Relationships between language input and letter output modes in writing notes and summaries for students in grades 4 to 9 with persisting writing disabilities

Abstract

This study in programmatic research on technology-supported instruction first identified, through pretesting using evidence-based criteria, students with persisting specific learning disabilities (SLDs) in written language during middle childhood (grades 4–6) and early adolescence (grades 7–9). Participants then completed computerized writing instruction and posttesting. The 12 computer lessons varied output modes (letter production by stylus alternating with hunt and peck keyboarding versus by pencil with grooves alternating with touch typing on keyboard), input (read or heard source material), and task (notes or summaries). Posttesting and coded notes and summaries showed the effectiveness of computerized writing instruction on both writing tasks for multiple modes of language input and letter production output for improving letter production and related writing skills.

KEYWORDS:

• handwriting
• idea units
• keyboarding
• listening to sources
• note-taking
• reading sources
• writing summaries

Acknowledgments

The first two authors designed, created, and supported the computer platform for delivery of the lessons; the third author headed the statistical data analyses, the fourth author administered the pretests and posttests; the fifth, sixth, and seventh authors monitored students’ participation in the computerized lessons; the eighth author entered the pretest and posttest results and data collected during instruction; the ninth and 10th authors assisted with situating this work in the larger field of AT for students with SLDs and note-taking, respectively; the 11th and 12th authors contributed to the content of the computerized writing lessons, and the 12th author to transcription coding. The authors thank Beverly Wolf for suggesting use of groovy pencils in Group B.

Funding

Supported by grant P50HD071764 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an interdisciplinary team conducted this research.

Notes

^1. We acknowledge that some school districts still organize elementary schools to end at grade 6 and middle school to begin at grade 7, but other school districts organize elementary schools to end at grade 5 and middle school to begin at grade 6. However, we used these grade levels to represent the distinction between middle childhood and early adolescence within developmental psychology.

^2. Based on evidence from a family genetics study in the case of twice exceptional (intellectually gifted and having an SLD in written language) verbal comprehension index and phenotypes related to handwriting and spelling are also used to identify students who meet twice exceptional criteria (Berninger & Abbott, 2013).

Additional information

Funding

Supported by grant P50HD071764 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an interdisciplinary team conducted this research.