Recently, there has been a growing interest in inquiries about dysgraphia, the impairment in writing. Existing research inquiries into dysgraphia often overlook the underlying cognitive impairment and focus on generalized approaches to improve impaired writing skills. Little attention has been paid to interventions targeting the specific cognitive mechanisms to improve dysgraphia. In order to fill this gap, this review attempts to provide a comprehensive account of the varied intervention strategies that directly and indirectly target improving the cognitive mechanisms of writing and, thereby, dysgraphia. As a background to the review, the multiple cognitive writing processes, their disruption, and the corresponding deficit profile of dysgraphia are also discussed.
Frequency of print reading is associated with reading ability and reading-related skills across the lifespan. With the increasing adoption of digital technologies, a wide range of screen-based reading opportunities are becoming more prevalent. However, the frequency of some forms of digital reading, such as emails and blogs, is negatively associated with reading skills. Given the variety of reading opportunities on digital devices, it is important to develop reliable and valid assessment of digital reading and device use to study its influence on young readers. To address this need, we conducted a validation study of a self-report measure of leisure-time reading habits in the print and digital medium and digital device use in sample of 110 students in grades 4-6 (52 female, ages 9-12.7) in Germany. The instrument demonstrated good internal consistency. An exploratory factor analysis yielded four distinct factors: general print reading, digital fiction reading, digital mixed genre reading, and leisure activities on smartphones. Validity was assessed by examining associations with print exposure, a title recognition test, and reading-related skills (vocabulary, word recognition). We found convergent construct validity for print comparable to previous research and evidence for divergent construct validity for digital reading habits. Criterion-related validity was supported for print, but not for digital, reading.
Reading fluency is a key component of literacy development and an important indicator of reading comprehension and academic achievement. However, traditional fluency assessment methods are often time-consuming, difficult to scale, and dependent on subjective evaluation procedures, limiting their use in large-scale educational contexts. This study proposes a multilayer educational framework for automated reading fluency assessment that integrates audio processing, fluency indicator computation, and interpretive modeling within a structured assessment system. The proposed framework conceptualizes fluency assessment as a multilayer process that transforms oral reading audio into interpretable educational outputs through successive stages of acoustic processing, indicator computation, interpretive modeling, and feedback generation. This architecture allows fluency to be evaluated as a multidimensional construct, including reading rate, temporal continuity, pausing patterns, and rhythmic features, rather than relying on single metrics such as words per minute. The system is designed to support classroom assessment, large-scale literacy evaluation, and formative feedback processes by providing scalable, consistent, and interpretable fluency assessments. The study outlines the conceptual foundations of the framework, describes its system architecture, and discusses its potential applications in educational assessment and literacy development monitoring. The findings suggest that multilayer automated assessment systems can contribute to more efficient, scalable, and pedagogically meaningful approaches to reading fluency assessment, supporting data-informed decision-making in educational contexts.
Vocabulary and knowledge are important to literacy development. This paper investigates aspects of each that contribute to learning new words in the early elementary classroom and to reading comprehension. First- and second-grade students (N = 137) partook in classroom vocabulary instruction and completed measures of language skills. Second-grade students (n = 71) also completed measures of academic knowledge and reading. Multilevel modeling showed that vocabulary and grammatical awareness each contributed unique variance to word learning, with grammatical awareness more strongly predictive for first- than for second-grade students. Academic knowledge explained unique variance in second-grade students' word learning and comprehension. Prior language and academic knowledge facilitate classroom word learning, and general academic knowledge contributes to general reading comprehension as early as second grade. Findings underscore the need for further explication of the roles and interactions of different sources of language and knowledge in theories of literacy development.
