I have it but I've never met some IRL who also has it and I'm in my 30s. It's not something that usually comes up in conversation so maybe that's why but I thought I would ask here.

Hello, r/Dysgraphia community!

We're working on a project to develop an assistive pen (and potentially a writing pad) designed to support individuals with Dysgraphia. The goal is to create a user-friendly tool that can make writing more comfortable. We also aim to offer practical, non-digital options, moving away from screen-based solutions to provide a more affordable writing experience.

To make these tools as effective and practical as possible, we’re surveying to learn more about your experiences, challenges, and preferences with writing. Your insights would be incredibly valuable in designing these tools.

If you have a few minutes, we'd appreciate it if you could participate. Your feedback will be key in developing solutions that support independence and confidence in writing.

Click here to take the survey!

Thank you so much for considering this. Your input means a lot.

Like having to write really slow just so it’s legible is kind of stressful, especially if people are waiting but I don’t have a choice.

Or having to leave a mistake on a written note is aggravating when I had no intention of writing an additional letter or the wrong letter or just deforming the letter because I didn’t go slow enough.

I hate it when I go to write like a lower case e and it just ends up a blob.

Or I plan to write out a sentence but I don’t judge the space I have left and try to make one word smaller to fit and all because I didn’t start far enough to the left.

Or when (I use to do it more often) I’d leave a word out of the sentence, i thought the word in my head but didn’t write it. And then have to fix it somehow.

But the worst part is the doubt about it being dysgraphia because I’m capable of writing if I go slow enough and it looks ok (for a couple of minutes)

I’ve even seen example sheets here and think well that guy doesn’t have dysgraphia thats just looks like regular writing.

I just don’t like the way it feels to write and hate the way it looks when I’m done.

Maybe I don’t have it. I think I was diagnosed as a child but I can’t be sure.

Not sure what I hope to accomplish with this post other than to share my struggles with a group that probably understands it.

Thanks

I never liked writing. It was like I didn't know how to convert my thoughts into writing. Like, I think in shapes and structures and not words. Since my school days, I have been called lazy and sloppy, I used to write not enough. At all. I got diagnosed with ADHD at 20. Mostly because I have the inattention one and not outward hyperactive. It took one failed exam to complete a degree for people to even look at this possibility. It's all so hard. I grieved losing my childhood to undiagnosed ADHD. Now I have to add dysgraphia into the mix. I feel so helpless.

After i write for more then like 3 minutes my hand starts to hurt and I can't write for a few moments until the pain subsides I'd love to know if anyone here has any tips to deal it it

The school and my 10 year old daughter's neurologist think that my daughter most likely has dysgraphia. I'm 99% sure that is what she has. Over the last year she has been going to OT and has a 504 that accommodates her with more time to complete tests, graph paper, use of a chrome book instead of writing, accommodation on spelling tests, amongst some other things. She has come a million miles in the last year with her hand writing and I'm proud of her. She is a huge reader and super creative and has a huge vocabulary.

We recently went to her open house and saw the marked difference between her spelling/hand writing and her classmate's. Hers was the kindergarten class that got pulled out of school during covid and they teachers have said they are continuing to see the effect of that four years later. Her 5th grade class is being divided into special groups to focus on spelling. But she is still behind even those kids in regards to spelling/handwriting/letter reversals. I brought my concerns up to her teacher last week and she talked about her using the computer more often, but am I wrong to want to focus on ways to help the root of the problem in conjunction with using a chromebook?

She doesn't have the official diagnosis, is it time we get that? What other accommodations and services can I ask for? I know this will be an uphill battle, but I really want to get her set up before she heads to the middle school next year.

So, I'm not sure if I have dysgraphia because though my handwriting SUCKS and my hands hurt when I write, I'm good at crochet and I love handicrafts. I'm actually known in my family for "being good with my hands". I love crocheting and making tiny things and I'm not a horrible artist either, so I was wondering if anyone else was good at everything expect for physically writing???

