About Dysgraphia and IEP Accommodations

Dysgraphia is a learning disability that affects writing ability, including handwriting, spelling, and organizing thoughts on paper. Students with dysgraphia may produce messy or illegible handwriting, write very slowly, avoid writing tasks, or have great ideas they cannot get onto paper.

The most impactful accommodations for dysgraphia give students alternative ways to produce written work. Keyboarding, speech-to-text software, scribes, and oral assessments remove the handwriting barrier while allowing students to demonstrate their knowledge. Graphic organizers and writing templates help with the planning and organization side.

If your child dreads writing assignments or their written work does not reflect what they can explain verbally, ask the IEP team about dysgraphia-related accommodations. These students often have strong ideas but need different tools to express them.