Dyslexia or Dysgraphia: How to Tell the Difference

When reading and writing feel harder than they should, knowing whether the struggle is with decoding words or putting them on paper is the first step to the right help.

In short

Dyslexia and dysgraphia can look alike from the outside, but they affect different skills. Dyslexia mainly affects reading — recognising, sounding out and decoding words — while dysgraphia mainly affects written expression — the physical act of writing and getting thoughts onto paper. A child can have one, the other, or both together. You cannot tell which from home alone; a structured educational and developmental assessment is what tells them apart clearly.

How they tend to show up differently

Signs that lean towards dyslexia (reading):

• Slow, effortful or inaccurate reading; guessing words from the first letter or picture.
• Trouble sounding out new or unfamiliar words and blending letter-sounds.
• Difficulty with rhyming, breaking words into sounds, or remembering letter names.
• Reading is tiring and avoided, though spoken understanding may be strong.

Signs that lean towards dysgraphia (written expression):

• Handwriting that is messy, slow, painful or hard to read despite effort.
• An awkward pencil grip, tiring hands, or inconsistent letter sizing and spacing.
• A big gap between what a child can say and what they can write down.
• Spelling errors, missing words, and trouble organising ideas on paper.

The overlap: spelling difficulty can appear in both, and many children have features of each. Importantly, these are usually identified around ages 6–8, once formal reading and writing instruction is well underway — earlier, it is more appropriate to watch and nurture pre-literacy skills (rhyme, letter play, drawing, fine-motor games) rather than label.

When to seek a check

Seek a structured check if, after age 6–7, your child still reads or writes well below classmates, dreads literacy tasks, tires quickly when reading or writing, or if their written work falls far short of their clear verbal ability. Early, accurate identification means the right teaching and support can begin while learning is still being built.

The Pinnacle way

AbilityScore® is part of Pinnacle’s developmental assessment. Diagnosis, where needed, requires an appropriately qualified healthcare professional — never from an app or an online checklist. Our clinicians use a structured, clinician-administered assessment to map exactly where the difficulty lies — reading, writing, or both — and shape a plan around your child's strengths. Explore how the AbilityScore® is formed, see how targeted learning and educational therapy supports literacy skills, and start at our home page to find your nearest centre.

Trusted sources

WHO ICD-11 developmental learning disorder framework (with impairment in reading and in written expression); American Academy of Pediatrics (HealthyChildren.org) guidance on learning differences; American Speech-Language-Hearing Association guidance on written and spoken language disorders.

Next step — Want clarity on what your child is really finding hard? Book a learning assessment with a Pinnacle clinician.

This is general information, not a diagnosis — individual assessment and diagnosis require an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.