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Reading and Writing

, Volume 31, Issue 4, pp 865–891 | Cite as

Supporting first-grade writers who fail to learn: multiple single-case evaluation of a Response to Intervention approach

  • María Arrimada
  • Mark Torrance
  • Raquel Fidalgo
Article
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Abstract

We report a multiple-baseline single-case study, based in the response to intervention framework, evaluating transcription-only and transcription-and-planning interventions for young, struggling writers. In a baseline phase, 8 classes of Spanish children at the start of their first year of primary (elementary) education completed short, probe writing tasks twice-weekly over the first 120 days of their school career. During this period, all students received researcher-developed classroom instruction in spelling, handwriting, and text-planning. Students then completed a battery of tests including measures of spelling, handwriting and composition quality. On the basis of writing probe tasks and test scores we identified 12 struggling writers for whose written composition performance was below the 15th percentile, relative to the full sample, whose spelling performance was below 25th percentile, and whose handwriting was poor. For the next 72 days, these students received twice-weekly, parent-delivered training in transcription skills (handwriting and spelling) or transcription skills plus text planning. Researcher-developed classroom instruction and regular probe tasks continued during this phase. All students, in both intervention conditions, showed improvement in handwriting quality relative to Phase 1. 10 students also showed improvement in composition quality, with 8 performing, post intervention, within normal range relative to peers. Our findings demonstrate the value of a response-to-intervention approach to identification and remediation for struggling writes in their first school year.

Keywords

Handwriting Spelling Planning instruction Writing learning difficulties Strategy-focused writing instruction 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

Study funded by a 2016 BBVA Foundation Grant for Researchers and Cultural Creators awarded to the third author. This work has also been benefitted from support from the COST Action IS1401 ELN. A Spanish predoctoral grant (FPU) by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports was awarded to the first author during this study.

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© Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature 2018

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of Psychology, Sociology and Philosophy, Faculty of EducationUniversity of LeónLeonSpain
  2. 2.Department of Psychology, School of Social SciencesNottingham Trent UniversityNottinghamUK

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