Integrating Low- and High-Level Skills in Instructional Protocols for Writing Disabilities

Twenty-four children with writing problems were given instruction in handwriting automaticity, spelling strategies, and the composing process (plan, write, review, revise) in 14 one-hour individual tutorials during the summer between third and fourth grade. Half the children (8 boys, 4 girls) received extra practice in composing, while half the children (8 boys, 4 girls) received special training in orthographic and phonological coding. Hierarchical linear modeling of growth curves was used to compare the treatment groups to a non-contact control group (10 boys, 5 girls) on a standard battery at pretest, midtest, posttest, and the two treatment groups with each other on probe measures of handwriting, spelling, and composition in each tutorial session. The treatment groups improved at a faster rate than the control group on some measures of handwriting, spelling, and composition (fluency and quality) in the standard battery, but Verbal IQ did not predict rate of improvement. Differences were found between the two treatment groups in some probe measures of writing and a motivation variable (work avoidance). Repeated-measures ANOVA was used to compare treatment groups to a non-contact control group at pretest, midtest, posttest, and follow-up. Differences between the treatment and control groups favoring the treatment groups were maintained at 6- month follow-up on some handwriting, spelling, and composition (quality) measures. Individual differences were found in learner characteristics prior to treatment and in response to the same treatment. The importance of affect and motivation as well as cognitive variables is emphasized

Classification of Children's Handwriting Errors for the Design of an Educational Co-writer Robotic Peer

In this paper, we propose a taxonomy of handwriting errors exhibited by children as a way to build adequate strategies for integration with a co-writing peer. The exploration includes the collection of letters written by children in an initial study, which were then revised in a second study. The second study also analyses the "peer-learning" (PL) and "peer-tutoring" (PT) learning methods in an educational scenario, where a pair of children perform a collaborative writing activity in the presence of a robot facilitator. The data obtained in the first two studies allowed us to create a "taxonomy of handwriting errors". A set of writing errors were selected and implemented in an educational activity for validation. This activity constituted a third study, wherein we systematically induced the errors into a Nao robot's handwriting using the {PT} method - A teacher-child corrects the handwriting errors of the learner-robot. The preliminary results suggest that the children in general showed awareness to the writing errors and were able to perceive the writing abilities of the robot

Taking the long view on writing development

Studies on writing development have grown in diversity and depth in recent decades, but remain fragmented along lines of theory, method, and age ranges or populations studied. Meaningful, competent writing performances that meet the demands of the moment rely on many kinds of well-practiced and deeply understood capacities working together; however, these capacities’ realization and developmental trajectories can vary from one individual to another. Without an integrated framework to understand lifespan development of writing abilities in its variation, high-stakes decisions about curriculum, instruction, and assessment are often made in unsystematic ways that may fail to support the development they are intended to facilitate; further, research may not consider the range of issues at stake in studying writing in any particular moment. To address this need and synthesize what is known about the various dimensions of writing development at different ages, the coauthors of this essay have engaged in sustained discussion, drawing on a range of theoretical and methodological perspectives. Drawing on research from different disciplinary perspectives, they propose eight principles upon which an account of writing development consistent with research findings could be founded. These principles are proposed as a basis for further lines of inquiry into how writing develops across the lifespan

Common brain structure findings across children with varied reading disability profiles

Dyslexia is a developmental disorder in reading that exhibits varied patterns of expression across children. Here we examined the degree to which different kinds of reading disabilities (defined as profiles or patterns of reading problems) contribute to brain morphology results in Jacobian determinant images that represent local brain shape and volume. A matched-pair brain morphometry approach was used to control for confounding from brain size and research site effects in this retrospective multi-site study of 134 children from eight different research sites. Parietal operculum, corona radiata, and internal capsule differences between cases and controls were consistently observed across children with evidence of classic dyslexia, specific comprehension deficit, and language learning disability. Thus, there can be common brain morphology findings across children with quite varied reading disability profiles that we hypothesize compound the developmental difficulties of children with unique reading disability profiles and reasons for their reading disability

Replication of CNTNAP2 association with nonword repetition and support for FOXP2 association with timed reading and motor activities in a dyslexia family sample

Two functionally related genes, FOXP2 and CNTNAP2, influence language abilities in families with rare syndromic and common nonsyndromic forms of impaired language, respectively. We investigated whether these genes are associated with component phenotypes of dyslexia and measures of sequential motor ability. Quantitative transmission disequilibrium testing (QTDT) and linear association modeling were used to evaluate associations with measures of phonological memory (nonword repetition, NWR), expressive language (sentence repetition), reading (real word reading efficiency, RWRE; word attack, WATT), and timed sequential motor activities (rapid alternating place of articulation, RAPA; finger succession in the dominant hand, FS-D) in 188 family trios with a child with dyslexia. Consistent with a prior study of language impairment, QTDT in dyslexia showed evidence of CNTNAP2 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) association with NWR. For FOXP2, we provide the first evidence for SNP association with component phenotypes of dyslexia, specifically NWR and RWRE but not WATT. In addition, FOXP2 SNP associations with both RAPA and FS-D were observed. Our results confirm the role of CNTNAP2 in NWR in a dyslexia sample and motivate new questions about the effects of FOXP2 in neurodevelopmental disorders

Teaching students with dyslexia and dysgraphia : lessons from teaching and science

Este manual proporciona información clave sobre la dislexia y la disgrafía, así como recomendaciones prácticas para el uso de la investigación en el aula. Da una visión general de los contextos históricos y contemporáneos sobre la enseñanza de los estudiantes con dislexia y aporta las contribuciones de los investigadores para aumentar el conocimiento científico de sus causas biológicas. Cubre temas de desarrollo profesional para los profesores que desean basar su práctica educativa en la ciencia.SCBiblioteca de Educación del Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte; Calle San Agustín, 5 - 3 planta; 28014 Madrid; Tel. +34917748000; [email protected]

Linguistic Pattern Analysis of Misspellings of Typically Developing Writers in Grades 1–9

Purpose: A mixed-methods approach, evaluating triple word-form theory, was used to describe linguistic patterns of misspellings. Method: Spelling errors were taken from narrative and expository writing samples provided by 888 typically developing students in Grades 1–9. Errors were coded by category (phonological, orthographic, and morphological) and specific linguistic feature affected. Grade-level effects were analyzed with trend analysis. Qualitative analyses determined frequent error types and how use of specific linguistic features varied across grades. Results: Phonological, orthographic, and morphological errors were noted across all grades, but orthographic errors predominated. Linear trends revealed developmental shifts in error proportions for the orthographic and morphological categories between Grades 4 and 5. Similar error types were noted across age groups, but the nature of linguistic feature error changed with age. Conclusion: Triple word-form theory was supported. By Grade 1, orthographic errors predominated, and phonological and morphological error patterns were evident. Morphological errors increased in relative frequency in older students, probably due to a combination of word-formation issues and vocabulary growth. These patterns suggest that normal spelling development reflects nonlinear growth and that it takes a long time to develop a robust orthographic lexicon that coordinates phonology, orthography, and morphology and supports word-specific, conventional spelling