research paper

I wrote a post earlier about doing some research so when I was asked by my english teacher to write a research paper I jumped at the chance to write about dysgraphia and to tell my classmates about it. This is the first draft of the paper I wrote so my mom hasn't edited it it has only been edited by me.

I am writing this paper because I have dysgraphia and it is something I want to know more about even though I have it I still don’t understand why I have it this is a question I hope to answer along with these. I want to find out how dysgraphia works, what causes dysgraphia, what others think dysgraphia is, and how to accommodate people with dysgraphia.  I also want to find out how my experience with dysgraphia differs from others and how they are similar.

            Dysgraphia is not very well known throughout the world the fact that no ones quite sure how many people have it is proof to this fact “8-15% of students are said to have dysgraphia” (5) it has a difference of 7% witch is fairly large compared to other things this is because some people who have other learning disabilities also have dysgraphia witch makes it hard to diagnose I who have a mom that diagnoses people for a living was diagnosed by her friend so it also not always something someone automatically goes to I knew something was wrong but she couldn’t see it. People with dysgraphia also have a hard time writing papers because they cant get there ideas in order if you give them an outline of what you want they will follow it to a t because otherwise they don’t know what to do “reviewed research on the characteristics of unskilled writers and concluded that they tend to spend little or no time planning before starting to write, often do not present ideas in a logical order, use very simple sentence structures (or conversely, write long and rambling sentences with repetitive use of conjunctions), produce very little material in the available time, and are reluctant to review and revise their work”(5) This also limits how accommodations work for them because you can let them use a computer to write but that only solves part of the problem. There are various problems that each individual can have when they have dysgraphia they can have all of or only a few of these Some people have trouble with spelling and grammar others have more difficulty with planning papers and actually writing them and others have a hard time getting the papers started but once they get going its easier I tend to have a hard time getting started if I don’t have something like a rubric to go off of as well as trouble with spelling and grammer.

There are some accommodations that work for some people but not others so you have to find what works for that specific person for example “If your child is bringing home grammar exercises that require her to identify parts of speech (nouns, verbs, adjectives) or sentence parts (subjects, predicates, etc.), try using multicolored markers to help her. Give her models to follow like lists of nouns in red, verbs in blue, and so forth. Then ask her to highlight the words in the exercise with the appropriate color. Use squares of multicolored paper with nouns printed on one color, verbs on another, and adjectives on a third. Let your child make a variety of sentences by arranging and rearranging the words. See if you can find a good computer game that will provide plenty of practice.”(1) This may work for some people but for me it wouldn’t help at all I still wouldn’t understand the difference between the verbs nouns and various other grammar structures I also wouldn’t be able to pick them out on my own I would need almost constant help to do it.

            There are different types of spelling errors that various people with dysgraphia make. One kind of error is with written spelling “Patients who were unable to have a mental image of the shape of letters and made, in written spelling, case mixing errors or letter substitution errors between letters having a similar shape”(3) written spelling error happen when someone cant remember how to write a certain letter or switch two letters that look similar. Typing spelling errors are very similar to written spelling errors except that sometimes people hit the wrong key as well as spelling things wrong. Oral spelling errors tend to be substations and switching letters around.

            People often don’t under stand that a learning disability is something you’re born with “there reading and writing difficulties are often attributed to laziness, inattention, or emotional maladjustment.”(4) I have had many teachers call me lazy and say I don’t try hard enough so why should they try to accommodate this laziness of mine. “Dysgraphia is one of the more hidden learning disabilities. It is not readily visible at first glance. In fact, often people who have dysgraphia may be great readers and really smart in a lot of ways, so it is confusing why they seem to struggle so much with spelling, handwriting, and the rules of grammar.”(2)  it made things harder on me because I was trying my hardest and she refused to help me and I’m not the only one dysgraphia is not well known so the people that it affects have a hard time getting others to work with them because often people will ether say its not a real learning disability or they will say that the kid doesn’t really have it so they don’t have to help them.

