Dyslexia and Dysgraphia vs Dyscalculia and Dyspraxia

Dyslexia is a difficulty with reading and spelling words, dysgraphia with writing, dyscalculia with numbers and maths, and dyspraxia with coordinating movement. They are separate difficulties, a child can have more than one, and each is assessed by a different professional.

The four words sound alike because “dys” simply means difficulty. What follows it tells you where the difficulty sits: with words, with writing, with counting or with doing.

What is the difference between dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia and dyspraxia?

The difference is the skill each one affects. Dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia are learning difficulties in one area of schoolwork. Dyspraxia is a movement difficulty that shows up in schoolwork because so much of school is done with a pencil.

Name	What it affects	First signs at school	Who assesses it
Dyslexia	Reading words accurately and smoothly, and spelling	Slow to link letters with sounds, guesses at words, reading stays effortful, spelling does not stick	A speech pathologist assesses reading, spelling and language. A psychologist usually makes the formal diagnosis
Dysgraphia	Written expression: spelling, grammar and punctuation, and getting ideas into clear sentences	Can explain an idea aloud far better than on paper, writes very little, sentences lose words or order	A psychologist for the diagnosis. A speech pathologist for spelling and written language. An occupational therapist for handwriting
Dyscalculia	Number sense, number facts and calculation	Unsure which of two numbers is bigger, still counts one by one for simple sums, number facts do not stick	A psychologist
Dyspraxia (developmental coordination disorder)	Planning and coordinating movement, large and small	Messy, slow or tiring handwriting, trouble with scissors, shoelaces and ball games	An occupational therapist or physiotherapist assesses motor skills. A paediatrician usually makes the diagnosis

A report will often use longer names. Dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia appear as a specific learning disorder with impairment in reading, in written expression or in mathematics. Dyspraxia appears as developmental coordination disorder, or DCD. How dyslexia is diagnosed explains the report terms in full.

Dyslexia vs dysgraphia: what is the difference?

Dyslexia is a difficulty getting words off the page, and dysgraphia is a difficulty getting words onto it. A child with dyslexia struggles to read and spell words, most often because the sounds in words are hard to pick out and hold in mind. A child who has dysgraphia without dyslexia can read at the expected level but cannot produce writing to match what they know and can say.

The word dysgraphia causes confusion because it is used for two different problems:

The language side of writing. Spelling, grammar, punctuation and organising ideas into sentences and paragraphs. This is what a report means by an impairment in written expression.
The handwriting side. Forming letters, spacing them, and writing at a workable speed without the hand tiring. In Australia, DSF, the AUSPELD member body in Western Australia, describes persistent handwriting difficulty that comes from poor motor coordination as part of developmental coordination disorder, not as a learning disorder.

So when a teacher says “it might be dysgraphia”, it is worth asking which one they mean. The first is about language. The second is about movement.

Is poor spelling dyslexia or dysgraphia?

Poor spelling can belong to dyslexia, to the language side of dysgraphia, or to a handwriting problem, which is why spelling alone never settles it. What separates them is why the word comes out wrong.

Three checks separate a sound-based spelling problem from a handwriting or motor one.

Look at the errors themselves. A child who writes “sep” for “step” or “wet” for “went” has left out a sound. That is normal in the first year or two of learning to spell. When it carries on after that, it points to the sound system, the same weakness that sits under dyslexia. A child whose letters are all there but are badly formed, drifting off the line or different sizes has a different problem.
Take the pencil away. Ask for the word aloud, letter by letter, or typed. If the spelling is just as wrong without handwriting, the difficulty is in spelling itself. If it is right aloud and wrong on paper, the effort of forming letters is using up the attention spelling needs.
Check the reading. A sound-based spelling problem usually comes with slow or inaccurate reading of unfamiliar words. Reading that is on track for a child’s age, beside written work that is hard to read, points away from dyslexia and towards handwriting. Spelling that is just as wrong aloud or typed, beside reading that is on track, points to the language side of writing, which a speech pathologist assesses.

Some children show signs on all three checks, and that is an answer too. It means reading, spelling and handwriting each need to be looked at by the right person.

How are dyslexia and dyscalculia different?

Dyslexia affects words and dyscalculia affects numbers. A child with dyscalculia has trouble with what numbers mean: judging which of two numbers is larger, counting efficiently, recognising numbers quickly and remembering simple sums.

The two are easy to confuse in one situation. A child with dyslexia may get maths wrong because they cannot read the worded problem. Read the question aloud to them. If the maths is then sound, the difficulty is reading. If quantities and number facts are still shaky when no reading is needed, maths itself needs an assessment.

Is dyspraxia a learning difficulty?

No. Dyspraxia, which health professionals now call developmental coordination disorder, is a difficulty learning and carrying out coordinated movement. It is not a specific learning disorder and it does not affect how a child reads words. It is usually quoted as affecting 5 to 6 in every 100 school-aged children.

It overlaps with dyslexia in the classroom, not in the cause. Both children hand in little written work, both avoid writing tasks and both may be called careless. The child with dyslexia is stuck on the spelling. The child with dyspraxia knows the spelling but is slowed by the pencil, and often by buttons, cutlery and ball games as well.

Can a child have more than one?

Yes, and it is common. Having one of these difficulties makes another more likely, though none of them causes another.

Learning difficulties in general. healthdirect puts learning disability at up to 1 in every 10 people.
More than one learning difficulty. In a study of 1,633 primary school children, difficulties in two or more of reading, spelling and arithmetic turned up as often as a difficulty in only one.
Dyslexia and dyscalculia. A 2020 analysis that pooled earlier studies found that a child with a maths disability has about twice the odds of also having a reading disability as a child without one.
Dyslexia and dysgraphia. DSF says many students with dysgraphia also have dyslexia. Research does not give one agreed figure.
Dyslexia and dyspraxia. Researchers describe the two as often occurring together. Published figures vary too widely from study to study to quote a single number.

This is why a child who has been assessed for one difficulty, and is still struggling, may need a second look at something else.

Who assesses each one?

No single professional assesses all four. In Australia:

A psychologist usually makes the formal diagnosis of a specific learning disorder in reading, written expression or mathematics. A diagnosis generally needs at least six months of targeted teaching first, so it is rarely made in the first year of school.
A speech pathologist assesses reading, spelling, written language and the spoken language underneath them.
An occupational therapist assesses handwriting mechanics and fine motor skills.
A paediatrician usually diagnoses developmental coordination disorder, with a motor assessment from an occupational therapist or physiotherapist.

Who can diagnose dyslexia sets out what each professional’s report is used for.

What does Dr Lauren assess, and what does she not?

Dr Lauren Crumlish (PhD), Certified Practising Speech Pathologist, assesses reading, spelling, written language and oral language, online, for school-aged children and teenagers up to 18. Those are the skills affected in dyslexia and in the language side of dysgraphia. Her dyslexia assessment shows where reading and spelling are breaking down and what to do next.

There are limits, and they matter when you are choosing where to start:

Dr Lauren does not assess maths difficulties. A psychologist does.
Dr Lauren does not assess handwriting mechanics or motor coordination. An occupational therapist does.
Dr Lauren does not make the formal diagnosis. A family who needs one will also need a psychologist’s assessment, at that provider’s fee.

The assessment is $890 or $1,290, online, with Dr Lauren Crumlish.

If reading and spelling are the main worry, start with what dyslexia looks like. If you are not sure the problem is any of these four, dyslexia or something else covers attention, vision, hearing and a child who is simply behind.