The Curiosity of Dysgraphia by Lauren Richardson

By Lauren Richardson

Based on research conducted by Lufi, Okasha and Cohen, “it has been estimated that 30% of all students suffer from various levels of test anxiety” (Lufi, Okasha and Cohen 176). This mental health statistic combined with the percentage of students suffering from various learning disorders such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia, creates a need for answers regarding the state of our current education system. Within every seemingly normal classroom there is at least one student struggling to learn as a result of a learning disability. This student, more than likely, is being underserved at the hands of an education system that fails to understand the needs of subgroups of special education students. In my personal experience, the student who is struggling as a result of an education system that fails to understand the needs of special education students is my sixteen-year-old brother, Sam. The research conducted by Rosenblum in Inter-Relationships Between Objective Handwriting Features and Executive Control Among Children with Developmental Dysgraphia, presents us with the startling statistic that “despite evidence of dysgraphia among 10%-34% of all school-aged children, research on dysgraphia is sparse” (Rosenblum 2). In response to the lack of research surrounding the relationship between dysgraphia and its effect on education, I pose the following question, how does anxiety affect high school students with dysgraphia?

After extensive research through numerous educational and psychological databases, I found that only a few publications discussed the topic of dysgraphia and its relation to mental health and education. A reoccurring theme I have discovered through educational research and my personal investment in the subject, is the lack of effort to understand what dysgraphia is. Research conducted by Rosenblum aims to understand the relationship between executive functioning skills and dysgraphia in children. This research serves as a simple introduction to what dysgraphia is and how it affects the writing process. Through the lived reality of my personal association with dysgraphia, I can support Rosenblum’s claim that “children with dysgraphia are busy thinking and planning how to produce the letters in space and time due to their deficient ability to initiate, plan, organize and monitor the letters/words on the paper” (Rosenblum 9). My brother, throughout the years, has been tested without the use of writing in order to generate a base line understanding of his mental capacity and intelligence. The scores mirrored the initial assumption that he is a bright young student who is no less intelligent than his classmates but has a difficult time “producing letters in space and time due to a deficient ability to organize the words onto paper” (Rosenblum 9). Although Rosenblum raises important claims such as “the need for further knowledge about hand-writing production” (Rosenblum 10), her research fails to provide a solution to improving the relationship between executive functioning skills in children with dysgraphia.

The research conducted in the Explored the Effects of Educational Multimedia in Dictation and Its Role in Improving Dysgraphia in Students with Dictation Difficulty by Esmaeel Azimi and Saeed Mousavipour aims to identify the effect of multimedia software compared to traditional teacher-based educational practices. Azimi and Mousavipour articulate their beliefs that students with dysgraphia should not be ignored because their disability is more abstract or lesser than. The entirety of educational professionals in various schools across the nation disregarded my brothers learning disorder, because it was not clearly defined and therefore, abstract. It was assumed because Sam was able to conduct himself in a respectable emotional and physical manner, there was no underlying learning disorder affecting his cognitive organization process. For these educational professionals, it was difficult to understand that a student may be highly intelligent but have trouble organizing words and thoughts onto paper.

The following studies analyze the relationship between mental health and general learning disorders. The study conducted by Dubi Lufi, Susan Okasha and Arie Cohen in Test Anxiety and Its Effect on the Personality of Students with Learning Disabilities, attempted to understand how test anxiety affects the personality and mental health of a student diagnosed with either dysgraphia, dyslexia, or dyscalculia. Lufi, Okasha, and Cohen claim that test anxiety affects students mentally and physiologically. After conducting personal research on the physiological effects of anxiety, I can concur that it does severely affect a student’s ability to function in a stable manner. Lufi, Okasha and Cohen’s study consisted of 54 self-diagnosed Israeli-participants. The shortcoming of this pool is that none of the participants had been properly diagnosed by a health care professional. Although there is a significant gap in the accuracy of the data created by using self-diagnosed participants, many interesting results came as a result of this research. Lufi, Okasha, and Cohen noted that “4 out of 10 participants showed personality differences that indicated special education students with test anxiety were more susceptible to mental health disorders due to feelings of failure, low self-esteem and inferiority” (Lufi et al 182). It was also noted that there were high levels of characteristics pointing toward depression. Over the course of Sam’s life, he has been professionally diagnosed not only with severe anxiety but also depression. Had measures been in place to encourage a positive learning environment that fostered growth in special education students, I believe such feelings of failure, low self-esteem and inferiority could have been drastically reduced, if not eliminated. As a reoccurring theme, Lufi, Okasha, and Cohen noted that only a few studies have dealt with the combination of test anxiety and learning disabilities. These statistics along with the research I conducted on the effect of dysgraphia on mental and physiological health prove there is a significant connection between mental health disorders and learning disorders.

