Abstract

Italian children with developmental dysgraphia have difficulties in orthographic processing due to overreliance on sublexical vs. lexical writing. We assessed whether writing errors could be reduced by visual-lexical stimulation. The training involved written naming of object pictures. The exercises were self-administered via computer. Six children with dysorthography, eight to eleven years old, received the treatment. At post-therapy evaluation, significant improvement was observed on treated words. Learning generalised to untreated words and untreated writing tasks. The improvement confirmed the use of visual-lexical strategies and effects were maintained at follow-up assessment. These results indicate that a lexical approach is useful in the treatment of developmental writing deficits in a transparent orthography.