title: Neurodevelopmental study of writing disorders in middle childhood.
abstract: This study investigated patterns of neurodevelopmental dysfunction in children with writing disorders (WD). Records of children, ages 9 to 15 years, referred to a school problems clinic were examined. Using teacher questionnaire information, including ratings of writing legibility, mechanics, rate, linguistic sophistication, and spelling, 99 cases of WD were found. Sixty-three children without WD served as clinic controls. A cluster analysis revealed four discrete subtypes of WD and two non-WD control clusters. The four WD clusters were found to have different patterns of writing and reading characteristics. Neurodevelopmental tests discriminated among the clusters (F = 2.8, p less than .0001), and an examination of neurodevelopmental performance characteristics among the clusters showed different patterns of strengths and weaknesses. An empirically derived subtyping of WD is proposed: WD with fine motor and linguistic deficits, WD with visual-spatial deficits, WD with attention and memory deficits, and WD with sequencing deficits. This subtyping, if confirmed in a population study, may have important diagnostic and therapeutic implications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill.
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Sandler
authors.forename: T E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Watson
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Footo
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Levine
authors.forename: W L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Coleman
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Hooper
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D000293:Adolescent; D000381:Agraphia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D001072:Apraxias / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D001288:Attention; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006236:Handwriting; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D009048:Motor Skills; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011597:Psychomotor Performance