            Dysgraphia is something that not much is known about but new things are coming out everyday and more and more people find out everyday. My goal in this essay was to answer some questions and I don’t think I found the answers to all of them I don’t know if the answers are out there yet but I hope to keep looking but I did find some things I wasn’t expecting to find like certain accommodations I had never thought of or that I don’t think will work. As well as answers to personal questions I have like what’s part of my learning disability and what’s part of me I sometimes have a hard time drawing the line but this helped it become clearer. All in all I’m glad I wrote this paper because it helped me learn more about something I have to handle everyday.

Works Cited

(1) Adelizzi, Jane Utley, and Diane B. Goss. Parenting Children with Learning Disabilities. Westport: Bergin & Garvey, 2001. Print.

(2) Cardon, Teresa Amber. Personal interview. 17 Feb. 2014.

(3) De Partz, Marie-Pierre, Aliette Lochy, and Agnesa Pillon. “Multiple levels of letter representation in written spelling: Evidence from a single case of dysgraphia with multiple deficits.” Behavioural Neurology 16.2/3 (2005): 119-41. Ebscohost. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.

(4) T. T. S. Ingram and Mrs. A. W. MasonThe British Medical Journal , Vol. 2, No. 5459 (Aug. 21, 1965) , pp. 463-465

(5) Westwood, Peter S. Learning and Learning Difficulties : A Handbook for Teachers. Camberwell: ACER, 2004. Print.

bandaids

now i know that this is just my opyon and it doesn't rein true for everyone and all learning disabilities but i believe that accommodations are like bandaids they work for the time being but they don't work in the long run like spell check for me it works until i stump it and when that happened i have to resort to going through a dictionary again (witch is a pain if you don't know how to spell what your looking for its basically guess and check) like i will often spell something so badly that no matter what i do i can't get it close enough for spell check to pick up. and with not handwriting anything it works till my computer crashes then i have to hand write and my notes are illegible and typing doesn't help grammar. there are also problems with similarly spelled words that have two very different meanings. i think that the bandaids work for small amounts of time but eventually we need better and longer lasting bandaids to take over

Edited:
Now I know that this is just my opinion, and it doesn't ring true for everyone and all learning disabilities, but I believe that accommodations are like bandaids. They work for the time being but they don't work in the long run. Like spell check. For me, it worlds until I stump it, and when that happens, I have to resort to going through a dictionary again (which is a pain if you don't know how to spell what you're looking for, it's basically guess and check). Like, I will often spell something so badly that no matter what I do, I can't get it close enough for spell check to pick up. And with not handwriting anything (using a computer instead), it works until my computer crashes, then I have to hand write and my notes are illegible and typing doesn't help grammar. There are also problems with similarly spelled words that have two very different meanings. I think that the bandaids work for small amount sod time, but eventually we need better and longer lasting bandaids to take over.

starting collage (edited - college)

unedited: i have gotten luckey and got into ucas it is a school that only accepts about 10 juniors and 150 sophmores i was applying as a junyor so i was very unlikely to get in im the last one accepted so i am quite pleased about that but it now provideds a more difficult problem that anything i have faced yet. ucas is a school that lets high school students go to collage and graduale with there assoates for free. so i will graduate coloage about a month before i graduate high school not that wouldent be a problem if i diddent have to take english 1010 witch is a class foucoused around writing i had no idea what to do because even though i am going to take that class next year i am still takeing classes where i have to take extensive notes and have to be able to read them so writeing them is not an option so i have to type my notes. now as you may konw from reading my earler posts i have in years past taken notes on my iPod now i thought at the beggining of the year that this is what i was gonna do when i got there the first day though i saw tons of kids bringing there own laptops to school to take notes so i decided to do that instead now that took care of the note takeing problem i thought i was good to go until i had my first test where the essay questions are long and have to be hand written with out special accomdations so i had to fugure out how to get those accomdations with it being a coloage class in a highschool i had to go through bouth the high school and the coloage to get the accomdations so after talking with bouth the coloage counsler and the highschool i got permission to not only type essays but have spelling not count in everything but english. i am very glad i can type my notes and tests its also nice on the parts of tests that i have to hand write even though they dont show up often its nice to know i can be doct for spelling.

