Statewide Webinars

This webinar is for parents seeking a better understanding of the difficulties children may experience in learning to write. In the first part of the presentation, we distinguish three forms of dysgraphia: 1) difficulty learning to spell; 2) difficulty with the motor aspects of writing, leading to slow, effortful writing that often borders on illegible; and 3) difficulty with composition—that is, difficulty in organizing and expressing thoughts coherently in writing. These forms of dysgraphia may or may not occur together, and may or may not be associated with reading difficulty. In the second part of the presentation, we look in greater detail at spelling difficulties. We describe the cognitive processes required for spelling, and the knowledge these processes draw upon. Difficulty learning any of the required knowledge or processes will lead to impaired spelling, with the specific form of difficulty depending upon what knowledge or processes are affected. Using examples from our research, we show how the underlying problem can be identified from indicators such as the types of spelling errors a child makes. Finally, we consider implications of this framework for helping children (and adults) with dysgraphia.

Special Guest Presenters:

Michael McCloskey, Professor of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University
Brenda Rapp, Professor of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University

About our presenters: Michael McCloskey is a Professor of Cognitive Science at Johns Hopkins University. Prof. McCloskey received his Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from Princeton University in 1978, and joined the Johns Hopkins faculty at that time.  He has been studying dysgraphia in adults and children for 30 years, and recently co-edited the book Developmental Dysgraphia with Prof. Brenda Rapp. Prof. McCloskey is the author of the book Visual reflections: A Perceptual Deficit and its Implications, and has published over 100 journal articles on a variety of topics. He has also served at the National Science Foundation as director of the Human Cognition and Perception Program, and chair of the Knowledge and Distributed Intelligence Program.

Brenda Rapp is a Professor of Cognitive Science at Johns Hopkins University.  She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary and Special Education at the University of Maryland, and worked for a number of years as a Special Education teacher with both English and Spanish-speaking children with reading and spelling difficulties.  She earned her Ph.D. in Psychology at Johns Hopkins University in 1990 and joined the faculty in 1994. Her research for the past 30 years has focused on understanding the cognitive and neural processes involved in reading and spelling in both adults and children, publishing over 125 journal articles.  She co-edited the book Developmental Dysgraphia with Prof. Michael McCloskey.  She has served on various editorial boards, the governing boards of the Academy of Aphasia and the Society for the Neurobiology of Language and is currently co-editor-in-chief of the journal Cogntiive Neuropsychology.