by Margaret J. Kay, Ed.D.

The term dysgraphia has customarily been used to refer to a disorder of written language expression in childhood as opposed to a disorder of written language acquired in adulthood. Written language disorders have also been referred to as "developmental output failures."

Difficulties in writing have an adverse impact on academic achievement in school and subsequently on business and industry. It is currently estimated that dysgraphia costs American industry and business $30 billion per year.

Written language is the graphomotor execution of sequential symbols to convey thoughts and information. Since writing represents the last and most complex skill to develop, it is the most vulnerable to insult, injury and adverse genetic influences. (Deuel, l994)

From www.schwablearning.org
by Charles A. MacArthur

"The words are all tangled up inside my head. I’m confused. I get tangled up in writing the words, and I stop."
-Fifth-grade girl with learning disabilities (LD)

• our knowledge of the topic
• our ability to anticipate what readers will need
• our ability to logically organize information
• our skill at finding the right words
• our ability to evaluate our efforts
• the perseverance to keep working

From Focus on Exceptional Children, Mar 2003
by Karen R. Harris, Steve Graham, Linda H. Mason

Writing is a highly complex process; the writer not only must negotiate the rules and mechanics of writing, but also must maintain a focus on important aspects of writing such as organization, form and features, purposes and goals, audience needs and perspectives, and evaluation of the communication between author and reader (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1982; Scheid, 1991). In addition, writing requires extensive self-regulation and attention control (Graham & Harris, 1994, 1996, 2000). For skilled writers, writing is a flexible, goal-directed activity that is scaffolded by a rich knowledge of cognitive processes and strategies for planning, text production, and revision. Skilled writers engage in purposeful and active self-direction of these processes and strategies (Harris, Schmidt, & Graham, 1998). In fact, monitoring and directing one's own composing processes are crucial to the development of writing ability (Flower & Hayes, 1980).

From Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) database
by: Cynthia Warger

While writing poses significant challenges for many students with disabilities, good teaching can help them overcome these barriers. The writing of students with disabilities typically contains more mechanical errors than that of their nondisabled peers and is less polished, expansive, coherent, and effective. Difficulties may exist because students with disabilities tend to:

• Know less than their peers about the characteristics of good writing.
• Begin writing with little or no planning.
• Limit revisions to minor corrections.
• Have problems with transcription processes (e.g., spelling, handwriting, punctuation).

From Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) database

A recent meta-analysis (Gersten & Baker, 1999) highlights research-based instructional approaches for teaching written expression to students with learning disabilities, including ways to teach students how to analyze material learned in the classroom and how to write personal narratives, persuasive essays, and other genres. All of the instructional interventions studied improved the quality of students' written products, and there was vidence of positive impact on students' self-efficacy, i.e., their senses of being able to write.

From American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc. and the American Occupational Therapy Foundation via www.ldlonline

Analyzing first graders' spelling tests won't tell you about their personalities, but examining their handwriting may provide clues to developmental problems that could interfere with learning.

Handwriting is an academic skill that allows youngsters to express their thoughts and feelings and communicate their knowledge to others. Classroom teachers depend on written work to measure what children are learning and how well.

Handwriting efficiency requires mastery of multiple skills, including vision, memory, posture, and body control, as well as the task of holding a pencil and forming letters. Children who fall behind classmates because they lack some of these skills may miss learning opportunities and lack self-esteem.

From Teaching Every Child Every Day: Learning in Diverse Schools and Classrooms via www.ldonline.com
by Karen R. Harris, Tanya Schmidt, & Steve Graham, University of Maryland

Few people-either children or adults-would describe writing as a very easy process that they complete without much effort. Writing is a highly complex and demanding process. While negotiating the rules and mechanics of writing, the writer must maintain a focus on factors such as organization, form and features, purposes and goals, audience needs and perspectives, and evaluation of the communication between author and reader. Self-regulation of the writing process is critical; the writer must be goal-oriented, resourceful, and reflective.

From Learning Disabilities Focus, 1985, via www.ldonline.org
by Donald H. Graves, University of New Hampshire

Many children who have learning disabilities are poor writers. They equate their struggles with handwriting, spelling, and language conventions with a lack of ideas and information worth sharing.The writing-process approach to teaching first emphasizes what children know, then the conventions that will help them share their meaning with others in the class. This approach has led to major breakthroughs for young writers, particularly those who have learning problems.

This article reexamines writing as communication for oneself and for other audiences. This process occurs in classrooms where children see how teachers demonstrate their own learning in the midst of a highly structured environment.