Edited: I got lucky and got into UCAS. It is a school that only accepts about 10 juniors and 150 sophomores. I was applying as a junior so it was very unlikely that I would get in. I was the last one accepted, so I am quite pleased about that, but it now provides a more difficult problem than anything I have faced yet. UCAS is a school that lets high school students go to college and graduate with there Associates Degree for free. So I will graduate college about a month before I graduate high school. Now that wouldn't be a problem if I didn't have to take English 1010, which is a class focused around writing. I have no idea what to do because even though I am going to take that class next year, I am still taking classes where I have to take extensive notes and have to be able to read them. So hand writing them is not an option. I have to type my notes. Now as you may know from reading my earlier posts, I have in years past taken notes on my iPod. I thought at the beginning of the year that this is what I was gonna do. When I got there the first day though, I saw tons of kids bringing their own laptops to school to take notes. So I decided to do that instead. Now that took care of the note taking problem. I thought I was good to go until I had my first test where the essay questions are long and have to be hand written (without special accommodations). So, I had to figure out how to get those accommodations. With it being a college class, in a high school, I had to go through both the high school and the college to get the accommodations. After talking with both the college counselor and the high school, I got permission to not only type essays, but to have spelling not count in everything except English. I am very glad I can type my notes and tests. It's also nice on the parts of tests that I have to hand write even though they don't show up often, it's nice to know I can't be docked for spelling.

Tools for dealing with Dysgraphia

unedited: these are somethings that i have found help me with little things like how to spell little words and fix mistakes if not the first time the second. i will make up little rules for how to spell things that i spell often sometimes they stick and sometimes they dont but the ones that stick are very very useful. i also will look for classic mistakes that i know i make every time even though i dont notce it at first going through it a second time helps me fix them like how i always use the wrong witch i dont know how to spell the right one but i can know that im wrong and usualy am allowed to ask how to spell it. i also know that i often dont use capitals so i know when going through a papper to look for words that might be caplized. and lets face it nothing can beat spell check i can usually reli on it most of them time there are always those times when i stump it in witch case i will revert to a dictanry. i am going to put my edited version that only i edit under this then the version that my mom edits under that.

My edited version: These are somethings that I have found help me with little things like how to spell little words and fix mistakes if not the first time around the second. I will make up little rules for how to spell things that I spell often sometimes they stick and sometimes they don't but the ones that stick are very very useful. I also will look for classic mistakes that I know I make every time even though I don't notice it at first going through it a second time helps me fix them like how I always use the wrong which I don't know how to spell the right one but I can know that I'm wrong and usually am allowed to ask how to spell it. I also know that I often don't use capitals so I know when going through a paper to look for words that might be capitalized. And lets face it nothing can beat spell check I can usually rely on it most of them time there are always those times when I stump it in witch case I will revert to a dictionary. I am going to put my edited version that only I edit under this then the version that my mom edits under that.

My moms edited version:  These are some things that I have found help me with little things, like how to spell little words and fix mistakes, if not the first time around, the second. I will make up little rules for how to spell things that I spell often. Sometimes they stick and sometimes they don't, but the ones that stick are very, very useful. I also will look for classic mistakes that I know I make every time, even though I don't notice it at first, going through it a second time helps me fix them. Like how I always use the wrong "which". I don't know how to spell the right one, but I can know that I'm wrong and usually ask how to spell it. I also know that I often don't use capitals, so I know when going through a paper to look for words that might be capitalized. And lets face it, nothing can beat spell check. I can usually rely on it most of the time. There are always those times when I stump it, in which case I will revert to a dictionary. I am going to put my edited version that only I edit under this then the version that my mom edits under that. (Mom's note - She actually is getting better at catching some of her consistent mistakes, but only when she really goes through everything with a fine tooth comb!)