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Handwriting performance of children with dyslexia

Handwriting performance of children with dyslexia. Emma Sumner, Vince Connelly & Anna Barnett emma.sumner@brookes.ac.uk. DYSLEXIA. Specific learning difficulty with written language (Rose, 2009) Phonological deficit Affects reading acquisition and spelling

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Handwriting performance of children with dyslexia

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  1. Handwriting performance of children with dyslexia Emma Sumner, Vince Connelly & Anna Barnett emma.sumner@brookes.ac.uk

  2. 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?

  3. THE WRITING PROCESSES Berninger & Swanson (1994) Note. *activates long-term memory during composing and short-term memory during reviewing

  4. 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)

  5. 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?

  6. 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

  7. METHOD

  8. ANALYSIS • Letters/words per minute • Online (writing tablet): • Temporal characteristics • Execution speed = distance covered / time spent physically writing

  9. RESULTS: ALPHABET TASK • 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.

  10. RESULTS: FREE WRITING Text characteristics: • 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

  11. RESULTS: FREE WRITING Speed of composing text: • 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?

  12. RESULTS: FREE WRITING • Here, the children with dyslexia match the younger spelling-ability group

  13. 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.

  14. Special thanks to Vince Connelly, Anna Barnett, The Waterloo Foundation, and all the children that participated in this research. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING

  15. 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.

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