I have not been diagnosed with dysgraphia, and have actually excelled in writing throughout my life. But I am experiencing some issues and I don’t even know what to call them; I’ve googled and I can’t find a term that explains what I’m talking about. I thought it would be interesting to discuss it here.

When writing by hand, I will often swap two consecutive letters in a word. For example, instead of writing “candy” I’ll write “canyd”.

Or I will skip a letter entirely.

It’s even worse with numbers.

Has anyone experienced this too?

I've been struggling with writing-related issues for years, probably since I learned to write. As a kid I would often skip the first letters of words, then have to go back and fix them after finishing the sentence (I would notice it only after finishing the word, if that matters). I also often had issues writing specific letters, a prominent example being capital 'N's which I'd always leave the v-shaped bit of floating? (also struggled w uppercase Ys at one point) I knew it was wrong but couldn't figure out how to do it right for some reason, though I've overcome those by now. Nowadays I often mix up letters while writing; I know how to spell the word, but often accidentally write 'g' instead of 'd', or add an ascender to or tail to my 'a's (among many others, eg mixing up 'n's and 'a's, 'h' and 'n', 't's and 'd's sometimes, etc) - It's purely an issue with my hand not writing the letter I want it to. It gets even worse when I'm thinking slightly ahead as I write, I'll begin a word then start a whole new word within that. i also have issues with writing punctuation correctly, like I for the life of me cannot write a question mark without messing it up in some way (usually it becomes a 2 above a dot). I'm currently 16, and have kind of found fixes for a lot of the issues, eg always glancing over words after writing them, and I always catch myself halfway through absentmindedly combining words or writing the wrong letters - this does however mean that my school papers and notes are all full of scribbles where I've messed up. My handwriting also varies greatly, literally changes from lesson to lesson (by the hour, if not more often) - sometimes it looks like shakespearean script and other times like it was written by a dyspraxic toddler. (though luckily always remains legible, at least to me, which is probably why this wasn't caught earlier). I also often think of a word for a split second, then go to write it and it's already disappeared, resulting in a huge tip-of-my-tongue moment - happens to me way more often than to most people (I think), though I don't know if that's related at all.

Could this be dysgraphia? If not then what could it point to?

My son was diagnosed with dysgraphia in primary school at about age 9.

He also suffers with anxiety and has issues with executive functions.

I am wondering if it’s common for these conditions to go hand in hand and whether we should push for further testing.

My son is extremely bright and is doing well at school but I’m worried about how he will cope in the workplace and beyond.

Hello guys! My name is Adrian, and I'm a student currently working on a project focused on dysgraphia. My team and I are conducting research to better understand the challenges faced by those with dysgraphia and to develop a supportive product that truly meets their needs. We are eager to engage with individuals who have personal experience or professional knowledge in this area, as your insights will be invaluable in shaping our approach and ensuring that our work has a meaningful impact.

We are organizing brief interviews in the coming days and would greatly appreciate the opportunity to speak with anyone willing to share their experiences, challenges, and/or advice. Your participation would not only enhance our understanding but also help tailor our project to support and empower those affected by dysgraphia. Thank you so much in advance!

Hi all,

I am in college and need to take notes for lectures. I have tried typing, but my notes get lost in cyberspace. It is easier to find in a notebook. However, when I write, I cannot read it later. I have tried many times, and I am still stuck. Is there a specific way you all have found that helps with taking notes?

Thanks, everyone. :)

Let’s take a moment to celebrate our wins! Dysgraphia doesn’t stop us from achieving amazing things. Share a hobby that you’ve picked up that involves fine motor skills and drop a picture of something you’ve created or worked on!!

I want to see what you’ve crocheted, drawn, painted, etc!

I was diagnosed with dysgraphia when I was in 2nd grade. I know that dysgraphia mostly affects my writing ability like getting thoughts and ideas onto paper. I’m curious if it affects stuff outside of writing too. I have always been very uncoordinated, and not just with my hands. My thoughts are all over the place which is one reason I struggle figuring out what to say. My brother and my friends have pointed out how uncoordinated I am and it has got me thinking if it’s related. If it is, I blame it for why I was never good in sports lol.

