Student Sues Princeton Over Learning Disability Accommodations

poetgrl
Mon, 30 Nov 2009 09:13:20 +0000

I’m sure, based on what Calmom said, that there must be differing versions of the definition of dysgraphia.

I can only speak from one experience, which is to say that my D is dyslexic…the words come up off the page for her, though she has been able to get to a point where she can keep the words on the page. This happened in Jr. High for her, through very hard work. Now, she also reads for pleasure. However, she will say she has “dyslexic days.” Sometimes she’ll call and say, “I’m so dyslexic today.” So, while she has found many ways to cope with the reading issue, it is still a challenge.

For her, the dysgraphia is related to her dyslexia…the letters she is writing come up off the page. Since it is different from reading, in that she can not sit really, really still and hold it there (as it is already moving), she can’t do anything about this. She can’t spell, though she is a phonetical bad speller and a good spell check will take care of it, and she can’t punctuate and rarely capitalizes, etc…

If she has to be worried about these mechanics, it severely limits what she will write, as it is much more difficult to manage the mechanics then the content, for her. If, however, the mechanical elements are eliminated, she is an excellent writer. That is her disability, as it shows up in school for her today. She continues to work on it, and there is some evidence, see “IN the Mind’s Eye” that as these kids reach maturity in thier 20’s some further brain development happens to mitigate even these left-over symptoms.

However, I really don’t see her going into anything which would require a great deal of writing…she is very much looking forward to being done with her “writing” requirements. It will be a very happy day for her at the end of this year. It adds just hours to her workload, but she knows this and never complains. (She is actually rather hillarious about it, and has developed a very big sense of humor about it over the years. She occaisonally wears a shirt which reads, “Dyslexics are teople poo.”)

That’s my best explanation.