Scott Beers, PhD.,

Seattle Pacific University

Scott Beers is a Professor and Assistant Dean of the School of Education at Seattle Pacific University, teaching classes on literacy development at the graduate and undergraduate level. He conducts research on adolescent reading and writing, with special interests in students with reading and writing disabilities. Working with Virginia Berninger, Dr. Beers and his colleagues investigated the writing processes (transcription and translation) of students with and without reading and writing disabilities using “on-line” tools such as keystroke logging software, digital tablets (to gather handwriting data), and eye tracking technologies. This research has been published in the Journal of Writing Research and Learning Disabilities: A Multidisciplinary Journal.

All Sessions by Scott Beers, PhD.,

12:00 pm - 12:45 pm

Spelling Errors and Writing Fluency for Students with Dyslexia

Students with dyslexia often experience difficulties with spelling, associated with decreased writing fluency, more spelling errors, and poorer texts overall when compared with typically developingpeers. Although it is clear that spelling difficulties affect writing fluency, less is known about the extent of these effects and why they occur. This presentation will share eye movement data of adolescent students with and without dyslexia collected while writing narrative texts, looking specifically at eye fixations upon spelling errors.