The research study conducted by Charles Uwakwe and Samuel Akanbi in the Effectiveness of Dialectical Behavior Therapy in Reduction of Test Anxiety Among Students with Learning Disabilities in Oyo State Nigeria seeks to reduce the test anxiety among secondary school students with learning disabilities through behavior therapy. Uwakwe and Akanbi acknowledge that “test anxiety, which has been suggested to be a common and potentially serious problem among students in general and well pronounced among people with specific learning disabilities, has been widely neglected” (Uwakwe, Akanbi 166). From the 42 participants ages 12-19, Uwakwe and Akanbi were able to conclude that over the course of 10 sessions of therapy treatment, mental health professionals were effective in treating test anxiety. Uwakwe and Akanbi make note that “when performance is left untreated, it grows into adulthood where career choice is restricted and quality of life lowered” (Uwakwe and Akanbi 167). Quality of life is one of the aspects I touched upon in my own research on the relationship between dysgraphia, mental health, physiological health, and ensuing educational effects. I believe through unsuccessful attempts to treat my brother’s anxiety and test anxiety, that his quality of life has been lowered and as a result, his goals and aspirations for the future have been severely affected. The call to action Uwakwe and Akanbi present is the necessity “for clinical and counseling psychologists as well as other mental health professionals to look for new therapies which can make students cope with their test phobias” (Uwakwe and Akanbi 176).

Although the research spanning all four sources provided a general baseline for the understanding of dysgraphia, there were major aspects of dysgraphia the research failed to acknowledge. First and foremost, is the comprehensive lack of information available on dysgraphia and its relation to education and specific mental health problems such as anxiety. In addition, all the research conducted was on participants in Israel or Nigeria and failed to look at English speaking students in the United States or locally in the Rio Grande Valley. There were small numbers of test groups and the participants were in large part self-diagnosed or diagnosed by a non-mental health professional. For example, the research presented by Rosenblum in the Inter-Relationship Between Objective Handwriting Features and Executive Control Among Children with Developmental Dysgraphia, consisted of 64 participants from eight schools in the country of Israel. All students were native Hebrew speakers and writers between the ages of 10-12 and were defined by their teachers as having dysgraphia according to the Handwriting Proficiency Screening Questionnaire. This study only examined students who were diagnosed by teachers with no professional psychological training or professional experience with learning disorders. Furthermore, the study failed to analyze English speaking students or acknowledge the difference of national education standards. Secondly, research conducted specifically by Lufi, Okasha and Cohen did not differentiate between how each of the personality tests administered affected students with dysgraphia, dyslexia, and dyscalculia individually.

Last but not least, the majority of the research failed to acknowledge the mental health aspect of learning disorders entirely. The few studies that did mention mental health failed to study different levels of past emotional trauma and outside factors contributing to the effect of mental health on education. In the study conducted by Esmaeel Azimi and Saeed Mousavipour, only 39 test subjects were analyzed over the course of 4 months using multimedia software to rival traditional teaching procedures. Although interesting points contributing to the awareness of dysgraphia as a learning disability were raised, the study failed to analyze outside factors over the course of those 4 months. My criticism to this particular study presents itself as so; it seems clear to me that using technology would provide a “positive significant effect on dictation difficulty in students with dysgraphia” (Azimi and Mousavipour 337), in comparison to letting those individuals struggle in settings not tailored to students with learning disorders.