Ever since I was young my handwriting was terrible, semi cursive (not so much anymore), inconsistent, unreadable and often abbreviated in school work books cause I couldn't keep up.. also my writing gets more unreadable the longer I write and my hand starts to become painful which lead to procrastination

What never was understood was how my thought process is extremely disorganised at times when trying to process information and an example is explaining a detailed event to someone which has just happened, I can often leave out important details unknowingly and just read that this is a symptom of dysgraphia and it makes so much sense now!

For the record I'm now diagnosed with ASD which makes sense..

My question here is has anyone else had similar expierience?

Ok so i'm 11 (please don't tell reddit!) and my handwriting has always been considered bad. i used the modified tripod grip until i was about 8 because that's how i was taught and was never corrected. i was wondering if i could still have dysgraphia. like, can dysgraphia be caused by poor teaching? i'm also great at typing (for my age) and i can spell but sometimes i forget to add letters and duplicate words. also can having dysgraphia be a sign of having other mental illnesses? i have pretty severe adhd, and i've been thinking i might have early stage bipolar disorder. i also have depression and i think i might be on the spectrum but im not sure, and i have a psych appointment soon too. anyways that's all, thank you so much!

Now, full disclosure, I don't actually know for sure if I HAVE dysgraphia.... it would explain a lot if I DO have it but I'm not looking for a diagnosis or anything (wouldn't really affect me anyway since a diagnosis wouldn't exactly be life-changing for me) I just realized that there might be a name for my experiences.

Growing up I've always had ABYSMAL handwriting. When I was younger it was practically illegible (to the extent that sometimes even I couldn't read it) and, as a result, I was sometimes forced to take a long period of time to write each word because if I really focused and took my time it would at least be LEGIBLE (still bad with letters going out of/qbove/below the lines and oddly spaced but at least it was legible). As I grew older it got a little better to the point where it's USUALLY legible so long as I'm not in a rush and go over any letters that were poorly shaped/not well defined (although sometimes that makes it worse) but it never got any better than like....and elementary school level.

My handwriting is literally so bad that by the time I was in middle school I was allowed to type up my papers and print them out (this was before high-school where they started to give out school issued chromebooks) since it made things easier not ONLY for me...but especially for my teachers. Keep in mind, this was an unofficial agreement between the school staff. At the time I didn't qualify for anything that would make it an official arrangement (like an iep, I only got that in high-school since that's how long it took me to get diagnosed as autistic...at which point it was OFFICIALLY stated that I could use a computer) they just kind of got tired of trying to read my handwriting and as such made an exception for me since I was clearly struggling lol.

To make matters even worse when I was in elementary school they were teaching cursive.....except....I just couldn't wrap my head around it. I couldn't understand what letter was what or how to make them...and I DEFINITELY couldn't read it. I was SO bad at cursive in fact that After a few days of trying to teach me my teacher just gave up and told me to read a book (which I was more than happy to do). To this day I STILL can't write in cursive (my signature is just a weird, mix of cursive/normal writing that just LOOKS like cursive because I connect all the letters) and I can barely read it unless I take my time to decipher it letter by letter.

And one more thing....I have ALWAYS pucked at drawing. I can trace okay but it's still shaky and looks a bit off. But freestyle drawing? Absolutely not. My handwriting may have improved but my art skills are just as bad as they were the first time I ever picked up a crayon. And...as it turns out...that ALSO tracks. Because I struggle with fine motor skills and spatial perception...which also applies to drawing.

But I never really thought anything of it. I just figured that some people just have really bad handwriting/drawing skills that just can't seem to improve. I figured I was just one of those people....and technically speaking I wasn't wrong. I just didn't realize there was a name for it.

Until I somehow came across a post in r/Handwriting where someone mentioned that they have dysgraphia....and someone else mentioned having autism and dysgraphia. So I looked it up...and not only is it common for people with autism (which I have) to also have dysgraphia but I ALSO tick a lot of the boxes. Some of the boxes like difficulty spelling, remembering how certain letters look, grammar, writing sentences properly, ect don't really apply to me...but that's mainly just because I excel in English. But almost all of the symptoms related to fine motor control? Check, check, and check. The only one I don't really qualify for that's kind of related is pain when it comes to holding a pencil/writing.

