Peripheral agraphias occurs when there is damage to the various motor and visualization skills involved in writing.

- Apraxic agraphia is the impairment in written language production associated with disruption of the motor system. It results in distorted, slow, effortful, incomplete, and/or imprecise letter formation. Though written letters are often so poorly formed that they are almost illegible, the ability to spell aloud is often retained. This form of agraphia is caused specifically by a loss of specialized motor plans for the formation of letters and not by any dysfunction affecting the writing hand. Apraxic agraphia may present with or without ideomotor apraxia. Paralysis, chorea, Parkinson's disease (micrographia), and dystonia (writer's cramp) are motor disorders commonly associated with agraphia.

- Hysterical agraphia is the impairment in written language production caused by a conversion disorder.

- Reiterative agraphia is found in individuals who repeat letters, words, or phrases in written language production an abnormal number of times. Preservation, paragraphia, and echographia are examples of reiterative agraphia.

- Visuospatial agraphia is the impairment in written language production defined by a tendency to neglect one portion (often an entire side) of the writing page, slanting lines upward or downward, and abnormal spacing between letters, syllables, and words. The orientation and correct sequencing of the writing will also be impaired. Visuospatial agraphia is frequently associated with left hemispatial neglect, difficulty in building or assembling objects, and other spatial difficulties.

Central agraphia occurs when there are both impairments in spoken language and impairments to the various motor and visualization skills involved in writing. Individuals who have agraphia with fluent aphasia write a normal quantity of well-formed letters, but lack the ability to write meaningful words. Receptive aphasia is an example of fluent aphasia. Those who have agraphia with nonfluent aphasia can write brief sentences but their writing is difficult to read. Their writing requires great physical effort but lacks proper syntax and often has poor spelling. Expressive aphasia is an example of nonfluent aphasia. Individuals who have Alexia with agraphia have difficulty with both the production and comprehension of written language. This form of agraphia does not impair spoken language.

- Deep agraphia affects an individuals' phonological ability and orthographic memory. Deep agraphia is often the result of a lesion involving the left parietal region (supramarginal gyrus or insula). Individuals can neither remember how words look when spelled correctly, nor sound them out to determine spelling. Individuals typically rely on their damaged orthographic memory to spell; this results in frequent errors, usually semantic in nature. Individuals have more difficulty with abstract concepts and uncommon words. Reading and spoken language are often impaired as well.

- Gerstmann syndrome agraphia is the impairment of written language production associated with the following structural symptoms: difficulty discriminating between one's own fingers, difficulty distinguishing left from right, and difficulty performing calculations. All four of these symptoms result from pathway lesions. Gerstmann's syndrome may additionally be present with alexia and mild aphasia.

- Global agraphia also impairs an individuals' orthographic memory although to a greater extent than deep agraphia. In global apraxia, spelling knowledge is lost to such a degree that the individual can only write very few meaningful words, or cannot write any words at all. Reading and spoken language are also markedly impaired.

- Lexical and structural agraphia are caused by damage to the orthographic memory; these individuals cannot visualize the spelling of a word, though they do retain the ability to sound them out. This impaired spelling memory can imply the loss or degradation of the knowledge or just an inability to efficiently access it. There is a regularity effect associated with lexical agraphia in that individuals are less likely to correctly spell words without regular, predictable spellings. Additionally, spelling ability tends to be less impaired for common words. Individuals also have difficulty with homophones. Language competence in terms of grammar and sentence writing tends to be preserved.

- Phonological agraphia is the opposite of lexical agraphia in that the ability to sound out words is impaired, but the orthographical memory of words may be intact. It is associated with a lexicality effect by a difference in the ability to spell words versus nonwords; individuals with this form of agraphia are depending on their orthographic memory. Additionally, it is often harder for these individuals to access more abstract words without strong semantic representations (i.e., it is more difficult for them to spell prepositions than concrete nouns).

- Pure agraphia is the impairment in written language production without any other language or cognitive disorder.

Agraphia can occur separately or co-occur and can be caused by damage to the angular gyrus

Paragraphia is a condition which results in the use of unintended letters or phonemes, words or syllables when writing. This is typically an acquired disorder derived from brain damage and it results in a diminished ability to effectively use written expression.

Paragraphias can be classified as function of the type of writing errors: literal paragraphias, graphemic paragraphias and morphemic paragraphias.