Hi! I am working with an adult who had dysgraphia as a child and just trying to understand what it was like for people emotionally and socially in terms of development. If anyone could share a story about what it was like for you it would help me help this person a lot! Thank you!

If pens and pencils ceased to exist along with the paper we have to write on, and we just started typing on smartphones or using computer keys, I think this problem would no longer exist, that is, there would no longer be dysgraphia in the world. Give your opinion on whether what I say is true because I really want to solve my problem for good and I would like to know if by removing pens and paper from my life, I will have less of a neurological disorder and I can focus on just working in my other neurological disorder: ADHD.

Formally diagnosed at any time in life ? I know I am

Whenever I try to write more than a few sentences my hand starts hurting. When I need to write paragraphs for an assignment or pages for notes it can be arduous, especially if I need to do it multiple times a day or consecutive days.

Are there any techniques or tools I could use to help me?

Hello everyone a bit about me first before my question,

I am currently going through the process of getting diagnosed although my school is about 99% sure I have dysgraphia, I am a 15 year old (year 10) based in Australia I can read perfectly fine and was above average for ages, I have horrible handwriting and any writing tasks make me so anxious because people always comment on my hand writing or I cannot get anything down because I can’t get the thoughts that I have in my brain down onto the paper. I am a very high achieving student and I am doing extra work at year 12 level

Okay so now for my question I was wondering what supports do you have in place and what will make me less nervous for written exams tests ect? Also can I get a 504 plan or not and if so how do I go about it and what do I request to be put on it

usually my hand writing can start off pretty swell but after maybe 2 mins or less of writing it goes down. it’s just so much more comfortable writing sloppy and i have to try to even write good. i feel like i apply so much pressure when writing normal. my teacher always complains she cant read my writing but still makes me do paper work . i’m not asking for anyone to diagnose me but if you can relate (i’m already going in for a diagnosis) i’m fine with other motor skills such as crochetting but i absolutely hate writing (edit) i forgot to mention i cannot use makeup brushes because my hand just doesn’t work that way. esp eyeliner or any that stuff

For exam and for study
Ps my mind sem is going to start soon Update: Sadly my college doesn't allowed erasable pen i have tried multiple pen pilot trimax ball pen and others but none of them are comfortable for me any suggestions would help me alot Thanks 👍😊

I have no idea if this is of any help for Dysgraphia specifically. But here goes.....

My son was diagnosed with Dysgraphia several weeks ago. Coincidentally - I also recently had our Ancestry DNA done. I was on the Biohackers sub and found that you could upload DNA data to a website called Strategene by Dr Ben Lynch. They analyze certain genes that are involved in important biomedical pathways such as those that create dopamine, serotonin etc. All the genes that are analysed are ones that can be moderated or helped with environmental support eg food etc. 

So I was reading through the report and found that both my son and I have a genetic variant called DRD2 -83G>T rs1076560 (-/-, CC). 

In the description it says "They may feel a boost in mood from enjoyable music and may especially benefit from dopamine boosting strategies. CC carriers may benefit from better fine motor skill (painting, writing, sewing etc) retention if they perform aerobic exercise directly after learning the skill".

It goes onto say that Iron rich foods really benefit people with this gene.

Then it goes to the supplement suggestions. "Optimize riboflavin (B2) and iron. Consider inositol. Vitamin C, vitamin E, liposomal glutathione, S-acetyl glutathione, carnosine and PQQ (pyrroloquinoline quinone) are free radical scavengers and reduce the hydrogen peroxide produced by MAO.

I don't know if this is coincidental or not.... but ....

My son has recently been very unwell with a number of different viruses and tonsillitis so we had been supplementing with vitamin C and 3 weeks ago his pediatrician has recently put him on 1000 mg of Liposomal  Vitamin C. During this time he has been continuing to see his OT and has had his dysgraphia assessment. 

For his assessments for dysgraphia they noted that his handwriting went from the 10th percentile to 16th percentile within about 2 or 3 months. And since he started taking the higher dose vit C his OT has said that his writing has improved significantly again. Bear in mind that he has been seeing his OT for over 8 years and has obviously had nothing like this sort of improvement in the past. 

