Christopher Kaufman, Ph.D. (207) 878-1777 e-mail: info@kaufmanpsychological

1. Christopher Kaufman, Ph.D. (207) 878-1777 e-mail: info@kaufmanpsychological.org web: kaufmanpsychological.org

2. From Brain to Pen toPaper . . . The Neuropsychology of Writing & Best Practice InstructionalRecommendations

3. Myths to be exploded in this session . . . • ‘Writing is just a written extension of oral language.’ • ‘If kids can speak well and use a pencil, they should be able to write well.’ • ‘Most kids who fail to write up to their potential lack motivation – they’re lazy.’

4. “I love being a writer. What I can’t stand is the paperwork” Peter De Vries My writing speed is akin to head stone carving . . . Gloria Steinham

5. The enemy . . .

6. The simple truth: Writing, from a neurobehavioral perspective, is incredibly complex and hard! Involves the fluid and simultaneous (!!) coordination of the following core skill areas: • word knowledge, retrieval, and sequencing • working memory, sustained attention, planning, organization • spelling, punctuation, and grammar • visual/spatial functioning • fine-motor/grapho-motor functioning • higher order reasoning/cognition

7. DA’ BRAIN: Its two hemispheres and four lobes

8. Attention and Writing: What every teacher comes to know . . SO MANY KIDS WITH ATTENTION DEFICITS HATE TO WRITE!

9. Executive Functioning Refers to the ability to regulate and direct one’s emotions/behavior and to plan, initiate, attend to, and organize tasks Impact on writing is huge

10. Frontal Lobe Specifics (Adapted from Hale & Fiorello, 2004) Motor Cortex Prefrontal Cortex (Dorsolateral) Planning Strategizing Sustained Attention Flexibility Self-Monitoring ------------------------------- Orbital Prefrontal Impulse Control (behavioral inhibition) Emotional Modulation

11. Executive functioning and writing No academic task requires more executive functioning efficiency than writing Writing, after all, is all about self-direction and self-regulation of the product on the page For younger children and older kids with limited grapho-motor skill, there are fewer cognitive resources left to the complex task of organizing and developing thoughts on paper.

12. Recursive Writing Cycle (With Developmentally Appropriate Levels of EF) Pre-Writing Phase Adequate EF skill allows: • Task Analysis • Schema/Prior Knowledge Activation • Brainstorming • Thought Sequencing/Organization • Adequate writing confidence and motivation to engage in writing Writing Phase Adequate EF (particularly WM) skill and mechanical automaticity allows: • Fluent transfer of ideas to text • Simultaneous processing of ideational and mechanical aspects of writing • Revising and editing of text as it is produced (revising ‘on the fly’) • Persistence and motivation to continue Revision/Editing Phase Adequate EF skill allows: • Deep processing of one’s writing (such that content revision is possible) • Awareness/recognition of one’s error patterns • Careful scrutiny of written work and correction of all (or at least most) errors • Persistence and motivation to continue

13. Recursive Writing Cycle (As Impacted by Executive Dysfunction) Pre-Writing Phase EF weakness contributes to: • Poor task analysis (‘What are we supposed to again?’) • Little to know brainstorming or thought organization (just jumps into writing, using ‘knowledge telling’ approach) • Minimal writing confidence (desire to avoid writing) Writing Phase EF weakness land a lack of mechanical skill Automaticity contribute to: • WM easily overloaded by simultaneous ideational and mechanical writing demands • Minimal writing • Writing that includes numerous content and/or mechanical errors • Very limited ability to revise/edit ‘on the fly’ • Limited persistence and frustration tolerance (desire to be done as soon as possible) Revision/Editing Phase EF weakness contributes to: • Superficial processing of one’s text • Disregard of mechanical and content errors • Very limited motivation to revise and extend writing • Limited persistence/frustration tolerance (very limited willingness to revise/edit)

14. The Brain’s Memory Systems

15. Working Memory: Some kids have got ‘leaky buckets’ • Levine: Some kids are blessed with large, ‘leak proof,’ working memories • Others are born with small WM’s that leak out info before it can be processed

16. Large working memory capacity allows for lots of simultaneous processing! Sequential Processing Simultaneous Processing ‘Cognitive Band Width’ Large WM Lots Little Small WM

17. Left Hemisphere Language Centers

18. Subtypes of Language-Based Dysgraphias • Phonological Dysgraphia (spelling deficits associated with phonological processing deficits - students with this problem struggle with spelling by sound) • Surface (or “Orthographic”) Dysgraphia (marked difficulty with storing and/or retrieving the idiosyncratic appearance of words) • Mixed Dysgraphia(manifests itself in a combination of phonological spelling errors and orthographic errors depicting faulty sequential arrangement of letters) • Semantic/Syntactic Dysgraphia (the inability to master the rules for grammar that dictate precisely how words/phrases can be combined – writing reflects a breakdown of linguistic rules)

19. Expressive Language Difficulties & Writing • Conversational language is not the same as academic (writing) language • Word retrieval difficulties sink both oral expression and written expression • Limited elaboration ability is often a prime suspect in written language that is often ‘Joe Friday’ (sparse!) in orientation.

20. Kids with elaboration difficulties: Short-answer specialists Kaufman: Do you like to write? Kid: Nope. Kaufman: Why not? What do you dislike about it? Kid: I dunno . . . Boring Kaufman: Do you find all types of writing boring? Even story writing? Kid: I guess. Kaufman: Are there other things you dislike about writing? Kid: It’s hard. Kaufman: What’s hard about it? Kid: I dunno . . . Saying stuff.

