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Mel Levine (Developmental Variation and Learning Disorders, 1987) describes writing as one of the most complicated cognitive tasks facing any student. Because it is so complex, forcing the student to perform so many demanding cognitive tasks simultaneously, writing can lead to serious challenges for working memory. For students with difficulties in writing, it is useful to break each writing task into digestible chunks, or micro-units. At Landmark College, writing is considered to have four main distinct cognitive processes or stages: Generating Ideas, Organizing Ideas, Drafting and Editing.
Although most writers may not engage in these stages as a discreet linear process, each stage requires its own collection of cognitive challenges. At Landmark College, the steps of writing are separated as much as possible, in order to lessen the complexity and thus the strain, on the cognitive working space or working memory. Overloading working memory will often lead to labored writing or even a complete shutdown, commonly known as writer's block.
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