As the world comes to grips with what it means to be literate in the twenty-first century, Understanding and Supporting Young Writers from Birth to 8 provides practitioners with the skills and knowledge they need to support young children effectively as they learn to write. Interweaving theory and research with everyday practice, the book offers guidance on all aspects of writing, from creating multimodal texts and building children's vocabulary, to providing support for children who find writing particularly challenging.


With appropriate strategies to develop young children's writing from an early age included throughout, the book discusses the role of oral language in early writing in detail and explores the key relationships between `drawing and talking', `drawing and writing' and `drawing, talking and writing'. Each chapter also features samples of writing and drawing to illustrate key points, as well as reflective questions to help the reader apply ideas in their own settings. Further topics covered include:








progressions in children's writing







writing in the pre-school years







developing authorial skills







developing editorial skills







teaching writing to EAL learners.