LD Expert Podcast with Jill Stowell
Dysgraphia in an AI World
Jill Stowell
Jill Stowell: What do you think? Is AI cheating, or is AI the future? If you have a child who struggles with writing, should they use AI? Should they type? Is speech-to-text an accommodation or a crutch? These are real issues coming up for parents right now, because in today's world, the question isn't whether our children will use technology or AI. They will. They are. The question is, how can we use these tools wisely while continuing to develop the skills our children need to learn, think, and communicate with confidence?
Welcome to the LD Expert Podcast, your place for answers and solutions for dyslexia, learning, and attention challenges.
I'm your host, Jill Stowell, founder of Stowell Learning Centers and author of Take the Stone Out of the Shoe. In our learning centers, we work one-on-one, physically right there with students, and I love that. So it may surprise you to know that I am not anti-technology. Technology has allowed us to reach struggling learners all over the world by working virtually, and beyond that, technology has created incredible opportunities for people to learn, communicate, and access information in ways we couldn't even have imagined 20 or 30 years ago.
I've always encouraged parents to take advantage of accommodations and tools that help their children be successful in school, while simultaneously building the underlying skills that make learning easier and allow students to work to their potential.
We don't stop teaching a child to read simply because audiobooks exist, and we don't stop developing writing skills simply because AI exists. Technology is a tool. The question is whether we're using it to support learning or replace it.
Before we talk about whether our children should use AI, speech-to-text, or typing, I think we have to ask a bigger question. And that is, why do we teach writing in the first place? If writing is simply putting words on paper, then, I hate to admit this, but AI can probably do that better and faster than most of us. But writing is so much more than that. There are many reasons why writing is important, but here are three.
First, writing builds thinking. Writing isn't just a way to communicate what we know. It's one of the ways that we learn to think. When we write, we organize our thoughts, we decide what's important, we make connections between ideas, and we evaluate whether what we've written makes sense. Those are executive function skills. We're not just teaching students to write essays. We're teaching them to become thinkers. So if the goal is building thinking skills, AI shouldn't do the thinking for them. It should be maybe a brainstorming partner, or help organize ideas, but your child needs to be the thinker in the relationship.
Second, writing builds connections for literacy and learning. Handwriting and spelling aren't simply old-fashioned school skills. Writing by hand helps build the brain networks that support reading, spelling, memory, and literacy development. That's why I don't think we should be throwing out handwriting simply because we have keyboards and speech-to-text. If your first grader or struggling reader is learning letter formation and letter sounds, AI isn't the answer. Writing letters by hand is helping build important literacy skills and connections in the brain. If your child is learning spelling patterns, speech-to-text may not be the best tool in that moment. The tool needs to match the skill that we're trying to build.
Third, writing builds communication. Our children are going to spend their lives communicating ideas. They'll write emails, create presentations, persuade others, explain their thinking, and collaborate with both people and technology. In fact, I would argue that because AI exists, communication skills may become even more important, not less. AI can help us organize information, but it can't replace having something worthwhile to say.
Which brings us to what I believe is the most important question that parents and teachers need to ask, and that is, what skill are we trying to build here? Once we know the answer to that question, choosing the right tool becomes a lot easier.
If your middle schooler understands the causes of the Civil War but struggles tremendously to get their thoughts onto paper, typing or speech-to-text may be exactly the accommodation they need. If your high school student is writing a persuasive essay, AI may be a valuable brainstorming partner. It can help organize ideas and create an outline, but it shouldn't do the thinking for them.
Over the years, I've worked with so many bright students who had great ideas and strong comprehension of what they were learning. But when they put those same ideas on paper, their papers would come back covered in red marks for spelling. And too often, a paper full of A+ ideas ended up with a C because of spelling or messy handwriting.
Sometimes the goal is to build a particular skill, like spelling. But sometimes the goal is simply to allow our children to show us what they think and what they know. Those are not the same thing.
That's why I don't believe we need to choose between accommodations and skill development. We can do both. Accommodations help students succeed today while we continue to build the underlying skills that will make learning easier in the long run.
Speech-to-text can help a child express sophisticated ideas while they're developing written language skills. It's so common for our students with dyslexia or dysgraphia to write with words they can spell, and so you see this huge difference between how they speak and how they write. So a tool like speech-to-text is going to be really helpful to them.
Typing can increase independence and reduce frustration while we're working on handwriting automaticity. AI can help students brainstorm and organize ideas while they continue learning how to think critically, communicate clearly, and write effectively.
I do want to make one little caveat here. When students are using AI in this way, they need to think of it like a partner, not an author. Students shouldn't simply copy and paste what AI gives them. They need to ask: Does this make sense? Does it really reflect my thinking? Is it complete? What do I want to say differently? Students need to think of themselves as the boss in the relationship with AI.
Because AI exists, human thinking may actually become more important, not less. Our children need to know how to ask good questions, how to organize their thoughts and communicate their ideas clearly, how to think critically, solve problems creatively, and know when and how to use technology wisely. Those are human skills.
And as we're all learning to navigate this new world, here are three questions to ask whenever your child sits down to write:
One, what is my child being asked to do or to learn?
Two, what skills are difficult for them right now?
Three, what tools will support learning without replacing it?
The answer might be good old-fashioned pencil and paper. It might be typing. It might be speech-to-text. It might even be AI. We simply need to be intentional about the tools and the accommodations that we use in this age of technology and AI.
The goal isn't to raise children who can write without AI. The goal is to raise children who can think, learn, and communicate, with or without it.
At Stowell Learning Centers, we help children and adults move beyond learning and attention challenges, including dyslexia and dysgraphia, by strengthening the underlying skills that make learning easier. When those skills get stronger, everything changes: reading, writing, focus, confidence, even the stress around school.
If you're listening and thinking, wow, this sounds like my child, you can learn more, explore free resources, or connect with one of our learning specialists at StowellCenter.com. You can also follow us on social media. We're @StowellCenter on all platforms.
If this episode encouraged you, please share it with another parent or educator who needs to know that real change is possible.
