ABSTRACT
We were recently introduced to two children with special needs in an elementary school just outside Washington, DC. One of the children, Miles,1
was a fourth-grade student with a learning disability in writing. According to his teacher, Miles avoids writing whenever possible, and it is not unusual to hear him make disparaging comments about writing and his writing capabilities. When describing his writing, the teacher characterized Miles as a “minimalist,” noting that his papers are inordinately short, containing only a few ideas and very little elaboration. This description is also characteristic of his approach to writing, as he rarely does any planning in advance, preferring to “get his ideas” while writing. He further appears to use a least-effort strategy when revising, as the changes he initiates are primarily limited to minor word substitutions and unsuccessful attempts to correct errors of spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. Rarely does he make more substantive revisions, such as adding or rewriting sections of text to make them better. Finally, it takes some effort to read most of Miles’s compositions, as his handwriting is difficult to read, one out of every five words is misspelled, and punctuation and capitalization are irregular. Miles’s writing profile is not unusual for a child with writing and learning difficulties, as these students typically experience challenges generating content, executing the mechanical aspects of writing, and plan-
1This is not the child’s real name; in all of our chapters we substitute real names with the names of fictional characters from popular science fiction or fantasy books.
