{"id":345597,"date":"2022-02-22T11:15:43","date_gmt":"2022-02-22T11:15:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/graphotherapy-what-even-is-it\/"},"modified":"2022-02-22T11:15:43","modified_gmt":"2022-02-22T11:15:43","slug":"graphotherapy-what-even-is-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/graphotherapy-what-even-is-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Graphotherapy! What Even Is It?"},"content":{"rendered":"

GRAPHOTHERAPY! WHAT EVEN IS IT?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

WHAT IS GRAPHOTHERAPY?<\/h3>\n

Graphotherapy is the treatment of dysgraphia<\/strong>, or quite simply, handwriting remediation.<\/p>\n

Graphotherapy emerged, among others, thanks to Professor Julian de Ajuriaguerra in the 1960s. A neuropsychiatrist and psychoanalyst, he created a reference tool for assessing dysgraphia that bears his name.<\/p>\n

A child is considered dysgraphic “when the quality of their handwriting is deficient, while no neurological or intellectual deficit explains this deficiency.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

(J. de Ajuriaguerra)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/strong>It has been scientifically proven that handwriting stimulates our brain, supports our ability to memorise and concentrate, and also helps us release overwhelming emotions.<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Making handwriting movements is very important.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Writing is an essential and unavoidable means of communication in everyday life. To achieve this, our handwriting needs to be legible.<\/p>\n

WHY DO WE SAY SOMEONE IS DYSGRAPHIC?<\/h3>\n

Writing is not simple for everyone; it remains a complex task that calls on multiple skills.<\/p>\n

The handwriting movement requires abilities such as fine motor control, bilateral coordination, visuo-spatial integration, and movement planning. It also involves the quality of hand manipulation, visual perception and proprioception (the nervous system’s sensitivity to information from the muscles, joints and bones), as well as sustained attention. Finger sensitivity also plays a major role.<\/p>\n

Dysgraphia can be explained by a weakness in one or more of these abilities.<\/p>\n

10 to 30% of school-age children are affected by dysgraphia.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Boys are more affected than girls.<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

WHO IS IT FOR?<\/h3>\n

\u200bGraphotherapy is for children, teenagers, and also adults whose handwriting is uneven, painful, or slow. The handwriting movement loses its ease and becomes a chore that is hard to overcome.<\/p>\n

Dysgraphic<\/strong> children and teenagers are held back in their learning and lose self-confidence. They are the most likely to consult a graphotherapist. The daily practice of writing at school confronts them with these difficulties. Over the course of remediation sessions, the goal is to gain more ease of movement in order to achieve handwriting that is legible, faster, and more enjoyable to produce.<\/p>\n

Each child learns and progresses at their own pace, until external constraints come into play, generally speed constraints, from CE2 onward, then when starting middle school and later secondary school with note-taking.<\/p>\n

At that point, the child will need help to stay the course and keep their confidence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Does your child\/teenager\u2026<\/p>\n

\u200b\u2026 complain of pain in the wrist, fingers or hand<\/p>\n

\u2026 work too slowly and struggle to keep up with the class pace<\/p>\n

… hold their pen in a tense or overly loose grip<\/p>\n

… make many corrections, with exercise books that look messy and untidy<\/p>\n

… constantly find themselves handling two tasks at once<\/p>\n

… think about the letter shapes while writing at the same time, meaning their handwriting movements aren’t automatic<\/p>\n

… fail to follow writing rules: margins, ruled lines<\/p>\n

… struggle to copy down lessons<\/p>\n

Like their teachers, do you find it “illegible”?<\/p>\n

You’ve noticed their lack of concentration.<\/p>\n

Why does even a Mother’s Day poem become a problem? Or why is even a simple shopping list a struggle?<\/p>\n

A graphotherapy assessment is then needed<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u200b\u200bDIFFERENT TYPES OF DYSGRAPHIA<\/h3>\n

Stiff dysgraphia: reflects tension, stiffness, heavy pressure<\/p>\n

Slack dysgraphia: loose pen strokes, uneven letter sizes. The result looks careless<\/p>\n

Slow and precise dysgraphia: overly focused on perfection, excessive structuring of letters, resulting in a lack of movement and rhythm. Good quality, but at the cost of tiring effort.<\/p>\n

Impulsive dysgraphia: excessive speed of movement, with poor control. No structure to the handwriting and a lack of organisation<\/p>\n

HOW DOES THE THERAPY WORK?<\/h3>\n

The goal of the assessment is to allow us to pinpoint your child’s difficulties and put in place ways to help them regain ease of movement, speed, and above all confidence.<\/p>\n

It is during this assessment that the type of dysgraphia is detected or suspected.<\/p>\n

This assessment can, of course, be revisited depending on the progress made during the sessions.<\/p>\n

The remediation programme put in place will involve one 40-minute session per week.<\/p>\n

Each session is personalised according to the child’s\/teenager’s profile and difficulties.<\/p>\n

Between sessions, practice exercises may be given to speed up progress on what was covered in session.<\/p>\n

Depending on progress, a mid-course assessment, between the 12th and 20th session, will be carried out, so we can “compare” the efforts made and those still needed.<\/p>\n

A so-called “automation” period will then be planned to make sure the learning has been properly internalised. At first, one session every two weeks, then one every three weeks, before therapy ends.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sophie Gabriel-Leal, Graphotherapist at ORA-VISIO<\/p>\n

ora-visio.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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