While I have many qualms with the available research regarding dysgraphia, the biggest failure comes in the form of a personal disconnect between the theoretical proposed solutions and the real-life implications of living and coping with a learning disorder. The gap I would like to research further is the idea that no research on dysgraphia and its relation to the education system has been conducted in the United States. This gap is significant because many individuals suffer from dysgraphia and various other writing-based learning disorders across the world, within the United States and locally, here at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, and not enough research has been done to find a solution to help them succeed in an education system that is ultimately failing this group of underrepresented students.

The research tool I used to answer my initial question ‘how does anxiety affect high school students with dysgraphia?’ was essentially developed over the last ten years. I developed my research tool by envisioning the life-long ripple affect that living with dysgraphia has created for my brother Sam. For the earlier part of his life my brother struggled with basic kindergarten academics as a result of being undiagnosed with any learning disorder. Beginning in the second grade, my parents vigorously exhausted every theory to explain the complications he was having with hand writing and composition, even at the most basic levels. Due to the lack of information available on the topic of dysgraphia, it wasn’t until the fifth grade that numerous health care professionals, mental health professionals, hand writing specialists, academic professionals and my parents, had conclusively diagnosed my brother with dysgraphia and dyscalculia. Rosenblum defines dysgraphia as “a disturbance or difficulty in the production of written language relating to the mechanics of writing” (2). In the case of my brother Sam, dysgraphia affects his ability to legibly write, hold a pencil and organize his thoughts onto paper. Throughout elementary, middle and high school my brother has struggled, as a result of his dysgraphia, with anxiety and the external factors of academic professionals in positions of power. In many ways, my family is unique because we’ve had the opportunities in not only Oregon and Texas but also in various locations across the United States, to exhaust options in order to help my brother succeed through eleven different public and private institutions. All eleven institutions, no matter how funded or prestigious, failed to understand the personal connection of learning disorders and individual mental health.

In order to develop a plan of action to support dysgraphia and mental health in the education system, research must first be conducted to understand the first-hand effects of anxiety in an academic setting. The final step of my proposed solution would be to create a system of education tailored to students with learning disorders, specifically dysgraphia. I designed the questions of the interview to address the physiological and mental effects of dysgraphia in both social and academic settings. I chose to research Sam because not only has he struggled firsthand with dysgraphia his whole life, and he is also no stranger to the negative effects of mental health disorders as a result of an education system that has failed him. Below are questions and responses to the research questions I used to guide my interview.

Interview

1. What are the physiological and mental symptoms you experience when you think about school? Before having to write? When you’re behind on your work?

Headache, stomachache, extra fatigued, loss of motivation for anything, loss of appetite, severe weight loss, distances, uses humor to cover up anxiety and depression. Sam stated he doesn’t express real emotions anymore, a characteristic of depression. He states how his anxiety as a result of school difficulty affects his mood for the whole week.

2. Describe how you feel mentally when you’re overwhelmed.

“Don’t care about school, give up attitude”. Teachers expect low quality work from Sam, so when he puts in effort versus not putting effort into an assignment, the reaction from the teacher is the same so why bother putting himself in a stressful situation to try and write a good paper. He states he is not rebellious, just angry at everything and how he used to be mad at himself when he was younger, but now that he’s older he doesn’t blame himself as much, he just doesn’t care.

3. In what classes do you feel most affected by your dysgraphia and anxiety?

English and math. Sam states that his general learning is slower because he can’t process as fast and is not interested in forcing himself to suffer and learn when he feels there will be no positive outcome to him learning. Sam states he doesn’t go out of his way to learn or even pass the class.

4. What is your experience with teachers in the past and currently?

Sam describes how all his teachers have had fixed mindsets when it comes to teaching students with learning differences. Furthermore, Sam describes how teachers are not willing to change their style for one student. This was experienced at all eleven schools he has been to, they don’t understand, they put him down and make him feel as if he’s choosing to be lazy and if he tries to write he’ll get better. They don’t understand and it’s frustrating to him. It makes him angry and stresses him out the most. Sam describes experiences in which teachers have made racist remarks towards him such as, “do you know English?”. These experiences have lowered his self-esteem from a very young age (elementary and middle school) which is why now as a high schooler he doesn’t care, Sam states.

