Fifth-grade students with learning disabilities who were good (n=12) and poor (n=11) handwriters and 56 matched controls were asked to copy text under two conditions, quickly and neatly. Students with learning disabilities were not as capable of increasing writing speed and demonstrated a slower rate of speed. (Author/CR)

Replicates a previous study by Cole, et al. (1997b), which demonstrated that the type of stimulus used to elicit a written response had a marked impact for items measuring organization, unity, and coherence. The replicated study sample, consisting of 29 middle school students, produced comparable results to the Cole, et al. study. (Author/GCP)

This article describes the development and evaluation of a five-item writing assessment for persons with age-related vision loss. It provides a standard for measuring the baseline ability and the effectiveness of interventions to improve the writing ability of this population.

Teacher educators frequently express concerns regarding teacher candidates' writing knowledge, skills, and dispositions. Concerns include candidates' proficiencies for writing correctly and communicating effectively, teaching writing appropriately to preK-12 graders, integrating writing authentically across the curriculum, guiding preK-12 student…

This article provides a rebuttal of a critique by the original authors of an article (EC 633 617-619) on the use of facilitated communication by a Finnish man diagnosed with mental retardation and cerebral palsy. The original authors ask for an alternative explanation to the attributed authorship when the individual himself is doing the typing.…

Looks at three-year-old children's writing samples as a basis to discuss developmental stages in writing. Samples are categorized as scribbling, horizontal scribbling, discrete units, letters, or correct spelling. Practical applications of these stages are presented for teachers. (PCB)

Examines young children's emerging abilities to organize their written language performance under different writing conditions, before they are able to read and write conventionally. (PCB)

Writing involves two abilities, only one of which can be taught. Competence, which cannot be taught, is unconscious knowledge of language, which is acquired by hearing it repeatedly. The second ability, performance, can be taught to those with competence. Its components are confidence, process knowledge, and reinforcement. (JOW)

The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Proficiency Guidelines are first reviewed and analyzed, followed by an analysis of the Spanish language writing produced by students at a very selective, private university who were enrolled at different levels of Spanish language study. (75 references) (LB)

Evaluates external and diagnostic validity of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf Writing Test. Supports its external validity but does not support the diagnostic validity of this and other writing tests of the same basic design. (SR)

Discusses one attempt to find innovative answers for questions regarding advanced English-as-a-Second-Language writing-placement testing. (MG)

Reviews approximately 15 years of exploration of children's emergent writing and the transition into conventional writing, covering the period from infancy through first grade. Illustrates a progression from descriptions of children's proficiencies to collaborations between classroom- and university-based educators that are aimed at increasing…

Shares the experiences of one writer and how children have shown her the many ways of creating a story. Shares methods of helping children find a voice for the stories they have to tell. (MG)

Investigates the written syntax of 81 college-able individuals demonstrating a specific learning disability. Supports a control impairment hypothesis, predicting that sentence production errors will be of the same kind as found in the language of writers demonstrating no handicapping conditions. Investigates the correlation of specific cognitive…

Investigated relationship between Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery-Revised (WJ-R) cognitive clusters (Long-Term Retrieval, Short-Term Memory, Visual Processing, Auditory Processing, Processing Speed, Comprehension-Knowledge, Fluid Reasoning) and written language achievement measures in WJ-R standardization sample. Found significant…