21. Four common types of grapho-motor dysfunction(Mel Levine) Motor memory dysfunctions(difficulties recall the ‘kinesthetic melodies’ of letters – a lack of procedural memory regarding letter construction) Grapho-motor production deficits(difficulty transmitting/executing specific muscle assignments to the finger while writing – often accompanied by articulation problems) Motor Feedback Problems(difficulties getting feedback from the fingers with regard to the pencil’s exact location as letters are being formed – AKA ‘finger agnosia’) Letter Visualization Deficits (difficulty picturing letters in the mind’s eye)

22. Core Strategy Principle: THE EXPLICIT TEACHING OF THE WRITING PROCESS IS GOOD.

23. ExplicitTeacher Modeling and Gradual Release of Responsibility • Teacher modeling of writing strategies in whole group settings makes the implicit explicit for all kids • Best to also model likely problems/mistakes and ways to cope with them!! • Gradual release (teacher models, small group practice, individual practice) can be very effective for kids with EF weakness

24. A Core Recommendation: Build Writing Fluency withPower Writing • A daily fluency building technique • Consists of brief timed writing events • In each one-minute interval, students are told to write as much as they can about a specified topic • The one-minute intervals are performed up to 3 times in a row • Usually kids are told to include one or more key words in their writing • Kids graph their progress (accuracy and length) Fisher & Frey, 2007

25. Helpful metaphor to teach pre-writing: Gather Your Thoughts idea idea idea idea idea idea Then Write

26. Rubrics/Heuristics Rock! • P.O.W. • C-S.P.A.C.E. • Stop and L.I.S.T. • B.O.T.E.C. • Step Up ToWriting • Somebody Wanted . . But . . . So . . .

27. P.O.W. (Graham & Harris) • Pick my idea • Organize my thoughts 1. ___________ 2. ___________ 3. ___________ • Write and say more

28. C-SPACE (Harris et al., 2008) • Characters • Setting (time and place) • Purpose (What the main character tries to do . .) • Action (What is done to achieve the goal) • Conclusion (Results of the action) • Emotions (The main characters’ reactions and feelings)

29. TREE (Harris et al., 2008) • Topic (topic sentence) • Reasons (at least 3) • Explain (each reason) • Ending (wrap it up)

30. Heuristic for . . . Story analysis Story writing Introduction ___ Title ___ Author ___ Character ___ Setting Problem: ___ Wanted ___ But ___ Detail Solution: ___ So ___ Detail ___ In the end Somebody . . Wanted . . But . . So(Jane Kennedy)

31. Graphic Organizers: A double edged sword . . . • Great way to build previewing and planning skill (story webs, story maps, Venn diagrams, etc.) • But, they are often perceived by ADHD kids as “MORE WORK” (“I have to do that and then write?!”) • If these are used, consider allowing kids to hand them in as a completed product or give them lots of support in their use. • Consider using the Peggy McPhee approach instead, which relies on giving kids a series of specific prompts/questions to answer (eliminates the blank page phenomenon)

32. STAR Organizer Strategy (Kaufman’s adaptation . .) • How does story start? • What happens next? • Then what happens? • Then what happens? • Then what happens? • How does story end? Who? 2. 1. Why? What? Main Idea When? How? Where? 32

33. Original assignment: Pick your favorite fairy tale and develop a ‘fractured’ version of it. Make sure you also make at least three illustrations and show in your writing how the main characters resolve an essential conflict Modified assignment: List the five main characters in Cinderella Where does the story take place? What was Cinderella’s main problem? What was she doing to cope with it? What might be some funny ways to change the story? How would one of those changes change the ending? Defeating the dreaded ‘blank page’ (or ‘How to make a right-brained assignment more left-brained’’)

34. Consider Using the Step Up to Writing program (or something like it) • Developed by Maureen Auman • Published by Sopris West • Great way to help ADHD/EFD kids learn how to construct and organize paragraphs and essays • Wonderfully concrete and explicit!

35. The ‘Step Up’ Traffic Light Model GO! Write a topic sentence Slow Down! Give a reason, detail, or fact Stop! Explain – give an example Go Back! Remind the reader of your topic

36. What Makes a Great Teacher? A good teacher does two things.She makes the classroom nice.A good teacher has lots of books for us to look at and posters on the wall.A good teacher also teaches us new things.She lets us learn about other countries and experiments in science.Teachers are the most important part of school.

37. COPS Capitalization Organization (or ‘order’ or ‘appearance’) Punctuation Spelling SCOPE S – Spelling ok? C – First words, proper names, and nouns capitalized? O – Syntax (word order) correct? P – Punctuation marks where needed? E – Do all the sentences express a complete thought? The acronym editing strategies: S.C.O.P.E. and C.O.P.S.

38. Handwriting Instruction: What Research Says Really Works(Troia & Graham, 2003; Troia, 2006) • Pencil grip, letter/word formation, and paper orientation need to be explicitly modeled, practice, and reviewed • Facilitative supports such as dotted lines and arrows (particularly for kids with visual-spatial deficits) • Kids should be taught to monitor and evaluate the quality of their handwriting • Handwriting fluency can be achieved only via high levels of guided practice and review (speed drills help)

39. Kaufman’s Two Cents: All kids with significant grapho-motor difficulties should have explicit plans that outline . . . The types of assignments for which: • they will write with their hands (i.e., short-answer work and worksheets • they will dictate or give oral presentations • they will access keyboard devices