Children with dyslexia are slow writers because they pause more
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Transcript Children with dyslexia are slow writers because they pause more
Handwriting performance of
children with dyslexia
Emma Sumner, Vince Connelly & Anna Barnett
[email protected]
DYSLEXIA
Specific learning difficulty with written language
(Rose, 2009)
Phonological deficit
Affects reading acquisition and spelling
English has a deep orthography
Spelling requires explicit teaching
High cognitive cost for individuals with dyslexia
Possible co-occurring motor difficulties (Rose, 2009; Chaix et al., 2007)
Slow handwriting?
THE WRITING PROCESSES
Berninger & Swanson (1994)
Note. *activates long-term memory during composing and short-term memory during reviewing
PREVIOUS RESEARCH
For typically developing children, handwriting speed
predicts text length and quality (Graham et al., 1997)
Inconsistent findings of children with dyslexia having slow
handwriting
No different to peers on copying tasks (Martlew, 1997)
1SD below the mean on the alphabet task (Berninger et al., 2008)
Spelling ability predicts compositional skills of children
with dyslexia (Berninger et al., 2008)
RESEARCH AIMS
To investigate handwriting execution using a writing tablet:
Do children with dyslexia demonstrate a slower handwriting speed
than their peers?
Are they slower at composing written text?
Do children with dyslexia pause frequently while writing?
PARTICIPANTS
31 children with dyslexia (mean age 9 years)
31 typically developing age controls (9 years old)
31 spelling-ability matches (6 years old)
Selection measures:
Cognitive ability
Phonological awareness
Reading and non word reading
Spelling
Manual dexterity.
Note. There were no differences across the groups for cognitive ability or manual dexterity
METHOD
Alphabet task (1)
Write the alphabet in the correct sequence, as many times as possible in 60 seconds
Writing task (2)
Narrative: ‘Design a place for you to live....describe how you want your ideal home to
look’
(1)
Detailed Assessment of Speed of Handwriting (Barnett et al., 20007); (2) Wechsler Objective Language Dimensions (Rust, 1997).
ANALYSIS
Letters/words per minute
Online (writing tablet):
Temporal characteristics
Execution speed = distance covered / time spent physically writing
RESULTS: ALPHABET TASK
Dyslexic
Age-matched
Spelling-ability
30.87 (14.98)
37.87 (10.51)
17.87 (11.95)
Execution speed
2.32 (.59)
2.23 (.53)
1.75 (.47)
Pause time (secs)
40.41 (5.94)
36.75 (5.56)
39.45 (4.57)
Writing time (secs)
19.25 (5.59)
22.95 (5.37)
20.04 (5.10)
No. of letters
Note. No of letters = letters/minute; execution speed = cm/s, excluding pauses.
No difference between children with dyslexia and their peers on the
letters produced or execution speed measures
They pause for longer while writing – could explain slightly lower
number of letters written.
RESULTS: FREE WRITING
Text characteristics:
Dyslexic
Age-matched
Spelling-ability
Analytic score (raw)
8.61 (2.72)
13.68 (3.20)
7.52 (1.59)
Spelling errors
15.39 (9.01)
4.87 (4.08)
12.56 (8.78)
21%
4%
39%
% of text
In comparison to their peers, the quality of the writing
produced by children with dyslexia is much lower
They perform at a similar level to the younger SA group
RESULTS: FREE WRITING
Speed of composing text:
Dyslexic
Age-matched Spelling-ability
Words per min
8.19 (3.34)
11.48 (3.56)
5.17 (2.38)
Execution speed (cm/s)
2.11 (.69)
2.19 (.64)
1.59 (.44)
When actually writing on the page, children with dyslexia can execute
handwriting at the same speed as their peers
So, why do they write significantly fewer words per minute?
RESULTS: FREE WRITING
Temporal characteristics
Total writing time (mins)
12
10
38%
8
27%
6
4
27%
73%
62%
D
CA
73%
2
0
Writing time
Pause time
SA
Here, the children with dyslexia match the younger spelling-ability group
CONCLUSIONS
The writing tablet provided a detailed analysis of the execution of text:
Argues against claims of slow handwriting by children with dyslexia
Rather, it shows that the fluency of transcription is frequently interrupted
Demonstrates that handwriting is influenced by other processes, such as spelling
Suggests that poor spelling is acting as a barrier to productivity
Focused interventions on spelling instruction may contribute to
resolving the slow rate of composing text.
Special thanks to Vince
Connelly, Anna Barnett,
The Waterloo Foundation,
and all the children that
participated in this
research.
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING
REFERENCES
Berninger, V. W., Nielsen, K. H., Abbott, R. D., Wijsman, E., & Raskind, W. (2008). Writing problems in
developmental dyslexia: Under-recognized and under-treated. Journal of School Psychology, 46, 1-21.
Berninger, V. W., & Swanson, H. L. (1994). Modifying Hayes and Flower's model of skilled writing. In E.
Butterfield (Ed.), Children's Writing; Toward a Process Theory of Development of Skilled Writing (pp. 57-81).
Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Chaix, Y., Albaret, J.-M., Brassard, C., Cheuret, E., Castelnau, P., Benesteau, J., et al. (2007). Motor
impairments in dyslexia: The influence of attention disorders. European Journal of Paediatric Neurology, 11,
368 - 374.
Graham, S., Berninger, V. W., Abbott, R. D., Abbott, S. P., & Whitaker, D. (1997). Role of mechanics in
composing of elementary school students: A new methodological approach. Journal of Educational
Psychology, 89, 170-182.
Martlew, M. (1992). Handwriting and spelling: Dyslexic children’s abilities compared with children of the same
chronological age and younger children of the same spelling level. British Journal of Educational Psychology,
62, 375-390.
Rose , J. (2009). Identifying and teaching children and young people with dyslexia and literacy difficulties.
DCSF-00659-2009. London: DCSF Publications. Retrieved from
http://publications.dcsf.gov.uk/eOrderingDownload/00659-2009DOM-EN.pdf.