determine the position of one letter in relation to another, and where the letters should be placed in relation to the rest of the page.

Schoolwork only becomes more demanding as children get older, so it is important that your son’s handwriting issues are resolved. The good news is that Neurolinks’ Physio-Neuro Therapy program can help, so don’t hesitate to give us a call!

Yehudis & Chayala
Neurolinks