Dyslexia Writing Samples by Grade: Real Handwriting Examples & Progress
What Does Dyslexia Writing Look Like?
Often the main thing that triggers parents to think their child has dyslexia is reversals within the child’s writing. A close second to that is major difficulties with spelling. A LOT of parents wonder what it looks like when a child has dyslexia, so I’m providing dyslexia writing samples here.
These samples are from a child with severe dyslexia, and they show how progress was seen over a span of 8 years. This child was provided with intense remediation through homeschooling to overcome dyslexia. So you’ll see progress as the samples advance in grade.
TWO NOTES about these examples:
- This child ALSO had ocular motor issues, and had to have vision therapy. Reversals are often caused by visual perception issues and NOT by true dyslexia. This is a KEY factor because the needed therapies and instruction are different.
- These examples are from a child who received the necessary help, so there IS progress. MANY times, kids never receive the right help, so they will not make nearly as much progress.
Hopefully, somewhere along the way in these samples, you’ll recognize some of the issues you’re seeing with your child.
After the writing samplles on this page, I’ll provide a link to other resources on the Learning Abled Kids’ website. I know you probably have a lot of questions just like I did in the beginning!
Grade-by-Grade Dyslexia Writing Samples
This page contains dyslexia writing samples collected through our years of homeschooling. We overcame severe dyslexia, issues with handwriting, and major spelling problems.
We were ABLE to overcome the spelling problems, which can be the HARDEST part of dyslexia to overcome!
The dyslexia writing samples below show how my child progressed in both spelling and handwriting. The samples will take you from our elementary years through high school.
You may also want to check out these Programs we used to overcome writing problems:
- First Year of Our Homeschooling – The programs we Used.
- Second Year of Homeschooling – Programs Shared.
- Third Year of Homeschooling – The programs we Used.
- Programs for Improving Handwriting
- Programs for Developing Written Expression Skills
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BEFORE we began homeschooling: Second Grade Dyslexia Writing Sample
This dyslexia writing sample is from my child’s second grade year in public school. At this time it was obvious he had severe issues. We weren’t sure what the cause was though. Note here: Our child was diagnosed with both dyslexia and ocular motor deficits, which required both special reading instruction and vision therapy. SO, this sample is before any therapies or special instruction.
At the Beginning of our homeschooling : Fifth Grade Dyslexia Writing Sample
This dyslexia writing sample is from my child’s fifth grade year after we started homeschooling. He obviously had some idea about letters and sounds. However, he did not have a solid understanding of phonemes. He could write somewhat, but his spelling was very phonetic.
Mid-Sixth Grade Dyslexia Writing Sample
In the second year of our homeschooling, my child’s sixth grade year, we began working on improving handwriting. This is an example of the improvement we made with his chronic dyslexia writing issues in one year’s time. Learning cursive DID improve his word and letter spacing.
Mid-Seventh Grade Dyslexia Writing Sample
In the third year of our homeschooling, we continued working on improving handwriting. This was the point where I became concerned that his spelling abilities were not going to come along with his reading and writing abilities. Also, my child was still having difficulty with handwriting. Therefore, I began considering keyboarding as a long-term, assistive technology solution.
Mid-Seventh Grade Dyslexia Writing Sample:
As you can see from this dyslexia writing sample and the one from earlier in seventh grade, we weren’t making a whole lot of progress with my child’s actual handwriting. However, the Bravewriter writing curriculum was inspiring my child to write more creatively! That was a FABULOUS skill to develop!
Mid-Eighth Grade Dyslexia Writing Sample
As my child got more comfortable with expressing himself through writing, he also moved away from mixed print and cursive. He went back to straight cursive writing. This was about as good as I thought it’d get. However, he did continue to improve from here! 😀
Spelling Remediation: Tenth Grade Dyslexia Writing Sample
These two dyslexia writing samples are from my child’s eight grade year. At this time, in preparation for college, we began keyboarding training. You’ll see in the second sample of dyslexia writing for tenth grade. In the hand-written sample, you’ll see how fabulously my child’s handwriting improved from the first half to second half of his tenth grade year!
I also really began focusing on trying to help my child with his spelling issues now that he was reading and writing without having to work so doggone hard to write. I researched to figure out WHAT WORKS for spelling when a child has severe dyslexia. You’ll see marked-up in the type-written dyslexia writing sample.
Spelling Remediation: Tenth Grade Dyslexia Writing Sample
When researching educational studies, I learned that the “Self-Correction” method of spelling helped improve chronic spelling issues more than any other method. Keep in mind, this method only works AFTER a child knows all of the spelling rules. Your child has to be able to recognize the correct spelling in a list of words even if he can’t spell it off the top of his head. This sample shows my “mark-ups” (highlighting and underlines) to help my child see where his spelling errors were.
By using self-correction along with spelling programs, my child became a good speller in spite of severe dyslexia!
AFTER Remediation: Twelfth Grade Dyslexia Writing Sample
This dyslexia writing sample is from my child’s senior year after we had worked on remediating his dyslexia writing, keyboarding and spelling issues. He did fabulously in his dual-enrollment courses at the university!
More Resources for Overcoming Dyslexia Writing and Reading Issues:
There are a LOT of pages on this website focused on overcoming Dyslexia writing, reading, spelling, and other issues. Here on this site, you can learn What are the signs and symptoms of dyslexia? And how early can you tell if your child has dyslexia?
The easiest way for you to find the pages you want to look at next is check out the listing of pages about dyslexia.
To see a listing of and description for pages about dyslexia on this site, CLICK HERE.
AFTER Remediation: College Graduate In Spite of Having Severe Dyslexia Writing Issues in Elementary and Middle School
My child went off to college at a large university. He completed his B.S. Degree in a scientific field in three years. He also graduated Magna Cum Laude!!
This is the child our school administrators said would “never read well,” and “is NOT college material!” They were SOOOO WRONG. Thank the LORD for putting the right encouragers in my path and for showing me a DIFFERENT road.
If you want to know with more certainty if your child has a learning disability, you may want to check out our Is My Child On Track? A Grade-by-Grade Reading & Learning Screening Guide (Grades 1–8) page. It details typical milestones and red flags in a grade-by-grade format to help you see more clearly where your child’s current levels of performance fall.
Read our story of how we began homeschooling for additional encouragement, and KNOW that YOU are NOT alone!!
