Abstract
The role of the visuo-spatial sketch pad in writing adquisition. The first goal of the study was to show the implication of the visuospatial sketch pad in learning to write orthographic words. The second goal was to study the effects of two secondary tasks (one visual and one auditory) on writing words ofespecial orthographic difficulty. In the study, 178 second and fifth grade school children performed a writing task under one of the following experimental conditions: control, articulatory suppression, mental rotation or double task. Each participant wrote the same series of words under three modes of presentation. The first presentation was auditory, the second was visual, and the third was auditory. The results suggest the implication of working memory in learning to write and the effectiveness of visual presentations. The study also shows the gradual development of orthographic lexicon in children.
