It is not unusual to encounter students with very poor handwriting, and this may constrain a child’s development as a creative writer and speller. Baker, Gersten and Graham (2003) stress that effective instruction for students with learning difficulties must include explicit and systematic teaching of handwriting and spelling skills. Writing is not an innate behaviour and the brain is not preprogrammed to develop written language skills in the way it appears to be preprogrammed for oral language acquisition (Sousa, 2001b). For this reason direct instruction in writing is usually required if problems are to be prevented. If children are not taught an easy and efficient style of writing when they are young they often develop faulty habits that are extremely difficult to remedy later (Mastropieri & Scruggs, 2002). As with every other basic skill, early intervention can be very effective in preventing later problems in learning (Edwards, 2003). Many handwriting problems stem from improper sitting posture, pencil grip, paper placement, or from insufficient teaching of letter formation (Block, 2003). Difficulties arise if children are not taught correct letter formation and linkages but instead have to ‘discover’ this knowledge through trial and error. For most students without learning difficulties, once they are instructed appropriately, handwriting rapidly develops to become a highly automatic skill requiring little conscious attention during the composing and transcribing stages of writing (Graham & Harris, 2000b). Handwriting can only become swift and automatic if students engage in it frequently, are motivated to do so, and receive relevant corrective feedback. In the case of students with SpLD, Graham, Harris and Chorzempa (2002) recommend supplementary handwriting instruction be provided with sufficient frequency and intensity to build the required fluency and automaticity. Difficulties in handwriting are sometimes associated with difficulties in spelling (Cripps, 1990). It is believed that a swift and easy handwriting style facilitates the learning and storage of essential letter sequences within words — learning to spell ‘by hand’ as well as by eye. In contrast, slow and laborious handwriting style distracts the writer’s attention away from aspects of the word that would facilitate spelling. Richards (1999, p.66) attributes the problems in both handwriting and spelling to an underlying weakness in ‘sequential motor memory’. The book Source for dyslexia and dysgraphia (Richards, 1999) contains some useful material on handwriting difficulties and their remediation. Additional practical advice can be found in chapter 6 of Effective instruction for special education (Mastropieri & Scruggs, 2002).
Assessment Assessment is usually the first step in designing effective intervention for individuals or groups of students with difficulties in writing and spelling (Kay, 2003). It is important to determine fairly accurately what the students can do 108
Learning and Learning Difficulties: A handbook for teachers