Joseph is a Year 2 student with a diagnosis of dysgraphia. He has a history of attending physiotherapy and occupational therapy for fine and gross motor skill development. As a result, Joseph’s pencil grip is appropriate and he uses a seating wedge to improve his posture while sitting at the desk. After considerable occupational therapy intervention, Joseph has developed cutting skills and can form the letters of the alphabet. His writing remains slow and is often difficult to read due to inconsistent letter size, incorrect use of upper and lower case letters and poor spacing.
Joseph’s teacher often finds that while Joseph has great ideas when the class is sitting on the mat and can answer comprehension questions from his reading when asked orally, his written output is minimal, lacks organisational structure and is significantly different to the knowledge he displays when asked questions. Joseph’s spelling is progressing slowly but he often requires more exposure and practice than other children with a similar reading age. Joseph is in the lower spelling group, all of whom are on a group education plan. Joseph’s teacher has discussed Joseph’s needs with his parents.
To support Joseph, his teacher:
- provides Joseph with planners to assist him to organise his ideas when writing
- ensures Joseph’s program is pitched at his level in all areas, not reducing expectations of content knowledge, maths and reading while providing writing spelling and organisational supports
- allows Joseph to focus on the key skills/content by reducing unnecessary parts of an activity, for example, providing pre-ruled and dated paper in diary writing
- where appropriate, allows Joseph to use alternative forms of assessment, such as giving oral answers to demonstrate knowledge or using letter cards/keyboard when spelling.
As a result of his teacher’s strategies, Joseph is progressing well and maintaining confidence in his abilities.