Texting and Grammar

I often wonder as most other educators, does texting and all the cute little acronyms have any effect on grammar for our students?  I recently found an article that researched this topic and wanted to share my findings with you.   This article was provided by Tech Learning.
The study completed by the Clare Wood of Coventry University in the UK shows that concerns are unfounded.
The study concluded that among children and teens, there is actually a slight correlation between textism usage and increases in test scores!   A follow up study in 2009 looked at 88 kids between 10 and 12 years old - again, the researchers found similar associations between high textism use and better reading ability!  Nenagh Kemp, psychologist published the findings and suggests that texting, rather than detracting from students' literacy levels, "seems to represent the addition of an extra literacy skill- the ability to represent, in writing, what they would have said if they were speaking."  It's possible that experimentation in language increases overall fluency, and improves writing and reading skills.
So, happy texting everyone!