As researchers come to recognize the origins of dysgraphia, we can better suggest optimal approaches to remediation. In defining dysgraphia, we review the writing process, research on the development of writing, and various factors related to either spelling difficulties, visual-motor difficulties, or both, that might interfere in the process of…

This article features a discussion of what contemporary research tells us are the most significant factors that individually and collectively serve to thwart the writing development and performance of students with LD. Support is drawn from recent research syntheses, as well as individual studies. I begin with an overview of skillful writing and…

Investigates five audience-related constructs related to the writing of adults demonstrating varying degrees of literacy competence. Studies 35 college-able writers demonstrating learning disabilities (LD), 22 LD writers attending a rehabilitation vocational training program, 35 remedial college writers, and 35 normally achieving college writers.…

Presents analysis of 13 studies designed to teach students with learning disabilities to write better expository or narrative text. Notes the success of these interventions, and details three components for any comprehensive instructional program: instruction in writing process, critical dimensions of different writing genres, and structures for…

Describes, in a case study-like format, a cognitive strategy that might be helpful to the learning-disabled (LD) college student who must organize and write a longer text. Presents a brief description of an LD student and an actual writing assignment. Describes how the student completed the task. Discusses educational implications. (RS)

The annotated bibliography presented in this document reflects the focus of the first year of a three-year federally funded research program intended to shed light on the writing processes of learning disabled college-aged writers. With special emphasis on the use of technology in creating workable, mainstreamed curricula, this bibliography…

It is viable to argue that literacy can be construed as a set of culturally-based discursive practices rather than as merely a set of cognitive skills. This idea has special relevance for students with learning disabilities, who often struggle with more traditional, individually-based curricular approaches. This study explored the ways in which an…

Acknowledging that ordering, spatial orientation, and synthesis are important properties in achieving clarity in writing, a study investigated the biological influences on students' writing processes and ways to help writers produce more coherent written products. Subjects, two males and four females ranging in age from 19 to 40, were tested using…

Acknowledging the importance of sight to the writing process, the paper elucidates the processes of vision related to the composing process. In the opening section the physics of light and vision, optic neuroanatomy, and cortical responses to visual stimuli are explained. Next, theories of vision and data mapping are examined and their…

Integrating reading and language arts at all levels is the focus of this journal issue. The articles and their authors are as follows: "Reading and Writing: Close Relatives or Distant Cousins" (Kathryn A. Koch); "The Reading-Writing Relationship: Myths and Realities" (Timothy Shanahan); "The Classroom Teacher as an Action Researcher: Beginning…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 27 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) syntax in the writing of learning disabled and normal children; (2) tropes, invention, and the composing process; (3) speaking and writing relationships in…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 17 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) reasoning strategies used by gifted and average fifth grade children in written discourse; (2) the effect of mode of discourse on the syntactic complexity of…