ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET

Student Number 20162082

Student Name Alana Parker

Unit Code EDUC 3629

Unit Title Students with Special Needs

Assignment
Case Study Essay
Topic/Title

Unit Lecturer Dianne Chambers Date Received

Unit Tutor Colleen Hackett

Due Date 24/10/2019

Word Count 2200

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ASSIGNMENT RECEIPT

Student Number 20162082 Date Received

Student Name Alana Parker

Unit Code & Title EDUC3629

Assignment Title Case Study Essay

Dysgraphia is a neurobiological disorder “characterised by difficulties with accurate

and/or fluent written expression as well as poor spelling and handwriting skills”

(AUSPELD, 2018, p. 8). Students like Joseph have to work hard through the

processes of written expression to the same ability as those that are confident in

naturally developing writing skills (AUSPELD, 2018). Dysgraphia is known to be an

uncommon difficulty that may co-morbid with dyslexia ‘that is weakened decoding,

reading and spelling’ (Berninger & Wolf, 2009). It can either be through spoken

language or non-verbal. For a student with dysgraphia, some of the identifiable signs

that may be recognised for students with the neurobiological disorder consists of;

illegible handwriting, slow laboured writing, mixing print and cursive letters, spacing

letters and words oddly, poor spelling and grammar, difficulty gripping a pencil,

incorrect punctuation, run-on sentences and the lack of paragraph breaks and

trouble organising information when writing (AUSPELD, 2018, p. 9). This paper will

demonstrate the impacts of the disability in the classroom atmosphere, the

considerations and responsibilities for meeting the needs for students with

dysgraphia, strategies to address the needs and how communication would be used

towards the parents/caregivers.

Impacts of the disability/ difficulty:

Writing is a complex and imperative skill that students must learn in their educational

experience. It is not unexpected that several students may have difficulty in writing

competently. There are several things that can impact the progress of a student with

dysgraphia in the classroom. Some of the most important impacts that students like
Joseph suffer from in a classroom atmosphere is that these students see themselves

as different, this limits their ability to feel confident in their learning as well as they do

not feel as if they have a fit for purpose in the classroom (dsf, 2019). These students

tend to be a lot slower at completing tasks than others. Their learning experiences

are not going to be positive as they produce self-doubt towards themselves in their

abilities to complete tasks and having the anxiety and pressure of not feeling good

enough and/or very different than all of their peers. In the classroom students with

dysgraphia tend to be made fun of and or bullied because of their differences. This

causes low self-esteem for students like Joseph and impacts them in a major way in

the classroom. According to research (dsf, 2019), it has been stated that

misjudgement is used by teachers through mistake thinking that the students are

being lazy and are not trying their hardest, or aiming for the best of their abilities

through learning expectations. This impacts students with dysgraphia quite

significantly. For these students, it can be quite stressful as is. If they are not

provided with positive reinforcement and the essential support, these difficulties have

a damaging effect on the students emotional wellbeing, which in turn damages the

want to learn, engage and be involved through the educational experiences as part

of the whole class (NCCD, 2019).

Some other impacts that students with dysgraphia experience consist of having

difficulties in the planning stages of a writing task that includes planning a draft,

perform a writing piece/story and then revising their written work (Westwood, 2015,

p.123). Students have troubles expressing goals and producing thoughts, spending

little amounts of time in the thinking space before commencing a writing task and not
having the ability to write enough in the allocated time that the whole class is given

due to the lack of the working memory (Westwood, 2015, p.123).

Consideration for the teacher:

It is essential for all teachers to know their students and how they learn. This is an

obligation that all teachers must take part in at all times to plan a successful

educational program to support students’ needs. For Joseph, it would be beneficial

for the teacher to provide the RTI tier 2 (AUSPELD, 2018) in which is working in

small groups with peers allowing for intervention and ongoing mentoring. This allows

all students to work collaboratively, and students to be able to feel a sense of being

and becoming difficulties (DEEWR, 2009), by asking for further assistance to

minimise the distractions and aimed attention to students with learning

disabilities/difficulties, as research states (Pijl,de Boer, and Srivastava, 2017). It is

vital to accommodate for inclusiveness as an equivalent chance.

