Dyslexia and Writing: Analysing The Writing Abilities of Both Dyslexic and Non-Dyslexic School Children

There have been a significant number of studies on the learning disability Dyslexia and most of these focus on how it affects reading abilities (Schiff, Katzir and Shoshan, 2013). Much less attention has been given to how written work is also affected. This research project aimed to fill this gap in research by exploring the relationship between Dyslexia and Writing. Different studies have focused on both the product and process of dyslexia and writing. Not only have the pieces of work themselves been analysed, but the way the text has been produced too (Morken and Helland, 2013; Sumner, Connelly and Barnett, 2014). This present study takes the perspective of the product, in order to investigate the linguistic features which can be associated with the disorder. The project takes a case study approach, by comparing samples of work produced by both Dyslexic and Non-Dyslexic children (all aged 10). By taking a comparative approach, it is possible to decipher any features which are common amongst children with average language development and the ones which were produced as a result of Dyslexia. Preliminary findings suggest that there are differences, but they are not as stark as it was initially thought to be. The most noticeable differences seem to be in the area of spelling.