And then it was almost impossible to think about how to spell words when he was busy trying to think about the story. The purpose of this article is to provide suggestions to help students, with emphasis on compensations. For further information on diagnostic issues, precise remedial suggestions, or the processing problems related to dyslexia and dysgraphia, the reader is referred to the references provided at the end. Students benefit when they compensate for writing problems because so often writing struggles interfere with learning and prevent them from fully demonstrating what they have learned. Compensating helps them bypass the problem area and still accomplish the goal of the activity.
Some students become overwhelmed because tasks appear to be too large or have too many steps.
Staging helps them focus on each subtask with greater concentration and an emphasis on quality. Some students work so hard for each problem that they find it very difficult to perform an entire assignment or even to concentrate on the concept. Students with writing difficulties sometimes learn more from fewer problems because their concentration is more efficient. Allowing for shorter assignments encourages the student to focus on quality rather than quantity, thus often decreasing the urge to rush through. Many times a student may be capable of completing the work, but unable to do so in the same amount of time as his peers.