Research-Based Assessment Linked to Instruction for Diagnosis of Writing Disabilities and Prevention of Writing Problems

Virginia Wise Berninger, PhD, is Professor Emerita at the University of Washington, where she was a faculty member for 30 years. She taught in public schools for nearly a decade (both general education as well as special education and as a reading specialist) before receiving her doctorate in psychology from Johns Hopkins University.

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This presentation is based on over two decades of research on specific learning disabilities in grades 1–9 and on typically developing and at-risk writers (and readers), initially in the early grades and eventually middle school. We will discuss one study funded by NICHD at NIH (1995–2006 and 2011–2017), in which three patterns of results — each of which was consistent with a different specific learning disability in an otherwise typically developing learner — were identified. Each of the three specific learning disabilities was associated with a different writing disability: dysgraphia (impaired sub-word-level letter production), dyslexia (impaired word-level spelling — not just word reading), and oral and written language learning disability (OWL LD — text-level written composition). We will also discuss another NICHD (NIH)-funded study (1989–2008), in which a model for screen intervene was developed to prevent writing problems in each elementary school grade (1–5).

• To treat writing problems as relevant as reading problems in research-based assessment and instructional practice
• To define dysgraphia, dyslexia, and oral and written language disability (OWL LD) and identify the characteristic writing impairment of each of these specific learning disabilities at contrasting levels of language
• To implement a screen-intervene model for preventing writing problems in grades 1–5

Has no relevant financial relationship with ineligible companies to disclose.

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