Understanding Dyslogographia Or Chinese Dysgraphia

UNDERSTANDING DYSLOGOGRAPHIA (CHINESE DYSGRAPHIA) AND WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT THE DISORDER Yi Ya Tin BA(Hons), PGDE Noel Kok Hwee Chia EdD, BCET, FCP, FCoT, FCollP Meng Ee Wong PhD National Institute of Education Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Abstract Dysgraphia is a disorder in written expression that can be categorized into either developmental dysgraphia or acquired dysgraphia. There are three subtypes of developmental dysgraphia: dyslexic dysgraphia that bears similarities to dyslexia; dysgraphia due to motor clumsiness; and dysgraphia due to defect in understanding of space. The characteristics exhibited by these subtypes may apply to language systems that are alphabetical or phoneme-based in nature. For languages that are logographically based such as Chinese or Japanese, dysgraphia exists in another subtype known as dyslogographia. Though literature on dysgraphia is very limited as compared to studies done on dyslexia, literature on dyslogographia is even more limited. This paper will attempt to discuss about dyslogographia while drawing parallels if possible to the more known subtypes of dysgraphia and to some extent, also dyslexia. Introduction Listening, speaking, reading and speaking are the four main skills in learning a language. The first two skills are developed very early during childhood whereas the latter two are mostly developed during schooling. As written expression is emphasized in the education system, students who are unable to express through writing are handicapped by their inability even though their cognitive abilities are non-impaired. A disorder in written expression is often termed dysgraphia. Dysgraphia can be categorized into either developmental dysgraphia (childhood onset) or acquired dysgraphia also known as agraphia (more so in adulthood onset and in the form of brain damage). Kay (2004) defined dysgraphia as: “A specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin…characterized by difficulties with accurate spelling as a result of phonological processing deficit (dyslexic dysgraphia) and by poor penmanship or handwriting due to inadequate motor skills (motor dysgraphia) and/or spatial perception (spatial dysgraphia). These difficulties typically result in problems in written expression that can be unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and with the adequate pedagogy” (p.2) Deuel (1995) has identified three subtypes of developmental dysgraphia that have been incorporated into Kay’s operating definition. There are dyslexic dysgraphia that bears similarities to dyslexia; dysgraphia due to motor clumsiness; and dysgraphia due to defect in understanding of space. The characteristics of the subtypes are as follows: Subtypes Dyslexic Motor Dysgraphia Spatial Characteristics Dysgraphia Dysgraphia Spontaneously Poorly legible Poorly legible Poorly legible written text Oral Spelling Very abnormal Preserved Preserved Copying of written Preserved Poorly legible Poorly legible text Drawing Preserved Poor Very abnormal Finger-tapping Normal Abnormal Normal speed Table 1: Characteristics of dysgraphia subtypes From Deuel, R.K. (1995). Developmental dysgraphia and motor skills disorders. Journal of Child Neurology, Special Supplement, 10 (1), p.7 The characteristics exhibited by these subtypes as well as the operating definition may apply to language systems that are alphabetical or phoneme- 1 based in nature. For languages that are logographically based such as Chinese or Japanese, dysgraphia exists in another subtype known as dyslogographia. Though literature on dysgraphia is very limited as compared to studies done on dyslexia, literature on dyslogographia is even more limited. This paper will attempt to discuss about dyslogographia while drawing parallels if possible to the more known subtypes of dysgraphia and to some extent, also dyslexia (see Chia, 1999). Etiology There are various subtypes of developmental dysgraphia and they are neurological in origin. This means that one can improve the condition but not cure it. Similarly, Leong (2007a) has also identified three subtypes of dyslogographia: (1) ideographic, (2) ideophonetic, and (3) ideographonetic, which is a mixture of the two earlier subtypes. Many theories have been put forth to understand the relationship between language acquisition (including handwriting) and brain functions (see Alston & Taylor, 1987; Alston & Taylor, 1988). A number of neural systems located in the left hemisphere represent the phonemes and its combinations, and rules in forming words that assemble and form words or sentences in the spoken or written form (Damasio & Damasio, 1999). Hence, abnormalities of these neural systems may result in dysgraphia as written forms cannot be reproduced with ease by a dysgraphic person. The International Dyslexic Association (2000) observes that a dysfunction of the interaction between two main brain systems impairs a person’s ability to translate mental into written language. Another cause may be genetics though more studies need to be done to prove that defects in genes may lead to dysgraphia. 