TLDR:

Always had terrible handwriting (oddly spaced/inconsistent spacing, going out of/above/below the lines, inconsistent sizing, poorly defined/shaped letters, a complete inability to write in cursive (due to not being able to comprehend the shapes or how to make them even with a guide) as well as difficulty reading it, ect) ever since the first time I picked up a pencil. About two decades later my handwriting is still at an elementary school level and I just figured that's just how life is sometimes....until I came across a post mentioning that they had both dysgraphia and autism (which I also have) one google search later and I learned that not only is dysgraphia common in people with autism but I also check a lot of the boxes and suddenly things made a lot more sense...

This seemed like a great place to ask! My brother suffers from the graphomotor subtype of dysgraphia. He wears suits for work but struggles heavily to hang them up - like in tears. Does anyone have any accessible products, like alternative hangers, or strategies? I don’t have this disability so it is hard for me to try and brainstorm if the options I see out there would be easier or harder.

Thank you so much!

Hey there, So, I've been told all my life that I'm a lazy writer, and it's true, I'm a pretty slow learner too. No matter how much I practice, my handwriting just doesn't improve. To make things worse, I've got depression, anxiety, and ADHD, which makes life pretty tough. I struggle with socializing and had to drop out of university because it was just too much to handle, and I didn't even know I had these conditions back then. Oh, and I also have dysgraphia, which doesn't help with the handwriting situation! To top it all off, my wrist starts hurting whenever I try to write. Any advice on how you guys coped with all this?

I 100 percent believed I had written Happy Birthday but for some reason my hand wrote Birth and my brain said day.

It made the moment cute and she loved it but as a child it made school just a little harder because I would leave out entire words or parts of words that I thought I had written. only to find out later that I didn’t pass or got a lower score because my hand didn’t actually write the complete word or sentence that my brain believed it had.

And how was I going to expect the teacher to change and X to a check mark because

“I meant to write that word”

“Well you should have double checked”

“I did double check…but I didn’t see that I didn’t write it”

How annoying that was.

Does anyone else have this problem?

When I was a kid and started school, my handwriting was very messy and illegible for a lot of people, as it is for many children, but my handwriting never improved. I believe starting the second grade, I began in-school occupational therapy to try and stabilize my handwriting. They tried everything from teaching me cursive, writing extra slow, tracing, etc. I had occupational therapy all the way up to middle school 7th grade. I went to three different elementary schools in two different states, plus middle and highschool without being diagnosed. At some point they just gave up and resigned me to "bad handwriting".

Queue this morning where I'm doing my morning TikTok scroll, and here comes a TikTok where a girl is making fun of her own handwriting. There are many comments informing her she may have dysgraphia, and TikTok has the blue keyword search, so naturally I clicked on it, and there were multiple videos where examples of dysgraphia looked EXACTLY like my handwriting from when I was a child.

My handwriting is bad still but not as bad as it used to be, but it just pissed me off wasting all that time, having so much insecurity regarding my handwriting, and thinking that something was wrong with me.

Well, at least now I know at 27. 💀

I have been concerned about my 10 year old (5th grade) writing for years (since 1st grade). He struggles with legibility, spelling, speed of writing and completing writing assignments. I’ve mentioned my concerns every year to his teachers, asking/providing suggestions for what seems to help, but each year, no one seems to really do anything to help.

This year, with middle school on the horizon, I decided to schedule an OT evaluation. The first visit was today and standardized tests were completed. I brought in a few writing samples/spelling quizzes for her to look at. While she still needs to complete her assessments, the one assessment that was completed—the VMI came back completely normal (even above average—percentile rank was in the 80% for both components).

I know that we need to wait until the testing is completed but can you still have dysgraphia with a normal VMI test? I’ve never felt as though his fine motor of visual motor skills were impaired—it just seems like getting thoughts down on paper and in an accurate way has been the issue.

Thanks in advance.