Comparison of the handwriting of a dyslexic child with that of a child who is not dyslexic

I have compared ‘J's’ writing with ‘Z’. ‘Z’ is a male pupil age 11 years who had not been diagnosed with dyslexia. ‘Z’ is a very slow learner.

‘Z’ has beautiful handwriting. He writes with his right hand and takes a very long time to complete a piece of work. ‘Z’ writes at his own pace and speed, all his letters flow evenly and every letter sits on the line. He puts a lot of effort in to his work and uses correct punctuation.

‘Z’ will immediately notice if he has made a mistake with his writing and rectify it, whereas ‘J’ will not notice at all unless it is pointed out to him.

‘J’, who is dyslexic and left handed, has very messy and untidy writing. ‘J’ always starts off on the line (usually in the margin) but never manages to complete the line without falling off it, thus his writing does not flow evenly.

‘J’ also forgets to use spaces between his words because he is rushing through it to finish it.

To help ‘J’ I had made photocopy pages with thicker lines for him so that the lines stand out. This helps ‘J’ to see where the lines are, as in his writing book the lines are quite faint.

What I did notice by comparing both boys’ handwriting books is that ‘Z’ uses a lot of pressure on his pencil as he is writing it and this is clearly seen on the page underneath. ‘J’ holds his pencil quite loosely and his writing is light in color in comparison with ‘Z ‘s which very dark.

A. B, Hewport, Gwent, UK.
(A.B. is a student on the Dyslexia Certificate course)