Dysgraphia Awareness Month 2023 has been all about creating #DysgraphiaSparks - sharing personal stories about dysgraphia that can spark important research.
Our community has stepped up! (And it's not too late to submit your story here.)
We have heard from parents who continue to face challenges - difficulty getting kids diagnosed, teachers who are not informed, lack of information. We heard from someone whose son is twice exceptional - gifted, but with dysgraphia - and about the lack of understanding of how to support both sides of him in the classroom. Another parent shared how their son has grown in confidence, grown in the ability to advocate for himself, but that others still often miss "the breadth and depth of his creativity" due to his difficulties in writing.
We heard from an adult with dysgraphia who told us about how she has both a successful career and a team of personal proofreaders who still support her. And importantly, we have heard from scientists who are inspired by the stories, who use it for the inspiration to do what they do.
"You listen to people who have suffered from dysgraphia. And when you listen to their stories, you hear usually, that they're very competent and very, very capable in so many ways. And yet, there's this island of difficulty that they suffer from in terms of written language expression....I want to understand where did these difficulties come from? Why are there these islands of difficulty? And what can we do to help people that have these difficulties and develop remediation approaches? So it's the stories that have motivated me to get involved in research."
As mentioned at the beginning of the month, we are also using the challenges that are identified in the stories to compile a list of areas where more research is needed.
We encourage you to join the movement and share your story. We will continue to highlight quotes (when given permission) all month long to raise awareness of dysgraphia.
Thank you to everyone who has shared! Your story is helping raise awareness and making a difference.