5. What would make it easier to learn in school?

Sam wishes teachers would take into consideration his input, less homework/written work, and more interactive group projects (videography projects, pictures, music). Mr. Edwards is his favorite teacher and surprisingly enough he teaches English and history and is also his academic advisor. Sam states he feels comfortable and treated as an equal student, not alienated. Sam describes how he learns more information going out into the world that he’ll retain in the long run as opposed to useless daily assignments. He enjoys learning but wishes it was a more ideal environment that gives students more choices. Technology proves helpful in some situations, but teachers somehow expect the electronic device to solve all problems of composition. There are many useless applications on his iPad that teachers think will help him, but they don’t because the teachers don’t understand what his area of difficulty is, and they wouldn’t care if he did explain it. Even when Sam stands up for himself, he’s ignored or told he’s being lazy and if he would just “do the work” everything would be okay. Sam continued to state that teachers don’t even understand the definition of dysgraphia other than it affects handwriting.

6. How does your dysgraphia affect your ability to note take?

Sam has to resort to retaining all notes and lessons by memory. He memorizes general ideas but not detailed aspects. He memorizes enough to pass PSATs and STAAR tests although now he’s at a disadvantage during regular classroom exams. Sam describes that he can retain information regarding things that can be applied outside of school “because isn’t that the point of school?”

7. Do you feel socially affected by your dysgraphia?

Sam describes how he doesn’t feel socially affected and that friends actually help him take his mind off the stress of school. He acknowledges he uses humor as a cover up to hide mental and academic problems, and this can cause ensuing feelings of disconnectedness. Sam likes the social aspect of school because it distracts him from the educational hardships.

How does your anxiety and dysgraphia affect your educational and career goals for the future?

Sam describes how he enjoys mechanics, working on cars and tractors. Community college or a technical college would be his first choice. Essentially, it is a job that doesn’t require a college education and is something that he already enjoys (working on cars/trucks/tractors/other machinery). He goes on to explain how a normal four-year university would be too demanding.

Through research attempting to answer the initial question, ‘how does anxiety affect high school students with dysgraphia?’ I can conclude the problems stemming from dysgraphia are only worsened by anxiety over the years from struggling in an education system that refuses to acknowledge dysgraphia. Additionally, as the curriculum gets harder, the more depression and anxiety takes a toll on the student who is left behind by the system. The pattern I noticed throughout my research was a constant “I don’t care so why bother trying” attitude. Now, because of the fact I happen to know my research subject very well, I can state that he wasn’t always this way. My brother used to have a deep appreciation for school and a want to fit in with his friends. The first time it was suggested that he move to special education classes he was very distraught. “The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires schools to serve students in “the least restrictive environment” (99), meaning that to the greatest extent possible, special education students should be kept in “regular” classrooms.” In violation of the IDEA, various elementary school teachers alienated my brother and bullied him to comply with their beliefs that he belonged with the severely disabled students. This cause and effect situation was worsened by teachers who, over the course of ten years, lowered the self-esteem of my brother, causing him to blame himself for his disabilities without providing him with a solution to help himself. This in itself is a prime example of the education systems failure to support students with dysgraphia. Which in turn, advances a perpetual cycle of worsening distress that causes ones’ anxiety and depression to worsen over time until they just “don’t care” anymore.

The most interesting piece of data I recorded was my subject’s response to a class he enjoyed. When Sam spoke of Mr. Edwards, his English and history teacher, it was evident my brother felt engaged and comfortable in the class. This supports my subject’s proposed solution that in classes utilizing visual expression projects rather than daily writing assignments, his outcome of learning is higher, he feels engaged and proud of the work he’s turning in if the teacher understands him as a student.

