"An adjective is a word hanging down from a noun": learning to write and students with learning disabilities

Effectiveness of teaching story-writing strategy to students with intellectual disabilities and their non-disabled peers

Background: This study aimed to be the first to assess the effectiveness of teaching a particular peer revision strategy (POW + WWW, What = 2, How = 2 + RPRS), on the story-writing abilities of students with intellectual disabilities (ID) and their non-disabled peers.Method: A multiple-probe technique was used. Participants included three students with mild ID and 61 non-disabled peers enrolled in inclusive classrooms. The instruction for all subjects occurred in the classroom. Maintenance probes were conducted for 3-19 weeks after the study.Results: The length, elements, and quality of all participants' stories improved. Students maintained the skills acquired and transferred them to personal narrative-writing. Participants' feedback confirmed that they found the strategy effective.Conclusion: The strategies improved the writing skills of both students with ID and their non-disabled peers. This significant finding indicated that students with ID can benefit from strategy instruction for skillsets with complex cognitive processes, such as writing.

Adaptation of the Scale Knowledge Perception Scale in Primary Education

Esta investigação pretendeu colmatar a necessidade de desenvolver escalas de avaliação das perceções dos alunos quanto ao seu conhecimento de escrita, especialmente no ensino primário. Assim, validou-se a Escala de Perceção do Conhecimento de Escrita em Portugal, após tradução e adaptação de uma escala americana, junto de 338 alunos do 4.º ano de escolaridade, selecionados aleatoriamente. Os resultados explicam 38.5 % da variância dos dados. A escala final apresentou uma estrutura diferenciada composta por dois fatores: “Produzir conteúdo” e “Planificar” e 12 itens. O Alpha total da escala foi de .776 e reúne os critérios de fiabilidade exigidos. 

Tailoring Multicomponent Writing Interventions: Effects of Coupling Self-Regulation and Transcription Training

Writing proficiency is heavily based on acquisition and development of self-regulation and transcription skills. The present study examined the effects of combining transcription training with a self-regulation intervention (self-regulated strategy development [SRSD]) in Grade 2 (ages 7-8). Forty-three students receiving self-regulation plus transcription (SRSD+TR) intervention were compared with 37 students receiving a self-regulation only (SRSD only) intervention and 39 students receiving the standard language arts curriculum. Compared with control instruction, SRSD instruction-with or without transcription training-resulted in more complex plans; longer, better, and more complete stories; and the effects transferred to story written recall. Transcription training produced an incremental effect on students' composing skills. In particular, the SRSD+TR intervention increased handwriting fluency, spelling accuracy for inconsistent words, planning and story completeness, writing fluency, clause length, and burst length. Compared with the SRSD-only intervention, the SRSD+TR intervention was particularly effective in raising the writing quality of poorer writers. This pattern of findings suggests that students benefit from writing instruction coupling self-regulation and transcription training from very early on. This seems to be a promising instructional approach not only to ameliorate all students' writing ability and prevent future writing problems but also to minimize struggling writers' difficulties and support them in mastering writing.

Clinical Reasoning in the Assessment and Intervention Planning for Writing Disorder

The incidence of writing disorder is as common as reading disorder, but it is frequently under-identified and rarely targeted for intervention. Increasing clinical understanding on various subtypes of writing disorder through assessment guided by data-driven decision making may alleviate this disparity for students with writing disorders. The purpose of this article is to provide the reader with insight into the clinical reasoning involved in the assessment and intervention planning for a child with a writing disorder. The reader will be guided through the authors’ conceptualization of this case reflecting a recursive problem-solving approach to assessment for intervention.

Genetic and environmental influences on writing and their relations to language and reading

Identical and fraternal twins (N=540, age 8 to 18 years) were tested on three different measures of writing (Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement-Writing Samples and Writing Fluency; Handwriting Copy from the Group Diagnostic Reading and Aptitude Achievement Tests), three different language skills (phonological awareness, rapid naming, and vocabulary), and three different reading skills (word recognition, spelling, and reading comprehension). Substantial genetic influence was found on two of the writing measures, writing samples and handwriting copy, and all of the language and reading measures. Shared environment influences were generally not significant, except for Vocabulary. Non-shared environment estimates, including measurement error, were significant for all variables. Genetic influences among the writing measures were significantly correlated (highest between the speeded measures writing fluency and handwriting copy), but there were also significant independent genetic influences between copy and samples and between fluency and samples. Genetic influences on writing were significantly correlated with genetic influences on all of the language and reading skills, but significant independent genetic influences were also found for copy and samples, whose genetic correlations were significantly less than 1.0 with the reading and language skills. The genetic correlations varied significantly in strength depending on the overlap between the writing, language, and reading task demands. We discuss implications of our results for education, limitations of the study, and new directions for research on writing and its relations to language and reading.