1. Jerrod L. Bain and Caroline L. Burdett

2.  Specific difficulties producing written language (Szklut, & Breath, 2001 ).  Forming letters and using a pen and paper  Energies are diverted toward the physical process of writing itself (Richards, 1999 ).  Can interfere with students’ abilities to learn since teachers often depend on written work to measure learning (American Occupational Therapy Association, 2001 ).  The American Psychiatric Association (1994) characterizes students with dysgraphia as having substantially lower writing skills than those expected for their age, intelligence, and education.  Their difficulties significantly affect their academic achievement and other activities that require the use of written text (1994).  Verbal organization and production of information far exceeds the ability to do the same via written expression (Kronenberger, 2003).

3.  Students are often misjudged as lazy or unmotivated given their poor handwriting or sloppy work on written assignments.  Teacher interview:  Low self-esteem, high anxiety levels, lack of motivation to write, and poor quality in writing assignments  Poor handwriting, difficulty organizing ideas, poor spelling, and weak sentence structure  Struggle to elaborate on ideas, and they spend more time on written assignments than their peers

4. http://www.donjohnston.com/media/flash/cowriter_student_samples/index.html

7.  Concept mapping software  Brainstorm and organize graphically  Various view options  Presentation manager  Differentiate instruction  Individualized needs addressed

9.  Word prediction software  Works with any program that accepts text  Multisensory  Word suggestions and prompts  Speech feature for words and sentences  Topic dictionaries

11.  Wireless keyboard  Assists in writing, revising, and editing  Link and upload files for collaboration  Individualize and differentiate practice  Monitor student progress  Works with other AT software

12.  Teacher Interview:  Allow extra time whenever possible as allowed by the school  Do not over-penalize students for spelling errors  Be patient and positive!