School can be a nightmare. I know it from all sides. I’ve been a student, I’ve been a teacher, I am a parent. I’ve seen it all. I also know that for every problem there are solutions. Yes, plural.

If you kid struggles with writing, this is a big deal. Writing is one of those skills that you need for every subject. As school progresses, this becomes increasingly nightmarish. Not only English teacher demands umpteen-page essays, but EVERY teacher in the school. Hey, what happened to dioramas and collages?

The reasons why your kid struggles with tasks that do not seem that difficult for their peers may vary widely. Often parents cannot figure head or tails of the problem. The kid is smart, has a huge vocabulary, comes up with complex stories, remembers all kinds of interesting facts retells you a three-hour movie in three sentences. However, he hates writing.

First of all, maybe your child is not yet ready. Maybe he is too young. Boys often lag in this area, so do not push them too hard. If they lack necessary fine-motor skills, they physically struggle with writing. Another reason may seem obvious, but sometimes parents forget to consider it in the first place. You kid might genuinely be not interested. He dislikes writing, because finds it boring. It does not mean they can’t write – they just do not want to.

Finally, there is a condition called dysgraphia. It is not as widely known as dyslexia or ADHD, but it is also a brain-based issue. This often happens to kids with mixed dominance. Their brain is hardwired as left-handed (so left eye is dominant), but they preferred to use right hand, so brain gets confused. If your child is older than seven and has the following issues, there is a chance he or she has a mixed dominance:

• starts writing their letters from bottom up
• occasionally reverses letters (writes И instead of N or Я instead of R)
• writes O clockwise (if they are right-handed)
• applies too much pressure on the pen
• their handwriting is a mixture of cursive and print letters
• their letters are different in size and height
• your child is a teenager but still avoids writing at all costs

You cannot cure or fix dysgraphia, but there are strategies that can help your child to write better. A brain integration therapy can help their eye-hand coordination and improve their writing.

You should also teach your child alternative strategies that will help them cope with learning tasks further in life. Thankfully, a plethora of assistive technologies help students of all ages.

• Suggest you kid takes voice notes. Most smartphones have this option built-in and most note-taking apps (like Evernote or Google Notes) support voice. This will help them to be more organized. This is a great alternative to a conventional student planner (the latter is often neglected by kids who hate writing).

• Consider switching to a keyboard for writing. This will make your kid more productive. The amount of writing assignments is overwhelming. Typing and printing them out will take a lot of pressure from your child. Continue writing exercises for their own sake, but ask teachers to allow handing in printed essays.

• Use proofreading services. Teach your kid to use online tools for editing and proofreading. They analyze text deeper than usual spell-checkers. They recognize not only typos and grammar mistakes, but also find confused words that sound similar but mean different things. This is often an issue with dysgraphic students. To choose the one that works for your kid – Grammarly, Language Tool or maybe PaperHelp reviews are a great help. Consider all pros and cons and choose the right one for your kid. You will soon find it to be an invaluable tool. Whether they are working on writing assignments for their classes or want to make a perfect impression with their college admission essay.

• Teach your child mind-mapping technique. This one is very helpful because they can make a visual plan of their essay without actually writing. There are apps and websites where you can integrate quotes, pictures, videos or gifs into your scheme. If you do not want to involve technology, you can do collaging with occasional doodling, connecting elements with arrows, circling them up, highlighting important stuff. This is one-step closer towards actual writing

• If your child has no troubles with composing stories orally, but writing turns it into an ordeal, voice-to-text technology can become a life savior. This way your child can express himself freely. Every idea they come up with they can explore without a fear that it will take them two hours to write it down. This is a great way to develop imagination and storytelling skills circumventing the writing issue altogether.