Planning plays an important role in the production of written texts. Little is known about why children plan and the plans they create when they are not explicitly instructed. This study explores the plans that elementary school children in Years 1, 3, and 5 create before writing a text. We compared performance of children educated in Catalan and…

We present the results of a longitudinal study of the formation of graphomotor skills in elementary school children between the ages of seven and nine (students in the first and second grades). Patterns in how the skills under investigation develop in normal children and those with learning disabilities were revealed using a computerized survey of…

This study was designed to examine the effects of tracing and fading prompts to improve the handwriting of two preschoolers both diagnosed as Developmentally Delayed (DD) and one of whom had fine motor goals. The study took place in a self-contained special education public preschool classroom located in the Pacific Northwest. The results showed…

Discusses public library rule that requires young children to print their names legibly to qualify for a library card. The case of a scribbling kindergartener, reading and writing readiness, comments on requirement from several children's-services coordinators in public libraries, printing size, skinny pencils, and the parents' ultimate…

This article identifies possible causes of handwriting difficulties and suggests activities to facilitate the development of hand muscles and handwriting skills. It discusses handwriting readiness, wrist stability, hand development activities, pencil grasp, hand dominance, eye-hand coordination, basic strokes, general readiness skills, writing…

Dictated words and pictures by 48 young French children, aged 3 to 6 years, demonstrated that young children have the capacity to produce graphics that exhibit some of the characteristics of writing. Developmental stages in children's recognition that their own efforts were not true writing were identified. (SLD)

Intended to encourage teachers to examine their assumptions about teaching writing, this document containing a mixture of theory and practice deals with many aspects of writing. The chapters discuss (1) an examination of children's writing and some questions arising from the examination; (2) reasons for failure to write well, including the home…

Some of the ways young children initially approach writing, including their understanding and involvement with the writing process, is the focus of this paper. It illustrates the variety of ways children deal with the concept of spaces between words, the differences between printed and cursive writing, and the left-to-right, top-to-bottom…

Forty-eight children, equally divided among three-, four-, and five-year-old groups, were subjects in a study that explored the development and interrelationships among several facets of writing knowledge and reading readiness skills. Three categories of tasks were administered: knowledge of functions, knowledge of forms, and reading readiness…

Describes how caregivers can support young children's writing development. Outlines stages of writing: scribbling, drawing, invented letters, random letters, copying words, developmental spelling, and conventional spelling. Provides tips on what to say to children in each stage of writing. (KB)

This Digest looks at recent research, and then asks and considers some important questions about choosing a handwriting program for young children, i.e.: (1) which alphabet is developmentally appropriate; (2) which alphabet is easier to use; (3) which alphabet is easier to read; (4) which alphabet is more easily integrated; (5) which alphabet is…

Multiple group structural equation modeling was used to analyze structural relationships between latent factors underlying writing-related developmental skills and component writing skills in grades 1 through 6 for 600 students (50 boys and 50 girls at each grade level). Results for handwriting, spelling, and compositional quality are discussed…