National Handwriting Day: Spotlighting dysgraphia with Dr. Andrew Kahn

January 23 marks “National Handwriting Day” — a moment to reflect on the unique joys and challenges of putting pen to paper. For some of us, writing comes naturally. For others, the act of writing can be a daily struggle. Dysgraphia is a learning and thinking difference that affects handwriting. It’s often caused by trouble with motor skills. And it can make tasks like taking notes or completing homework frustrating and stressful.

To shed light on what it’s like to have dysgraphia, we spoke with Dr. Andrew Kahn. Andy shared his personal experiences of growing up, navigating school, and finding strategies that he still uses today.

As a child, the pencil never felt at home in my hand. I struggled from day one to find a workable grip and to consistently form letter shapes on the page. I remember feeling that I was the slowest and sloppiest writer in class. And I dreaded being called to the board to write anything that the other kids could see. 

As I got older, I found that I struggled to keep my sentences moving straight across the page. I often ran out of space at the end of lines, resulting in squished or hyphenated words that were virtually illegible. 

I always felt like getting the thoughts from my head to my hand was just unmanageable. It was really frustrating because I thought I had good ideas, but I struggled so much getting them out on the page. 

When doing math, I would often get things wrong because I couldn’t line up the numbers. Or I’d get the columns of numbers mixed up, making the problems undoable. 

Sadly, I was never diagnosed. I recall getting a pencil grip once or twice from the teacher, but I either chewed the grips to bits or lost the pencil they were on. Adults decided I was an underachiever who just needed to work harder. But no one really helped me figure out how to get words on the page. They basically gave up on me. 

The only accommodation I was ever provided was a pencil grip. While I struggled with fine motor skills, and still do to this day, it was only a minor help to me. Knowledge around dysgraphia was only developing in my youth. It has only become a diagnosis in the last few years. 

The greatest positive influence on my writing skills was the advent of the personal computer. In high school, I was enrolled in a touch typing class as part of home economics. (The other half of the class was budgeting and cooking.) I picked up typing reasonably well, albeit with many mistakes. I was so fortunate to get an early PC at home. Typing rather than writing by hand made a dramatic difference in my ability to communicate. 

Technologies for personal use have made the biggest difference in my education and in my professional trajectory. I found my stride academically in college and graduate school. 

I still feel a traumatic twinge in my gut when I see collegiate blue books for tests. I created some of my own strategies that helped me survive those difficult times in school. Voice-to-text and word processing with spellcheck and grammar check have unlocked access to my ideas in a way that was never before possible. 

Growing up, I experienced significant anxiety around school and underperforming. I wonder how much that would have changed if I’d been supported or if I’d had earlier access to technology. 

Word processing and voice-to-text software have been helpful. And I’ve developed organizational strategies for writing. 

These strategies started with me “data dumping” the key facts and ideas I wanted to share. I’d do this before writing something narrative — at the start of a paper or even in the front of testing blue books. At times, my teachers and professors would see that I had the information in my summary, and they’d give me partial credit if my handwriting or narrative failures had blocked me from showing what I knew. 

Executive function skills have been extremely important in helping me organize my ideas before trying to communicate them in writing. 

For years, I thought I was just a sloppy and bad writer. I wish I’d known that my fine motor and physical writing skills could be helped with executive function strategies and technology. (Though the technology didn’t exist when I was in elementary school.)

Being called lazy or an underachiever hurt my self-esteem. If the adults in my life had been more flexible and more creative in helping me, it could have made a dramatic difference in how I saw myself. 

I still find physical writing and note-taking challenging. If I have to write out a birthday card or take notes during a work meeting without a computer/device, I find the task super laborious. 

I will always require templates and organizers for larger writing tasks — things I can now create on my own. And I’m aware that I cannot merely write an organized document by putting a pen to paper. 

I regularly use word processing to support my need for getting my thoughts on “paper” rapidly. Spelling and grammar checkers are useful for me. But the foundational knowledge I have from earlier education is key. For example, I don’t rely on Grammarly to make my writing correct. It just suggests and reminds me of conventions I may have forgotten. 

Do a little research. See if what your child is experiencing seems to fit the description of dysgraphia. Remember that the symptoms described aren’t a checklist. Someone may have many signs, but not necessarily all of them. 

Be compassionate with your child. Try providing some alternative ways for them to communicate their thoughts in writing — speech-to-text, typing, and other strategies they can use right away. Some kids just find the physical act of writing hard. In high school and adult life, writing with a pencil or pen is far less necessary than in elementary school. 

Seek an evaluation. Gather your facts and observations and approach your child’s teacher to find out about next steps. Don’t take no for an answer if your first request is not accepted. You may have to ask a few times. It helps to make a strong case that your child is being affected academically and emotionally.