Specificity of functions of self-control of written activity in primary school children with dysgraphia

Context and Relevance. Regulatory and control functions are among the most essential for mastering the school curriculum. Research on self-monitoring operations in primary school children with writing disorders is particularly important in the context of an interdisciplinary approach, as deficits in the regulatory component may underlie a large number of specific writing errors. Objective. To examine the specific features of self-monitoring functions in writing activity among primary school children with dysgraphia. Hypothesis. The regulatory component of writing activity during academic tasks is the most challenging type of self-monitoring for primary school children. Methods and Materials. The study involved 52 third-grade students. According to speech therapy reports, all children demonstrated writing impairments associated with underdeveloped operations of language analysis and synthesis. To assess the level of formation of the regulatory component of writing activity, a modified “Simple Instructions Test” and modified Russian language tasks were used. Results. It was found that 100% of the students in the experimental group successfully completed the Simple Instructions Test without errors. However, when completing diagnostic tasks aimed at assessing self-monitoring functions within writing activity, 36% of the students performed at an average level, while 64% experienced significant difficulties. Conclusions. Children with writing disorders are characterized by an underdevelopment of self-monitoring functions in writing tasks. Specific difficulties were also observed in following instructions: students failed to identify key points of the instruction and did not compare the obtained result with the original task. These difficulties may be related to the multicomponent nature of the tasks and the lack of guiding control from the teacher. The findings can be used by special education professionals and primary school teachers to refine methods for working with tasks and text-based instructions