Article 1 Review:

Multidisciplinary support and the management of children with specific writing

disabilities
Children with specific writing difficulties (dysgraphia) often fails to make the
expected academic progress associated with their chronological age and intellect;
many may experience a complex cycle of frustration, loss of self-esteem and
motivation and consequently fall further behind in their academic achievement.
(Lie, OHare, Denwood, 2000) This is a startling statement about the affects of a
writing disability in children. The article I will review is titled Multidisciplinary
support and the management of children with specific writing difficulties. This
article was written about a group of students who were subjects in a study about
the effectiveness of using keyboards to improve writing skills.
The study this article discussed took place in Scotland, with fifty one children
diagnosed with dysgraphia ranging from six to seventeen years old. In this study
the boys outnumbered the girls by a ratio of 3:1 and 78% of the students were right
handed. Medical records indicated that slightly more than half (58%) of the children
had neurological problems and 35% had speech difficulties. Also, 45% of the
students were reported to have behavioral problems, described as being anxious,
overactive, moody, or changeable, withdrawn, having poor concentration,
disorganized and poor peer relationships or discipline problems.
According to Lie, OHare, and Denwood (2000) About half of the children
were taught keyboard skills by one adult; the rest by more than one adult
(e.g., by a teacher and an occupational therapist, or by a teacher and an
auxiliary). Both the frequency and duration of keyboard teaching varied

widely with periods from 40 to 100 minutes per week and one to 108 weeks.
(Lie, OHare, Denwood, 2000)
The majority of the teachers in this study thought that the use of the
keyboards were beneficial to the students. Also, the study found that 70 % of the
children had an increased motivation about writing and 87 percent of the students
enjoyed using the keyboards. There were only a few negative comments from the
students in the study. The students commented that the slow typing speed was
frustrating and some students felt different from the other students because they
were not using pens of pencils. The conclusions from this study found that the
keyboards may serve as a temporary aide until the students caught up to their
peers. However, this study concluded that the use of keyboards improved the
students writing abilities, behavior concerns, and helped with their self-esteem.
I found this article interesting and well written, I thought that the authors did
an excellent job on providing the background information of the students and
explained the roles of the research team thoroughly. However, I felt that the
authors did not provide strategies or examples about how they improved the writing
of the students. Also, the authors did not state whether or not the students
handwriting improved. After reading this article I felt that the authors researched
an accommodation to improve writing skills rather than the disability itself.
In conclusion, after reading this article, I learned a useful accommodation to
use for students with dysgraphia. I learned that allowing students with dysgraphia
the use of keyboards will improve their writing skills but I am uncertain if keyboards
can improve handwriting for students with dysgraphia.

References
Lie, K. G., O'Hare, A., & Denwood, S. (2000). Multidisciplinary Support and the Management of Children with Specific
Writing Difficulties. British Journal Of Special Education, 27(2), 93-99.