Considerations that teachers need to embed in their planning preparation for both

handwriting and written expression involves a variety of inclusiveness and hands-on

support. Multisensory as well as tactile opportunities are so beneficial for students

like Joseph to teach handwriting and letter formation through using sand trays, paint

bags, glitter glue, scented pens/textas as well as using verbal to memorise the

formations of handwriting (AUSPELD, 2018). Allowing a variety of forms to practice

handwriting aspects to provide several opportunities through different surfaces and

size scales. Within this, allowing students to start writing on whiteboards as large

print as they feel confident with and then gradually minimising the size of the surface
and or scale for the students to be able to identify and adapt the norm to practice

(AUSPELD, 2018). Also placing visual prompts on students’ desks for support is also

as important. And also using teaching aids to support the students’ needs in order to

form appropriate handwriting. Aids that are used for dysgraphia are highlighted

paper, pencil grip and or specialist pens/pencils to maintain appropriate pencil grip,

slant boards to provide the best posture for the wrist and hand muscles as well as

providing students with raised paper to grasp the sensory through touch in allocating

the correct letter sizing and formation as this is what students like Joseph struggle

with (AUSPELD, 2018). For teachers, these are important considerations to think

and plan for to support individuals handwriting development and needs. For written

expression teachers need to think of the students’ needs and their abilities as such.

Using templates to assist students with the planning and construction of written tasks

is important to consider as a teacher (AUSPELD, 2018 ). Catering to the needs of

what the students are capable of is crucial to embed in the planning for students like

Joseph. Instead of getting Joseph to write essay forms of writing it is more beneficial

to allow him to draw pictures or dictate his ideas during planning to organise his

ideas when writing. Using explicit direct instructions is beneficial for Joseph, as a

teacher, it is important to know the content to be able to simplify it for students that

have dysgraphia to explicitly teach the students the steps and processes that will

support their educational needs (Carnine et al., 2004). These are all great

considerations to incorporate as they can be used as a whole class approach to

allow inclusion for all students instead of just singling out Joseph. The teacher will be

able to visualise by observation on the progression and effectiveness of the

considerations adopted to support the needs.

Roles and responsibilities:

There are a variety of people that are involved to take on roles and responsibilities to

cater for the needs of students that have dysgraphia. The most responsible as such

is the classroom teacher. The teacher is responsible for meeting the needs most, by

planning, implementing strategies and assessing to make sure that the needs are

addressed and the student (Joseph) is progressing as well as self-reflecting and

evaluating personal attributes (AUSPELD, 2018). As well as writing educational

plans.

If it is language-based, then it is diagnosed by an educational psychologist that use a

variety of tests to obtain successful results from each individual student (dsf, 2019).

And if it is non-language based where there are mechanical problems with both fine

and gross motor skills than it is diagnosed by an Occupational Therapist (AUSPELD,

2018). An Occupational Therapist is the most valuable therapist that students who

struggle with writing mainly see to grasp efficient support (Understood.org, 2019).

According to Josephs case, he had seen a Physiotherapist as well as an

Occupational Therapist for his motor skills (NCCD, 2019). Other people that have

responsibilities are specialist teachers or educational assistants to help assist the

students through small group tasks and or one-on-one support to help cater for the

needs and developmental aspects of the weaknesses of students with learning

disabilities.

Parents are also an important figure to take on roles and responsibilities for their

child’s needs. A parent is a child’s first educator; the parents are aware of more

about their child then the teacher can be entitled to. The parents work alongside the

teacher, in following through the educational programming for homework to support

the needs in a continuum. These are the most significant individuals that help cater
for Joseph and students that have learning disabilities to take on roles and

responsibilities to form the best outcomes for that child in particular.

Strategies to adapt/ modify/ differentiate:

There are several strategies to accommodate and modify aspects to suit the needs

of social, emotional and academic needs for individuals like Joseph. It is important to

modify materials, assessments, teaching techniques as well as behaviour. As

mentioned earlier students with dysgraphia feel different and often develop low self-

esteem. Using positive reinforcement within any areas of achievement that the

student’s progress through is vital to incorporate. Through this using verbal praise,

having a reward system to encourage positivity, as well as using work samples to

show the progress of the student’s achievements and orally present positive

reinforcement to give the student a sense of success in their learning outcomes

(Jones, 2011). Teachers must implement a widespread strategy for learning, within

this providing a welcoming environment that caters for all students equally by

including materials and equipment that can be implemented into topics for all

students not only those with a disability and or difficulty (Jones, 2011). The use of

visual aids is crucial to create stimulation, this can be carried out for instructions, or

the organisational stages of writing tasks through using visual support such as

graphic organisers and visual timetables through using pictorial representations

(Understood.org, 2019). Using assistive technology such as voice to text software to

help support students through the adaptations of learning styles as well as increase

the student’s independence and emotional wellbeing through the use of motivation

and engagement through applications used on electronic devices such as ‘School

Writing, Audio notes, NoteTalker, Read and Write and Ginger Page Writing’
(Communication, Access, Literacy and Learning, 2018). Assistive technology allows

students to reach their full potential in an informative and engaging manner (Alghazo

and Al-Otaibi, 2016).

