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Writing Disabilities

Why Writing Matters

Most people never consider the complexity and difficulty of the writing process. In fact, relative to all other academic activities, writing requires more basic skills than perhaps any other.

Even during their earliest handwriting exercises, children must combine complex physical and cognitive processes to render letters precisely and fluidly. As writing tasks become more difficult, students must call on an increasingly wide range of skills to not only write legibly, logically, and in an organized way but also to invoke rules of grammar and syntax. This combination of requirements makes writing the most complex and difficult use of language.

It is probably no accident that many adults have chosen jobs that limit the amount of writing they have to do. Unfortunately, children have no such luxury. From first grade on, they write nearly every day and they are asked to do more with this skill than with any other except reading. And as children progress through school, writing requirements -- from homework assignments and class work to note taking and tests -- increase across the curriculum. Even newer high-stakes tests are moving towards requiring more answers in the form of short paragraphs and essays.

Like all learning problems, a writing disability can be devastating to a child's education and self-esteem and can dramatically limit what that child can achieve later in life. School requirements demand a high level of writing proficiency, and a child who struggles with an unrecognized writing disability will find it increasingly difficult to express his knowledge on many subjects, as the writing process itself will stand firmly in the way of learning.

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Easier Said Than Done

There is a lot more to writing than coming up with good ideas. Often, children with writing disabilities have no trouble forming coherent and creative thoughts, but the graphomotor, grammatical, and structural aspects of writing may require so much effort and concentration that their best ideas never get recorded.

Learning to write, like learning to read or play a musical instrument, is generally a sequential process, normally with one set of skills building on the skills acquired earlier. Writing, however, combines many skills -- including fine motor control, attention, language, memory, and others -- and relies on development in many areas not specific to writing.

The following is a list of some of the milestones teachers expect of developing writers, as outlined by Dr. Mel Levine in his book Developmental Variation and Learning Disorders.

Preschool to First Grade

• pretend to write
• become aware that letters can be arranged to form words
• begin to organize letters and shapes in a line
• begin to print letters and numbers

First to Second Grade

• become adept at printing letters
• are preoccupied with the visual appearance of their writing
• become self-conscious if their penmanship is less attractive than their classmates'
• use invented spellings of words liberally

Late Second to Fourth Grade

• incorporate standards of capitalization, punctuation, syntax, and grammar
• seldom plan what they are going to write before they write it
• use writing to relate experiences rather than to solve problems or develop ideas
• begin writing in cursive
• begin revising their work

Fourth to Seventh Grade

• apply rules of grammar, spelling, and punctuation automatically
• begin to regularly review their own work
• begin to write at a level equivalent to their own speech
• learn to write in stages by incorporating outlines and multiple drafts
• begin to assess the effectiveness of their own writing

Seventh to Ninth Grade

• become increasingly adept at using writing to express a viewpoint
• begin to use writing for thinking, problem solving, and remembering
• learn to synthesize ideas from a variety of sources
• begin to write at a level that exceeds their own speech
• use transitions like "finally" and "for example" extensively

Ninth Grade and Beyond

• learn to use writing styles appropriate to their subjects
• become more creative with their writing
• learn to use sentences of varying length and complexity
• write with increasingly sophisticated vocabulary
• develop individual writing styles

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Signs of Struggle

Writing problems can occur at any age and rarely occur in isolation. Because writing is a highly complex process, a problem in any of several developmental processes can negatively impact a child's writing ability. The following are some of the developmental functions most directly related to the writing process and signs that may indicate a problem in this area:

Graphomotor

Graphomotor function is the use of the neuromuscular system in the fingers and hands to effectively maneuver a pen or pencil and put letters and words on paper. Children with graphomotor problems struggle with this, especially as assignment length increases. This function affects a student's ability to keep pace with the flow of ideas. Signs of a graphomotor problem may be:

• very short passages in all written work
• exceptionally slow and difficult writing
• awkward pencil grip
• difficulty forming letters

Attention

Writing often requires considerable mental energy and focus over long periods of time. Writers must not only preview what they want to convey but also continually monitor what they've already written to stay on track. Signs of an attention problem may be:

• difficulty getting started on writing assignments
• easy distractibility during writing tasks
• mental fatigue or tiredness while writing
• inconsistent legibility in writing
• many careless errors
• poorly planned papers and reports

Spatial Ordering

Children who struggle with spatial ordering have decreased awareness regarding the spatial arrangement of letters, words, or sentences on a page. Signs of a spatial ordering problem may be:

• poor use of lines on the paper
• organizational problems
• uneven spacing between letters
• many misspelled words

Sequential Ordering

Children who struggle with sequential ordering have difficulty placing in order or maintaining the order of letters, words, processes, or ideas. Signs of a sequential ordering problem may be:

• poor letter formation
• transposed letters and spelling omissions
• poor narrative sequencing
• lack of transitions
• difficulty separating big ideas from details

Memory

The rate at which children generate ideas must coincide with their retrieval of necessary vocabulary, spelling, and prior knowledge, as they must be able to think about a topic, draw upon facts and concepts, and sequence ideas and facts in the right order. Signs of a memory problem may be:

• poor vocabulary
• many misspelled words
• frequent capitalization, punctuation, and grammar errors

Language

Language is an essential ingredient of writing. The ability to recognize letter sounds, comprehend words and their meanings, understand word order and grammar to construct sentences, and describe or explain ideas all affect a person's effectiveness as a writer. Signs of a language problem may be:

• poor vocabulary
• awkward phrasing and unconventional grammar
• inappropriate use of colloquial language
• difficulty with sentence structure and word order
• trouble reading back what is written
• difficulty with word sounds, spelling, and meanings

Higher-Order Cognition

In the upper grades, writing relies on higher-order cognitive functions. By early adolescence, many written assignments demand critical thinking skills and conceptual ability -- such as evaluating opposing arguments and drawing conclusions -- that must be integrated with spelling, grammar, and punctuation rules. Signs of a problem with higher-order cognition may be:

• trouble generating ideas or elaborating on them
• difficulty developing and organizing ideas
• lack of opinion or sense of audience
• difficulty with writing tasks that require creativity and/or critical thinking

Difficulties and mistakes are to be expected as children develop their writing skills. Young writers may reverse words, spell poorly, or have difficulty producing their thoughts in writing. As in any academic area, teachers and parents must watch carefully and try to understand an individual child's strengths and weaknesses to ensure progress. One way to monitor progress is through collecting a portfolio of a child's work over time. This may help in identifying a problem early on and developing effective strategies.

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