From the data gathered from my research I propose a new theory, that anxiety stemming from dysgraphia is not the problem for students struggling with learning disorders. The problem is an exclusionary school environment that fosters a discriminatory mentality, making students with learning disabilities feel alienated. Sam didn’t always hate school, in fact he loved kindergarten and elementary school. It wasn’t until teachers began questioning whether he belonged in a normal classroom or not that he realized he was different than his classmates. My brother’s positive relationship and educational outcome with Mr. Edwards supports the claim that anxiety caused by dysgraphia is not the problem, but rather the exclusionary school environment is. My brother suffers from anxiety as a result of his dysgraphia, but it is ultimately the school environment that decides whether or not he succeeds in spite of his differences or is left to drown.

The initial question I posed was, how does anxiety affect high school students with dysgraphia? After extensive research through secondary sources and creating my own research tool using the gaps the sources failed to acknowledge, I have come to a conclusion. Anxiety affects high school students suffering from dysgraphia in both social and academic settings. In the end, it is ultimately the environment of the teachers and students that determines if a student with dysgraphia succeeds. The solution I propose is a system implemented in the United States that promotes inclusive schools with qualified special education teachers, general teachers, and well-informed administrators. This system requires all teachers support the idea of having an inclusive school and being positive towards all students. This plan of action also requires successful coordination between special education and general teachers. A positive social climate is key to creating a space to overcome preexisting educational fears and to prevent events like the one my brother and I experienced from ever happening. This system would train teachers how to tailor their practices to students with learning disorders and mental health issues. A system such as this would allow students much like Sam, to achieve any goals they may set for themselves and teach them not to feel lesser than or inhibited by their differences. An inclusive education system would restore self-confidence and allow students to harness their intelligence.

If an inclusive education system is the standard our nation aims to strive for, what is the reality of our current education system? Additionally, how does our education system currently support students diagnosed with dysgraphia? This question is further explored through research conducted by Aron and Loprest that “traces the evolution of the special education system in the United States from its origins in the civil rights movement of the mid-twentieth century” (97). The claim made in this study is as follows, “the special education system has given children with disabilities much greater access to public education and promoted greater inclusion of these children alongside their nondisabled peers… but despite these advances, many problems remain, including the under-identification of certain subgroups of students” (97). Once again, the theme of underrepresentation and “limited evidence available… on how to improve student achievement for this important subgroup of students” (97) presents itself. Further building upon the data concerning the importance of education on quality of life as stated by Charles Uwakwe and Samuel Akanbi in the Effectiveness of Dialectical Behavior Therapy in Reduction of Test Anxiety Among Students with Learning Disabilities in Oyo State Nigeria, Aron and Loprest claim, “education has the potential to affect children’s health by influencing their ability to advocate for themselves, manage chronic health conditions, and navigate complex medical, insurance, and social systems during childhood and later in life” (98).

In 1975, The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act was passed. According to Aron and Loprest, the “IDEA has thrown open the doors of public education for children with disabilities. Before its passage, only one in five children with disabilities attended public school” (100). Only within the last forty-four years, have special education individuals been given rights to harness their success on the same platform as nondisabled individuals. Under the IDEA, individuals are given access to benefits such as “curriculum modifications, small-group or individual instruction, and access to teachers who are especially skilled in motivating students, adapting instructional materials, teaching reading skills and language arts, and managing student behaviors” (105). This would be extremely advantageous for students with learning disorders, if only it were enforced. The eleven schools Sam attended all marketed themselves as accommodating for Individualized Education Programs (IEP). For my brother, his IEP plan consists simply of extended assignment time, being provided access and guidance to technology within the classroom, as well as being provided copies of notes and electronic copies of worksheets.

The extreme culmination of the alienation my brother experienced as a result of an exclusionary school environment, occurred in 2016 when a school district, which at this time I will not be naming for privacy reasons, expelled him from a public school on the basis of residency issues. These residency problems were in fact proved to be false only after the principle personally investigated our home with no law enforcement present. My personal experience supports Aron and Loprest’s study that presents the occurrences of “other studies that have demonstrated states’ noncompliance with the many administrative and procedural requirements of the program [IDEA]” (115). This is the reality of the exclusionary education system my brother and others, have come to accept. Once again, I beg the question, how does our current system support students diagnosed with dysgraphia? The answer through my brother’s experiences is, it doesn’t.

