Dysgraphia adds to problems for school children

Dyslexia occurs when children have problems reading but a lot of children have problems with their written work as well and new research suggests that dysgraphia could be just as common as dyslexia. Dysgraphia includes problems with handwriting, spelling and organizing thoughts on paper and is diagnosed when a child's writing skills fall 'substantially below' the norm for their age and IQ. Researchers from the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minnesota studied more than 5,700 children and found that between 7 and 15% developed a written-language disorder over their school career. Boys were 2-3 times more likely than girls to be diagnosed with a writing problem. While the majority of children diagnosed with a writing problem also had reading difficulties about a quarter had significant difficulty only with writing.

You can find out more about this research at

http://uk.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUKTRE53T61020090430?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews