Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T12:42:59.676Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Writing intervention: A comprehensive program for primary school children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2020

Antonio Iniesta  and
Francisca Serrano
Antonio Iniesta
Affiliation:
Research Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, Faculty of Psychology, University of Granada, Spain
Francisca Serrano*
Affiliation:
Research Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, Faculty of Psychology, University of Granada, Spain
*
*Corresponding author. Email: fdserran@ugr.es
Get access

Abstract

This article describes an intervention program to improve writing skills, intended to be a useful tool for everyday remedial work in primary school. The design was based on an initial review of the approaches most often used for writing intervention and identification of the main concerns for such intervention; namely, the use of direct and explicit instructions, the importance of feedback, recommended levels of intervention, the main content to consider, and use of motivating activities to get the student engaged or even to enjoy the intervention. All these considerations guided decision making about the appropriate features that would ensure an effective intervention in children with general and specific writing difficulties. The intervention program follows evidence-based practice strategies and may be useful for educational professionals in primary school, acknowledging that the program needs to be experimentally evaluated.

Keywords

writinginterventiondifficultiesevidence-based strategiesprimary school
Type
Practitioner Paper
Information
Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools , Volume 30 , Issue 2 , December 2020 , pp. 255 - 263
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Al-Wabil, A., Zaphiris, P., & Wilson, S. (2007). Web navigation for individuals with dyslexia: an exploratory study. In Universal Access in Human Computer Interaction. Coping with Diversity, (LNCS, volume 4554, pp. 593–602).10.1007/978-3-540-73279-2_66CrossRefGoogle Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: Author.Google Scholar
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). (2005). Evidence-based practice in communication disorders [Position Statement]. www.asha.org/policy Google Scholar
Bara, F., Gentaz, E., & Colé, P. (2007). Haptics in learning to read with children from low socio‐economic status families. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 25, 643–663.10.1348/026151007X186643CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, B.G., Tankersley, M., & Landrum, T.J. (Eds.). (2013). Evidence-based practices (vol. 26). Bradford, UK: Emerald Group Publishing.10.1108/S0735-004X(2013)26CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Defior, S., Jiménez-Fernández, G., & Serrano, F. (2009). Complexity and lexicality effects on the acquisition of Spanish spelling. Learning and Instruction, 19, 55–65.10.1016/j.learninstruc.2008.01.005CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Defior, S., & Serrano, F. (2017). Learning to read Spanish. In Verhoeven, L. & Perfetti, C. (Eds.), Learning to read across languages and writing systems (pp. 270–298). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/9781316155752.011CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Denton, P.L., Cope, S., & Moser, C. (2006). The effects of sensorimotor-based intervention versus therapeutic practice on improving handwriting performance in 6-to 11-year-old children. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 60, 16–27.10.5014/ajot.60.1.16CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Feder, K.P., & Majnemer, A. (2007). Handwriting development, competency, and intervention. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 49, 312–317 10.1111/j.1469-8749.2007.00312.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Glynn, S.M, Aultman, L.P., & Owens, A.M. (2005). Motivation to learn in general education programs. The Journal of General Education, 54, 150–170.10.1353/jge.2005.0021CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goulandris, N. (Ed.). (2003). Dyslexia in different languages: Cross-linguistic comparisons. Philadelphia, PA: Whurr Publishers.Google Scholar
Graham, S., & Hebert, M. (2010). Writing to read: Evidence for how writing can improve reading: A report from Carnegie Corporation of New York. New York, NY: Carnegie Corporation of New York.Google Scholar
Graham, S., & Santangelo, T. (2014). Does spelling instruction make students better spellers, readers, and writers? A meta-analytic review. Reading and Writing, 27, 1703–1743.10.1007/s11145-014-9517-0CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graham, S., Collins, A.A., & Rigby-Wills, H. (2017). Writing characteristics of students with learning disabilities and typically achieving peers: A meta-analysis. Exceptional Children, 83, 199–218.10.1177/0014402916664070CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graham, S., Harris, K.R., Mason, L., Fink-Chorzempa, B., Moran, S., & Saddler, B. (2008). How do primary grade teachers teach handwriting? A national survey. Reading and writing, 21, 49–69.10.1007/s11145-007-9064-zCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gutiérrez-Palma, N., Defior, S., & Calet, N. (2016). Prosodic Skills and Literacy Acquisition in Spanish. In Thomson, J. & Jarmulowicz, L. (Eds.), Linguistic rhythm and literacy (pp. 265–271). