One of the two major components of writing is the physical aspect of forming written words and letters. This can be compared to the physical aspect of speaking. Just as a fluent speaker must be able to articulate fast enough and clearly enough to be understood, so must a fluent writer be able to write legibly and with reasonably good speed. In the previous section we discussed how spelling could be done orally as well as by writing down the letters and words.
Oral spelling is not enough. Children have to leave a permanent record on paper, of their ability to communicate, so that these records can be examined and corrected. All of this contributes to the acquisition of language skills. Thus, one of the major difficulties of a dyslexic child may be clumsiness in writing. While spelling is dependent on cognitive processes such as sequencing or successive processing, writing, in addition to these, requires planning.
Children have to put together a motor program for producing written impressions on paper. In the case of handwriting, the motor program is distinctly different from the thoughts or ideas that are ultimately expressed in writing. Therefore, the second important aspect of writing is the creation of a text. Creating a text that is found in a sentence or a paragraph, and later in essays, requires the knowledge of grammar as well as strategies for putting down one’s thoughts and ideas.
Writing Composition and Oral Narration Need Planning
But are these not the requirements of oral speech as well? When children are asked to describe an event, to retell a story or tell an original one, they have to generate thoughts and ideas in a coherent manner. In any kind of meaningful oral narration, the role of planning assumes great importance. Without it the oral narrative loses its focus and, ultimately, even its meaning. We have heard of disorganized speech even in healthy adults and there are many children who are struggling with not only the gathering of ideas for communication but also in getting together the means of written production.
The two aspects of writing are expressed in the technical terms translation or transcription and text generation. Transcription by itself is like a spelling skill. We discussed earlier how both children and adults may know the spelling of a long word but still make mistakes when putting it down on paper. This is mainly due to the length of the word. The working memory is stressed when the word is too long to remember, resulting in children omitting some of the letters, especially in the middle of the word.
Many Cognitive Processes Compete with Each Other in Writing
The physical act of forming the letters in handwritten spellings further challenges the child’s abilities and resources, and adds to the stress on the working memory. Translation or transcription, then, has both a cognitive load and a demand on motor ability. Children may put so much effort into the sheer act of transcription that the quality of their writing becomes poor. They write only brief sentences or paragraphs when asked to produce a written text.
The ideas in the paragraph may not be presented coherently as the energy available to the child is taken up by the act of writing itself. This is perhaps the main reason why dyslexic children can speak coherently and fluently, expressing their ideas well, but when asked to write, fail the test miserably. As children grow older they learn the three Rs (Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic) in school and most of them acquire the basic mechanics of writing by the age of 10. The higher mental processes of planning (using the strategies of focusing on some ideas and not on others) and revising what one has written may then become apparent in their writing.
However, children with dyslexia often have poor spelling and writing skills and may not master the techniques of writing by the age of ten. Therefore, it is unfair to judge their ability for communication from their written efforts. We have to remember while teaching children who experience dyslexia, especially those who are poor in reading and spelling, that although spelling is a necessary component of literacy, emphasis on the mechanics of handwriting should be reduced.
To which part of the brain does writing belong? We will end this chapter with an answer to this question.