The IDEA is in place to provide access but there is no state or local enforcement; school districts are not held accountable. Aron and Loprest report that “in 2010 federal funding on special education through IDEA was $12.5 billion” (109). Where was this money allocated? Through my brother’s experience, we were provided technology in the form of a Chromebook, but no guidance on how to implement it in the classroom. Overall, there is a lack of access in our current education system. The solution to the problem of access through technology means nothing without teachers who are trained to accommodate for students with learning disabilities and school districts that are prepared to be accountable. “Despite widespread agreement that the special education system is not working as it should or could, opinions differ over how it should be fixed. Families of children with disabilities have sharply opposed calls for fundamental changes to the special education system. They believe the program is well conceived and properly structured but has been poorly funded, implemented, and enforced” (115). In concurrence with my proposal of an inclusive school environment, Aron and Loprest argue the need for dual reform with the general education system “by creating school environments that are more conducive to positive behaviors and to learning for everyone” (116).

The study conducted by Susan Etscheidt in Complacency With Access and the Aggregate? Affirming an Individual Determination of Education Benefit Under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act “proposes that the alignment of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act may implicate a student’s right to a free, appropriate public education and cautions against complacency with mere access to the general curriculum and a satisfaction with aggregate accountability of outcome” (195). According to Etscheidt’s research, “proponents of NCLB claim positive changes related to accountability, teacher qualifications and evidence-based practices” (195). While the outcomes of these reauthorized programs seem to be facially beneficial, “as a result, IEP teams may design educational programs to meet proficiency standards, rather than individualized student needs” (197). This study focuses on the prime issues between individual needs and benefits and cautions against being complacent with access. The Supreme Court case of Board of Education of the Hendrick Hudson Central School District v. Rowley (1982) brings before the Court the issue of the term, “appropriate” within the IDEA that assures “free, appropriate public education”. Etscheidt writes, “The Supreme Court held in Rowley that the purpose of providing access to a Free Appropriate Public Education required “that the education to which access is provided be sufficient to confer some educational benefit upon the handicapped child” and that the goal of providing a “basic floor of opportunity” consisted of “access to specialized instruction and related services which are individually designed to provide educational benefit to the handicapped child” (199). The big question, once again, is what is access? Is just providing a means to gain access enough? In the case of my brother, providing a physical means to education without a plan of implementation is far from appropriate or even adequate. Frankly, it is lazy. Etscheidt’s research concludes that “school and district wide accountability measures, increased standards, or aggregate indicator data must be supplemented with an individual determination that the education program offered to the child is appropriate and beneficial” (204). I support this proposed solution that implements similar characteristics of an inclusive school environment following accountability standards and Individualized Education Programs.

For first year composition students, whether advancing themselves in the field of education, history, business administration or the sciences, the status of our current secondary school system is what determines the success of our generation and generations to come. For those directly involved in the field of education or any facet of learning, in a time when the topic of education reform is on the rise, being as well-informed on issues of learning disabilities and how to promote an inclusive school environment, serves as a strong skill set to incorporate in your résumé.

My brother is intelligent. He is smart, has great people skills, and a deep appreciation for nature. My brother is all of these things and more, but due to the oppressive system of education he’s experienced his whole life for fear of being alienated once more, my brother’s personality is often overshadowed by anxiety and low self-esteem. This comes as a result of teachers and an education system that would rather blame him for his shortcomings than educate themselves on the reality that learning disorders exist. These differences do not determine intelligence alone. If schools implemented systems of inclusion and patience, many students struggling with learning disabilities would be provided with the means to succeed. I hope, for the good of our nation in a time when we desperately need positivity in our national identity, and for the security of our future, that one day, all students and teachers would support inclusive school environments that don’t discriminate based on learning differences.

Works Cited

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