By Jack M. Fletcher, G. Reid Lyon, Lynn S. Fuchs, and Marcia A. Barnes
Original article: LINK
Despite writing being a common problem for children with learning disabilities, it’s one of the least studied areas in terms of understanding what causes these difficulties. However, there’s a lot of evidence showing that certain teaching methods can help children with special educational needs/additional support needs to develop as greater writers.
Children with learning disabilities can also struggle with attention issues like ADHD, which can certainly make writing even harder. This is because writing involves using several mental processes, like remembering how letters are formed, words are spelt and organising ideas. This can be tough for a lot of children.
Written expression difficulty is recognised as a type of learning disability. This difficulty involves problems with spelling, grammar, punctuation, and organising ideas in writing. These issues must persist over time, start at a certain age, occur despite adequate instruction, and not be caused by other factors.
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One issue in defining and diagnosing written expression difficulties is that these difficulties can often occur alongside other disorders. For example, problems with spelling often accompany disorders related to word reading. However, difficulties with handwriting are different. With attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), writing problems can be significant too, but these stem from challenges with executive control and planning.
Difficulty in defining and diagnosing written expression difficulties makes knowing how prevalent it is a challenge. Studies suggest that anywhere between 1-15% of children can have written expression difficulties.
Transcription and composition
Transcription refers to handwriting and spelling, while composition involves translating ideas in the mind into language representations and organising them in such a way that readers will understand. While more research has focused on transcription development, both components are closely linked. Problems with handwriting and spelling can constrain composing because of difficulties with fluency. However, as children become proficient with transcription, they can write more rapidly, which becomes less of a constraint on their ability to compose.
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Learning to write undergoes a prolonged developmental course. Studies have shown that in the early years of schooling, children’s compositions aren’t always fantastic (though some are blooming brilliant!) because they are still needing to focus on transcription. Handwriting and spelling skills have been found to be related to the ability to express ideas in writing, especially for beginning writers. However, so does oral language.
Frameworks like The Simple View of Writing have been proposed to understand the relationship between transcription and composition. However, more recent frameworks have expanded on the simple view of writing to include planning, reviewing, and revising, all of which are important if we want to develop well-rounded and successful writers. The Direct and Indirect Effects Model of Writing begins to offer teachers some ideas on how to develop children’s compositional skills. Indeed, there is now a greater appreciation for the close relationship between developing children transcription and compositional skills.
Handwriting – When we write, our ability to quickly recall letters and how fluently we can write them plays a big role in our writerly success. For more information, see The Research On Teaching Handwriting.
Spelling – Spelling is a mixture of knowing the sounds letters make and understanding the patterns and rules for how particular words are spelt. Even young children quickly learn how to spell new words if they see them often enough. Understanding the different parts of words, like prefixes and suffixes, is really important for spelling. Children with dyslexia can often make mistakes with these parts of words. For more information, see The Research On Teaching Spelling.
Composition – Composition is the process of translating ideas into writing. This skill depends on various factors. Firstly, there’s a strong connection between different language skills and composition. For example, oral language development and reading can help someone become a better writer. Strong oral language skills are especially important for writing well. Another important aspect is executive function, which are like the brain’s manager. This ‘manager’ helps with things like planning, organising, and maintaining motivation and attention. This manager is certainly crucial when it comes to revising and proof-reading compositions. Research shows that some children who struggle with writing often have difficulties with executive function, like starting a writing task or changing their approach when needed.
Working memory is also important for writing. It helps children keep certain information in mind while they are crafting their writing. While some studies suggest a strong link between working memory and writing skills, others aren’t so clear. It makes sense that working memory would play a role in children’s writing development, but it’s certainly not the only factor influencing children’s writing quality.
Finally, it’s important to note that transcription and composition go hand in hand. This is because both the mechanical aspects of writing and the creative process of generating ideas must interact if children are to produce high-quality writing.
Teaching practices that can support children with written expression disabilities
Research has shown that there are various teaching practices and interventions that can help improve children’s writing. For example, researchers have combined findings from different studies in meta-analysis which analyse lots of research to see what appears to give us the best chance of making improvements. For more on this, see our book Supporting Children With SEND To Be Great Writers.
- Explicitly teaching letter formation, handwriting, encoding and spelling has a significant positive effect on children’s writing development. Find out more by downloading our Spelling & Handwriting Provision Checklist.
- Invite children to read, discuss and study mentor texts which realistically match what it is they are actually expected to craft for themselves. Find out more here. Co-construct, with your class, a list of product goals for the class writing project based on your reading of these mentor texts. Find out more here.
- Help children identity a writing topic that they are not only motivated to write about but are also knowledgeable (find out more here) then explicitly teach them a planning strategy to use prior to drafting (find out more here).
- Explicitly teach children how to proof-read their writing. Find out more here.
- Deliver your writing instruction through the principles of SRSD instruction. Self-Regulated Strategy Development stands out as an effective method for improving children’s writing, particularly among students with learning disabilities. Find out more here.
- Set very short, simple and daily process goals for writing lessons. Find out more here.
- Invite children to share, read aloud and get feedback on their writing from their friends. Find out more here.
- Give your struggling writers plenty of positive verbal feedback and additional individualised instruction. Find out more here.
Conclusion
It’s important to say that understanding disorders of written expression among students with learning disabilities is still an area with many unanswered questions.
It’s crucial that we distinguish between problems with transcription (handwriting, spelling, keyboarding) and composition because they may require different focuses. Identifying specific skill deficits is essential for tailoring teaching practices and interventions to children’s individual needs. This is what makes our book Supporting Children With SEND To Be Great Writers so special because it helps you do just that.
Despite the availability of evidence-based strategies, their application in schools is, unfortunately, still very limited. Addressing this issue is going to be essential if we want to ensure that students with special educational needs/additional support needs receive the teaching and writerly experiences they need to develop as great writers.