Clinical Assessment of Dysgraphia and Dysorthography Errors

Graphic Specific Assessment: Evaluating Writing Errors

The evaluation focuses on the type and frequency of graphic errors, including issues with inclinations, lines, connections, and dimensions.

Formal Evaluation (Ev. Formal)

• TALE (Test of Initial Reading and Writing Attitude): Administered individually during the first primary courses.
• AJURIAGUERRA Graphomotor Test: Administered individually (starting from 7 years old) and collectively. Assesses values such as awkwardness, shape, and proportions.

Informal Evaluation (Ev. Informal)

Assess writing through dictation or spontaneous writing. Assessment must go beyond mere observation by categorizing and quantifying the type and frequency of errors.

Evaluation of Minor Graphic Features

• Posture Chart: Note the attitude of the head, elbow, and forearm position; the slant of the writing line; the degree of extension or flexion angle of the hand; and the paper position.
• Graphic Support: Evaluate the writing instrument, pressure applied, and the grip (clamp).
• Rhythm of Writing: Note if the rhythm is too fast or too slow.

Dysorthography: Definition and Causes (Etiology)

Dysorthography Definition

Dysorthography is a set of writing errors that affect the word (spelling) and not its design or script (which is characteristic of dysgraphia).

Etiology (Causes of Dysorthography)

We can identify several types of causes:

• Perceptual Type:
  • Deficiencies in visual and auditory perception and memory (e.g., problems discriminating phonemes or sounds).
  • Deficiencies at the spatial level (lack of necessary spatial orientation, e.g., confusing 'b' and 'd', or 'p' and 'q').
• Intellectual Type:

  Low general intelligence often determines spelling failure. Achieving correct transcription requires certain intellectual operations that facilitate logical access to the code, learning phoneme-grapheme correspondence, and distinguishing the various linguistic elements that make a statement meaningful and allow adequate isolation of sentence components.

• Linguistic Type:
  • Language problems: If the child slurs, their written transcription will also be defective.
  • Deficient knowledge and use of vocabulary.
• Affective-Emotional Type:

  If the child is not motivated, they pay less attention to the task, and errors can occur even in well-known spelling rules.

• Educational Type:

  Poor teaching methods (dispedagogies) often appear as a key factor in the etiology of writing difficulties.

Specific Assessment of Spelling Difficulties

Goal of Assessment

The assessment consists of evaluating and analyzing the symptoms and existing spelling difficulties.

Formal Evaluation

Specific standardized tests are usually corrected objectively. Examples include:

• TECI (Test of Initial Attitude Cycle): Individual or collective. Categorizes misspellings based on their nature, assessed through basic vocabulary, dictation, and spontaneous writing.
• TERRASA (Test of Writing for Preschool Initial Cycle): Individual or collective. Rates the most common types of spelling errors using the same writing modalities as the previous test.

Informal Evaluation

Informal evaluation provides necessary qualitative information to supplement the formal assessment. It requires a qualitative design, including the selection of appropriate evaluation techniques, materials, application methods, correction procedures, and overall evaluation.

Collecting Writing Samples

A writing sample should be collected from the subject using three modalities:

1. Copying words and texts.
2. Dictation of words and texts.
3. Spontaneous writing (asking the child to invent and write a short descriptive story).