1

Eight Constructs

The 90 Minute Dysgraphia Evaluation

Intelligence Measures

Constructional Dyspraxia

*Working Memory*

*Executive Functions*

Writing and Spelling Skills

Phonological Awareness Skills

Retrieval Fluency Skills

Family History

2

Levels of Interpretation: WISC IV

The 90 Minute Dysgraphia Evaluation

Writing Subskill

General lexicon of words

Verbal flexibility

Verbal syntax

Working memory

Working memory

Visual/verbal flexibility

Motor speed output

Subtest

Vocabulary

Similarities

Comprehension

Digit Span

Letter-number seq

Picture concepts

*Coding

3

Constructional Dyspraxia

The 90 Minute Dysgraphia Evaluation

Spacing between words and letters

Bunching words to one side of page

Sentences which trail up or down

Micrographia vs. Macrographia

Print quality

Grip pressure

Fatigue

4

Working Memory

The 90 Minute Dysgraphia Evaluation

• Skills performed in isolation vs. context often dictate role of executive component in allocating attention.

• Phonological information tends to be stored in a sequential manner.

• Students who misjudge margins, have difficulty previewing how large to write to fit the parameters, and have unusual spacing may have limited visual sketchpad.

• Role of anxiety and emotional factors.

• Frequent erasures.

5

Executive Functioning

The 90 Minute Dysgraphia Evaluation

(Semantic/Syntactic Dysgraphia)

Initiating

Sustaining

Inhibiting

Shifting

Organizing

Planning

Self-Monitoring

6

Writing and Spelling Skills

The 90 Minute Dysgraphia Evaluation

• Examine from both a quantitative as well as qualitative perspective.

• Concentrate on pace, fatigue, effort, and motivation to yield more specific IEP goals.

• Error analysis of spelling and motoric output can be helpful.

7

Phonological Awareness Skills

The 90 Minute Dysgraphia Evaluation

(Phonological Dysgraphia)

• Single best predictor of reading and writing skills in kindergarten and 1st grade. (Lyon,1996)

• Deficits often result in dysphonetic spelling.

8

Developmental Progression of Phonological Awareness Skills

The 90 Minute Dysgraphia Evaluation

Skill Mastery

Recite nursery rhymes

Detect rhyming words

Count phonemes in words

Sound-symbol associations

Manipulation of phonemes

Spell non-words

Rapid recognition of sound patterns.

Age

3

4

5

6

7

8

9-12

9

Retrieval Fluency

The 90 Minute Dysgraphia Evaluation

• Naming speed and fluency better predictor of literacy deficits than phonological awareness. (Wolf, 1999)

• Tied in to verbal flexibility.

• Role of anxiety and hippocampal functioning.

10

Family History

The 90 Minute Dysgraphia Evaluation

• Limited data in the literature.

• Child with learning disabled parent has eightfold increase in risk of being LD. (Pennington, 1995)

• Colorado twin study revealed 70% concordance rate among identical twins and 48% among fraternal twins.

• Research centered around chromosome 6 and 15.

11

Phonological Dysgraphia

Dysgraphia Interventions

• Alphabetic Phonics

• Making Words

• Writing to Read

12

Surface Dysgraphia

Dysgraphia Interventions

• Cover-Write Method

• Fernald Method

• Visual Spelling

13

Mixed Dysgraphia

Dysgraphia Interventions

• Musical Spelling

• Language Experience Approach

• CAST - Universal Design for Learning

• Software Strategies

14

Semantic/Syntactic Dysgraphia

Dysgraphia Interventions

• Writing Skills for the Adolescent

• Sentence Combining

• CAST - Universal Design for Learning

• Step Up to Writing - (Sopris West)

• Software Strategies

15

Executive Functioning Deficits

Dysgraphia Interventions

• COPS

• SCAN

• SCOPE

• C-SPACE

• POWER

16

Working Memory Deficits

Dysgraphia Interventions

• Graphic Organizers

• Story Maps

• Writing Wheels

17Occipital LobeInferior Parietal Lobe

Temporal Lobe

Frontal Lobe Parietal Lobe

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