Handwriting difficulties experienced by people with Tourette's can occur for many reasons:
-Dysgraphia (specific learning difficulty affecting handwriting)
- Compulsions involving rewriting and crossing out what is written
-Hypermobility ( loose joints bending back further than normal, more common in the Tourette's community than in the general population)
-Fine motor coordination difficulties
-Low muscle tone
-Tics that involve ripping up paper
- Tics that involve scribbling on or stabbing the page with the pen
-Undetected PANDAS/PANS that can affect handwriting legibility
-Tics that involve throwing pens and pencils
-Tics that make it difficult to focus on the writing task and motor tics that make us jerk and make errors
-Visual processing issues may impact note taking from copying
- Brain allergies triggering neuroinflammation and impacting handwriting
- Coprographia (involuntarily writing or drawing inappropriate content as a tic, someone may avoid writing tasks due to this or have these tics incorporated into the work which can lead to misunderstandings)
Some ideas on ways to manage handwriting difficulties:
- Use of word processor / laptop
- Having a scribe
- Audio recordings, speaking instead of writing where possible.
- Some pencil grips may help with Dysgraphia for some people
-Finding ways to mange specific symptoms and addressing the root
-Tying pens to someone's wrist may help with pen throwing so the pen doesn't go anywhere
-Using pens with a thicker grip may help some people with handwriting legibility and fine motor coordination
-Being understanding in regards to illegible handwriting and poor presentation and knowing that tics may show up on paper (scribbling, stabbing page etc) 💚