In Study 1, children in grades 4-9 (N = 88, 29 females and 59 males) with persisting reading and/or writing disabilities, despite considerable prior specialized instruction in and out of school, were given an evidence-based comprehensive assessment battery at the university while parents completed questionnaires regarding past and current history…

Rubrics are an integral part of many writing programs, and they represent elements of good writing in essays, stories, poems, as well as other genres and forms of text. Although it is possible to use rubrics to teach students about the processes underlying effective writing, a more common practice is to use rubrics as a means of assessment, after…

A study compared the Spontaneous Writing Quotient (SWQ) of the Test of Writing Language-3 to teacher progress ratings of 147 students (grades 3-5) in the local writing curriculum. Corrected coefficients ranged from .39 to .48, offering only low to moderate support for the criterion-related validity relative to the local curriculum. (Contains…

This article reviews the varied components of written language, suggest informal means for written language assessment, and summarizes the cognitive and linguistic factors that influence varied aspects of writing performance. Two informal evaluation scales are presented that stress the interconnection between oral and written language processes.…

In two original articles from the inaugural issue of "Topics in Language Disorders", Berlin, Blank, and Rose proposed a model of dialogue complexity on the basis of a continuum of abstractness defined as perceptual-language distance; Carlson, Gruenewald, and Nyberg proposed a triadic model of academic concepts, student language, and…

The performance of 566 elementary students enrolled in grades 1-6 from Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Washington, on direct measures of reading, spelling, and written expression was analyzed to determine the rate of students who would be eligible for special education services by each of four discrepancy criteria. Measures were individually…

Following suggestions by the editors on how to evaluate their selections are 49 articles on research and on programs and procedures in remedial and corrective education. Papers included treat the following topics: problems of underachievement, correlates of learning disability, approaches to the diagnosis of learning problems, approaches to…

The educational evaluation and remediation of written language disorders in learning disabled students are considered. It is suggested that a written language assessment should involve a thorough educational history and a complete psychoeducational evaluation. Attention is directed to written language assessment and remediation for handwriting,…

Twenty-two junior-year college students were tested at a college language, speech and hearing clinic. A statistical analysis was performed on their scores on the Woodcock-Johnson Psychoeducational Battery and on oral and written language samples. Results were compared with those of a group of 25 normal college students in their junior year.…

The fourth of seven booklets on adults with learning disabilities, this manual examines the assessment and remediation of written language problems. Spelling assessment activities are described, including lists of questions designed to investigate auditory skills, tactile skills, and visual skills. Also considered is assessment of punctuation,…

This article introduces a special issue dealing with selected aspects of writing disorders. It provides an overview of following articles and issues confronting the written language field, including definitional issues, assessment issues, neurodevelopment components, brain-behavior linkages, lifespan issues, and interventions. Recommendations are…

A study examined the identification of distinct subgroups of learning-disabled young adults based on their ability to generate written language. Two subgroups of learning-disabled college students, the language strong/visually weak (N=22) and the visually strong/language weak (N=10), were identified based on evaluation of 32 essays. Subjects were…