2 Understanding the Chinese Script and Dyslogographia Unlike English, Chinese characters are logographs which are known as hanzi （汉字）. Each character has “morphemic meanings” (Leong, 2007b), and has its own distinct form, pronunciation and meaning known as xing-yin-yi (形－音－义) (Peking University, 2002). The written and spoken forms of the Chinese language have undergone changes throughout the course of history, effectively removing the relationship between the both of them (Chia & Ching, 2001a, 2001b). Hence, students may have revisualization problem as they are to memorize each character. The writing of hanzi requires the correct sequencing of the strokes which give each character its unique form (Chia & Ching, 2001b)1. Hanzi exists in monographs such as 上 (shàng, [51] which means “up”) or compounds of different graphs, such as 花 (huā, [55] which means “flower”). The latter has radicals which represent the semantic meaning and a phonetic component that signifies the sound.2 This comprises around 90% of present day hanzi (Chia & Ching, 2001b). There are rules governing the positions of the two components 3 . Hence, students will need to learn these rules to minimize confusion. A possible problem will be the space allocated to each component graph of the hanzi must be proportionate that can only be achieved through practice. Hence, a person with spatial perception problem may find difficult to write a structurally-sound hanzi. Issues of structure are also not limited only to the ideograph itself but will have implications for learners with special perception problems in deciphering the 1 Refer to Appendix 1 for the sequence of strokes in Chinese characters. 2 The previous example of “花”, the” 艹” is the radical signifying of the grass which means that the hanzi is related to plants. The “化” is the phonetic component and it is pronounced as huà [51], which is similar to the pronunciation of “花”. 3 Refer to Appendix 2 for the rules. 3 reading and writing of text in its entirety. Chinese can be thought of being written in a square frame, and can be expressed in any direction. Depending on styles, written Chinese can be written in columns from top to bottom, moving from right to left. Alternatively, texts can also be written horizontally from left to right (Huang et. al., 2002). As observed with Japanese, Tollini (1994), and Shimizu and Green (2002) posit the difficulty in learning kanji (Japanese for hanzi) is also compounded by the structure of the written form – particularly for Western cultures whose alphabet whose language is written in a sequential, linear and serial expression. This departure from a uni-dimensional to a global, parallel, multi-dimensional system, Tollini (1994) argues to be difficult for learners to shift their decoding process. As written Chinese is also expressed in a similar format (Chen, 1999; Norman, 1988), it is plausible therefore to postulate that dysgraphic learners with special difficulties will be even more challenged. In dyslogographia, the stroke sequence may be reversed or confused (Hong Kong Association for Specific Learning Disabilities, 2007)4, such as 土 (tŭ, [t214] which means “soil”) and士 (shì, [51] which means “a social class in the ancient China”). Li (2004) classified the characteristics of Chinese dysgraphia as: 1. Size of characters varies; 2. Problems in copying of text from afar and the copying of a short passage; 3. Words with the wrong radical, but correct structure when copying; and 4. Words with the correct radical, but wrong structure when writing spontaneously (p.61). Diagram 1: An imitation copy of a person with dyslogographia writing the Chinese character “tree” (with a word processor done by first author). 4 Refer to Appendix 3 for more examples of such words. 4 Diagnosis A thorough diagnosis must be done to ensure that a person is dysgraphic. Poor teaching of writing, sitting postures or other environment and social factors may lead to a wrong diagnosis. Pseudo-dysgraphia can be remedied with learning to write properly with adequate exposure to the language. For dysgraphia that affects the English (or similar language systems) users, the authors have found that the use of WISC-III tests are effective in determining dysgraphia. This does not necessarily mean that students with dysgraphia in English are also dysgraphic in Chinese though such possibility may exist. Based the second author’s sample of 15 Chinese male subjects (at the Learning Disabilities

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