Dysgraphia App

You may have a child in your classroom, on your caseload or in your home who avoids handwriting at all costs...maybe the reason that they are avoiding writing is not clear.  Do they have poor motor skills that are causing them difficulty?  Is the process of writing fatiguing because of poor handwriting mechanics?  Is it because he or she can't seem to get their thoughts out of their head and on to the paper?  Is there anxiety related to doing work?  Maybe they have dysgraphia?  What is dysgraphia??  Dysgraphia is a type of learning disability that affects writing.  Kids with dysgraphia might have difficulty with spelling, poor/illegible handwriting or have trouble getting their thoughts down on paper.  Dysgraphia is actually a processing issue, though, not necessarily a motor issue alone, so just because a child has poor handwriting, it does not mean they have dysgraphia.  In certain cases, maybe a child is a non-writer, but can type on a keyboard. No matter what the cause, there is the question of how to best address illegible handwriting on worksheets.  Sometimes we require the kid to re do their papers so that we can read it.  Sometimes we have an adult/paraprofessional scribe for them...  Wouldn't it be great if there was a way that our students could type their answers on their worksheets so that we could read it and so that independence with handwriting and completing worksheets could be addressed?

A colleague and friend of mine (thanks, Nichole!) shared this the other day, and I wanted to pass it along to my readers~  It is a FREE app for dysgraphia called SnapType that allows you to take a picture of a worksheet using an iPad, and then your child can type their answers on the iPad vs. having to write them out.  Of course you can use this for any handwriting related issue where illegibility or getting thoughts on paper is impacting work performance.  Read about the inspiration behind the app and some more specifics here:

http://www.additudemag.com/adhdblogs/30/11108.html