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.10.1075/tilar.17.12gutCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jiménez-Fernández, G., Vaquero, J.M., Jiménez, L., & Defior, S. (2011). Dyslexic children show deficits in implicit sequence learning, but not in explicit sequence learning or contextual cueing. Annals of Dyslexia, 61, 85–110.10.1007/s11881-010-0048-3CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kelly, K., & Phillips, S. (2016). Teaching literacy to learners with dyslexia: A multi-sensory approach. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Mehta, P.D., Foorman, B.R., Branum-Martin, L., & Taylor, W.P. (2005). Literacy as a unidimensional multilevel construct: Validation, sources of influence, and implications in a longitudinal study in grades 1 to 4. Scientific Studies of Reading, 9, 85–116.10.1207/s1532799xssr0902_1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ratzon, N.Z., Efraim, D., & Bart, O. (2007). A short-term graphomotor program for improving writing readiness skills of first-grade students. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 61, 399–405.10.5014/ajot.61.4.399CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reitsma, P. (1983). Printed word learning in beginning readers. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 36, 321–339.10.1016/0022-0965(83)90036-XCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Santangelo, T., & Graham, S. (2016). A comprehensive meta-analysis of handwriting instruction. Educational Psychology Review, 28, 225–265.10.1007/s10648-015-9335-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmalzl, L., & Nickels, L. (2006). Treatment of irregular word spelling in acquired dysgraphia: Selective benefit from visual mnemonics. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 16, 1–37.10.1080/09602010443000218CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Serrano, F., & Defior, S. (2012). Spanish dyslexic spelling abilities: The case of consonant clusters. Journal of Research in Reading, 35, 169–182.10.1111/j.1467-9817.2010.01454.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Serrano, F., & Defior, S. (2014). Written spelling in Spanish-speaking children with dyslexia. In Arfé, B., Dockrell, J., & Berninger, V. (Eds.), Writing development and instruction in children with hearing, speech and oral language difficulties (pp. 214–227). London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Serrano, F., Genard, N., Sucena, A., Defior, S., Alegria, J., Mousty, P., … Seymour, P.H. (2011). Variations in reading and spelling acquisition in Portuguese, French and Spanish: A cross-linguistic comparison. Journal of Portuguese Linguistics, 10, 183–204.10.5334/jpl.106CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shapiro, E.S. (2011). Academic skills problems: Direct assessment and intervention. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Share, D.L. (2004). Orthographic learning at a glance: On the time course and developmental onset of self-teaching. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 87, 267–298.10.1016/j.jecp.2004.01.001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silliman, E.R., & Berninger, V.W. (2011). Cross-disciplinary dialogue about the nature of oral and written language problems in the context of developmental, academic, and phenotypic profiles. Topics in Language Disorders, 31, 6–23.10.1097/TLD.0b013e31820a0b5bCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singleton, C., & Henderson, L.M. (2006). Visual factors in reading. London Review of Education, 4, 89–98.Google Scholar
Treiman, R. (1992). Reading and the Mental Lexicon. Language and Speech, 35, 347–350.10.1177/002383099203500305CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vaughn, S., Wexler, J., Leroux, A., Roberts, G., Denton, C., Barth, A., & Fletcher, J. (2012). Effects of intensive reading intervention for eighth-grade students with persistently inadequate response to intervention. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 45, 515–525.10.1177/0022219411402692CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wanzek, J., Vaughn, S., Wexler, J., Swanson, E.A., Edmonds, M., & Kim, A.H. (2006). A synthesis of spelling and reading interventions and their effects on the spelling outcomes of students with LD. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 39, 528–543.10.1177/00222194060390060501CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilson, J., & Czik, A. (2016). Automated essay evaluation software in English Language Arts classrooms: Effects on teacher feedback, student motivation, and writing quality. Computers & Education, 100, 94–109.10.1016/j.compedu.2016.05.004CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodward, S., & Swinth, Y. (2002). Multisensory approach to handwriting remediation: Perceptions of school-based occupational therapists. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 56, 305–312.10.5014/ajot.56.3.305CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zwicker, J.G., & Hadwin, A.F. (2009). Cognitive versus multisensory approaches to handwriting intervention: A randomized controlled trial. OTJR: Occupation, Participation and Health, 29, 40–48.Google Scholar