Sentence-Level Writing Skills in Children With and Without Developmental Language Disorders

Writing is an important language outcome for school-age children because it has both academic and social implications. Writing, as part of comprehensive language assessment and intervention for children with and without developmental language disorders (DLD), has gained attention in research literature. On the one hand, it is promising to see that practitioners and researchers are interested in writing as a linguistic and communicative outcome within the scope of practice for speech–language pathologists. On the other hand, research to support writing assessment and intervention is only just emerging for typically developing children, let alone those with DLD and other related disorders. Current and well-accepted theories (Berninger & Amtmann, 2003; Ritchey et al., 2016) describe writing as a complex process that includes planning, writing, and revising that occur at multiple levels of language (word, sentence, discourse). School-age children must learn skills related to transcription including handwriting and spelling, and, as they develop more complex writing abilities, they must learn how to translate simple and complex ideas into simple and complex sentences and paragraphs. The complexity of the writing process requires programmatic research that examines component processes of writing at multiple levels of language. This issue of Topics in Language Disorders addresses this need by focusing on sentence-level writing assessment and intervention for school-age children with and without DLD. The five articles that make up this issue focus on sentence writing including developmental expectations, assessment and intervention, and technological considerations for the assessment of writing. The purpose of this issue is to provide readers with an opportunity to deepen their understanding about sentence-level language in written communication in children with and without disabilities. Williams and Larkin reviewed 39 studies that focused on transcription and translation skills in elementary school students with DLD. Transcription skills include handwriting and spelling, whereas translation skills include the generation of text from words to sentences to paragraphs (Chenoweth & Hayes, 2003). This systematic review of literature revealed a variety of insights for practitioners and researchers including an understanding of the array of writing prompts, tasks, and measures used in studies of children with DLD. The authors concluded that children with DLD demonstrate delays in transcription and translation skills relative to chronologically same-aged peers. Brimo et al. explored the morphological and syntactic writing errors made by 30 children with DLD compared with 33 children with typical development after writing a narrative story based on a picture prompt. The sentence-level morphosyntactic skills evaluated in this study are important for practitioners and researchers to consider as these are the hallmark challenges in spoken language for children with DLD. Findings from this study add to the body of research on grammar use in writing and support the need to consider writing as a key component of language intervention for school-age children. Ritchey et al. conducted a review of literature focused on teaching sentence-level writing to typically developing students and those with disabilities. The review included 16 studies designed to improve sentence-level writing across different contexts including types of participants, settings, research designs, and intervention approaches. Findings from this study are helpful for informing practitioners and researchers of the types of strategies being currently utilized in intervention research and that may serve as the building blocks for future treatment approaches. Hall-Mills and Wood examined the complex syntax of students with language impairments from diverse linguistic backgrounds used in informative writing. In this study, 114 students in fifth grade provided an informational writing sample from which measures of syntactic complexity were derived. Findings indicated differences in the types of syntactic forms used by children with and without DLD and how these differed in children with DLD depending on their first language proficiency levels. Finally, Marble-Flint and Koutsoftas examined the feasibility of assessing sentence-level writing using virtual assessment procedures. With an increased appreciation and social acceptance of telepractice as a way to provide language intervention, this study examined the feasibility of assessing sentence writing in a sample of 15 intermediate-grade students. One of the challenges faced by researchers and practitioners is attrition, especially for children and families in rural settings. The use of telepractice can remedy this and allow for consistent assessments and interventions for children with and without DLD. Overall, this issue of Topics in Language Disorders addresses sentence-level writing assessment and intervention in children with and without DLD. We hope you find these studies informative and helpful for your research and practice and that we continue to see more research focused on writing as a linguistic outcome for children with and without DLD. —Anthony D. Koutsoftas, PhD, CCC-SLP Issue Editor