With exposure to print, childrens' recognition of written words and their syntax become highly automated through elementary school. By the end of the elementary years childrens' written syntax becomes more complex than spoken syntax. Correct use of syntax in written work continues to develop through to grade 12 and beyond into adulthood. A sign of syntactic growth in writing is an increasing number of words present within clauses, rather than an increasing number of clauses within sentences. Organization Young writers develop strategies and a repertoire of discourse structures, and become more able to produce coherent sequences of ideas.
Strategies develop to help young writers organize their ideas.
Early organizational strategies include the use of pictures to help young writers keep in mind the ideas that are to be written about. A child might draw a picture of three bears sitting around a picnic basket, then go on to describe in writing the circumstances associated with the picture. Later, as children are exposed to various types of writing, they become able to adopt literary forms or genres. Genres provide structure. One of the early organizational strategies to emerge is the chronological ordering of events.