In other words - it seems to me that supplementing with the vitamin C could be helping with his handwriting and that perhaps aerobic exercise (and some of the other things) could potentially help as well. I'm not a huge fan of taking a lot of supplements as we have been negatively affected in the past so we will be just trying to get most of it through diet.  

Obviously this is specific to my kid and may not be relevant to anyone else. Maybe it's all just a big coincidence. But I thought I would mention this in case anyone found it useful. 

Looking for real world advice. My son has pretty severe dysgraphia, writing and typing are both very hard, he just started middle school and is expected to take notes in class.

My 12 year old brother, is struggling with school with undiagnosed dysgraphia, will he receive accommodations for it? We are in sweden if this helps.

Hi, I am new to Reddit and the parent of a child with dyslexia and dysgraphia. We just found a school that has specific teachers trained to work with children like mine to provide the proper supports and help build their confidence. It's a small school that could always use more support. This is our first year and the few weeks in, our child is looking so much more more confident and not feeling alone. I love the school. They are having a fundraiser for the school. Feel free to support if you can! https://parkacademy.schoolauction.net/drivedyslexia14/catalog?id=123

Am I the only one who created a “secret” language as a kid solely because it was easier to write and spell in? Or is that more due to my other craziness, lol? I came up with third hour script in third grade and finished in in third hour of freshman year and still use it for journals/notes/basically anything. 38m so it’s been awhile

Edit, it was 1/2 standard English, many other languages involved. It was mostly about the letters/syllables/letter combinations being easier to write for me, it is purposefully a sloppy cursive that can also be written as stand alone letters

Yo, I got diagnosed with dysgraphia at 15. Currently 18. I don't have dyspraxia nor ADHD ( I'm able to focus for very long periods of times ), but ( nowodays non invasive ) autistic traits with a normal range IQ. I'm able to draw too.
I discovered this subreddit not long ago and I began looking at the posts.

What surprised me when reading the posts was that the writings seemed instantly messed up in screenshot, which is not the case for me - though it was when I was younger - I'm able to write with a good handwriting, not for long, but I'm able to. The problem is that writing is a very cognitively challenging task. After a bit of writing I'm not able to write well and listen to my environement nor do maths , and of course, the more I write, the more my writting degenerate to the 6 years old kid level, without being able to stop it.

I think my handwriting is correct for the few first lines and become unreadable after one to two pages in the case of a non cognitively challenging task like writing a dissertation with the plan made beforehand. In the case of maths, it's instant.

It wasn't the case before though, or it wasn't as visible. Actually, as I get older my "writing span" slowly increase.

Months ago I read a book called "Neurobiology of exceptionnalities" and it was explained in this book that in person with intellectuals deficiency there's often a higher brain metabolism, because brain have a less efficient use of energy. It lead me to my main theory is that my "dysgraphia" is caused by a shitty cerebral metabolism somewhere in the pathway linked with writing, so I try during long exam to drink glucose filled water and take short break, it seem to work but not perfectly and it may be placebo.

Since, I'm a bit confused. Is it really dysgraphia ?

My son (12 years old, 7th Grade) is diagnosed with dysgraphia. He is in his first year of Spanish Level 1. He does well on his assignments, but when it comes to a written test, he received a 55. He asked the teacher for a copy of his test, which the teacher refused (that’s another issue), but my hunch is he was most likely docked points for spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. Which, is his issue in his native language of English. His English Language Arts teacher is very accommodating of his dysgraphia, and even recommended that he move into her Advanced Class because his comprehension and understanding of the material is wonderful.

Questions: what accommodations should I ask for in his Spanish class? Does anyone have any tips for learning a new language with dysgraphia? TIA!

UPDATE: We requested a meeting with the teacher, and they have begun to provide the Teachers copy of the full notes, and allowed him to retake the test. He got an 85!