Allowing for extra time for tasks and or reducing the amount of writing (AUSPELD,

2018) is vital for teachers to accommodate through assessments/tests and

educational tasks that are completed, as Joseph struggles with completing written

exercises in the allocated time as the rest of his peers. Allow substitutes to hand-

written answers by using a device with a scribing application to help support the

needs of Joseph and students with dysgraphia as well as proving a digital recorder in

which students can use for class projects and or assessment tasks to provide a fair

and accurate overall result (Understood.org, 2019). Students that have learning

disabilities for written expression are known to get overwhelmed, so as a teacher

allowing time for students to take breaks in their written tasks and to stretch is

important to adapt (Understood.org, 2019). Allow students to feel a sense of freedom

through written tasks by limiting the need of draft samples, type their final writing

piece, and cater for them at all times by teaching strategies for improving handwriting

skills as a whole class approach through direct instruction (Carnine et al., 2004). As

well as the freedom to choose their writing equipment to suit their needs such as

pens/pencils and the sizing of their letter formations. This allows students to feel

confident and stable through the use of personal choice (Understood.org, 2019).

It is crucial for teachers to adapt their pedagogy to not penalise a student with writing

difficulties for the poor presentation of their work and or spelling as this does occur in

classrooms and effects students socially and emotionally as well as be conscious of

the language used to make sure that there is no singling out of students with

difficulties (Graham, et al., 2001). Allow students to feel a sense of belonging.

Communicating with parents.

Communicating with parents is an essential obligation to cater for as a teacher. It is

important for both the teacher and parents to be active through the communication

process in an open formation to confirm that the best outcomes are presented to the

child ‘Joseph’ (ASUSPELD, 2018). Both the teacher and parents are always active in

this process by keeping both individuals informed of the educational planning

preparation, how the child is progressing through the learning outcomes and what

can be achieved at home to co-morbid the similarities of the schooling task to help

support the needs of the student’s difficulties and or learning (AUSPELD, 2018).

There are several ways that parents can be involved in the communication

processes a few being notifying the teacher about the difficulties observed

(AUSPELD, 2018), strategies used at home that had been found effective

(AUSPELD, 2018), being active at all times through the child’s learning progression

through educational aspects (AUSPELD, 2018) and collaboratively working with the

teacher to support individual educational plans and forming meetings as such

(AUSPELD, 2018).

To conclude, those suffering from dysgraphia and face written expression difficulties

need more consideration and focus to be embedded through educational planning to

help the learning needs and difficulties for Joseph and students like him.
Implementations should be considered within the early years of learning for written

difficulties, as it is one of the most known problematic areas for many students.

Students like Joseph experience many impacts that affect their school life and self-

esteem crucially through the classroom environment. One of the most crucial

impacts being students seeing themselves as different and thus affecting their

learning abilities and self-confidence (dsf, 2019). For students with dysgraphia, there

are roles and responsibilities that individuals need to take into consideration to

support students’ needs, the most critical being the teacher and the parents to obtain

ongoing support for Joseph to visualise success within his learning. The teacher is in

charge of supporting the students, by planning for their needs and undertaking

ongoing assessments and observations to ensure the necessities are addressed at

all times to cater for success. And the parents to be communicative and work along-

side the educator to fill similar roles for their child. So as it has been put above,

students with dysgraphia need the attention to find success in the classroom, to

allow them to feel confident and involved in schooling and for future life aspirations

and goals.
References:

Alghazo, A., Al-Otaibi, B. (2016). Using Technology to Promote Academic Success

for Students with Learning Disabilities: Journal of Studies in Education, 6 (3),

1-20.

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Perth, WA: DSF Literacy Services.

AUSPELD. (2018). Understanding learning difficulties: A practical guide. South

Perth, WA: DSF Literacy Services.

Berninger, V. W. (2009). Helping students with dyslexia and dysgraphia make

connections: Differentiated instruction lesson plans in reading and writing.

Baltimore, MD: Brookes Publishing.

Carnine, D., Silbert, J., Kame’enui, E., & Tarver, S. (2004). Direct Instruction

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dysgraphia/

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Retrieved from https://www.nccd.edu.au/professional-learning/classroom-

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