Strategies to Address Specific Learning Disabilities in Writing Resource Bundle I. Strategies to Address Specific Learning Disabilities in Writing Resource II. References
Support Students with a Learning Disability in Writing Resource (Back to Table of Contents) High Quality Writing Instruction for Students with a Specific Learning Disability General Actions 1 Create a Supportive and Collaborative Environment Design Specific Product Goals Corresponding Strategy Exemplar Text 1. Select a piece of text that aligns to the genre students will be writing in and is just above students current writing level 2. 2. Read the text with students. 3. Work with students to note and record specific text structure, ideas, and parts of the text that align to what they will be working on (Gallagher, 2011). 4. Ask students to refer to what they noticed from step 3 as they draft, revise, and edit their own text (Strickland, Ganske, & Monroe, 2002). Peer-Editing 3 (Graham & Harris, 2005): 1. Develop a rubric or checklist to help students evaluate their writing against specific product goals. 2. Practice using the rubric by applying it to a sample text. 3. Model how to use the rubric to make corrections and give feedback. 4. Break students into pre-determined peer-edit partners or small groups. 5. Have students use editing symbols aligned to goals to provide feedback 4. How the strategy supports the action Writing instruction should be an interactive and collaborative process between teachers and students (Harris et al., 2014). Working with students to highlight text structure, ideas, and mechanics from exemplar texts helps to create a space where students can (eventually) review each other s work, share ideas, and ask questions without fear of being judged (Gallagher, 2011; Harris, Graham, Chambers, & Houston, 2014). Specific goals provide students with reachable tasks to focus on while they go through the writing process (Graham & Harris, 2016; Graham & Perin, 2007). Goals should be reachable and identify the purpose for writing and characteristics of the final product (Graham & Perin, 2007). Peer-editing allows for students to collaborate and edit each other s work while focusing on specific goals. Specific goals keep students from getting overwhelmed by allowing them to focus on a few specific aspects of their writing (Graham, Collins, & Rigby-Wills, 2013; Graham & Harris, 2003). 1 General actions are not listed in any particular order. Each action should be part of writing instruction. 2 Conversely, consider identifying a non-example where students work to notice errors that they should not include (Harris, Graham, Chambers, & Houston, 2014). 3 For more information and sample checklists on peer-editing visit: www.readwritethink.org. 4 The ideal way to perform step 5 is for each student to have a copy of the paper being revised. The author then reads the paper aloud to his or her partner. Asking students to read their writing aloud helps them to develop an awareness of the relationship between the reader and the authors (Fitzgerald, 2013).
General Actions Create Writing Tasks that are Meaningful for Students Provide Direct and Explicit Instruction Corresponding Strategy This general action includes several, smaller strategies to help ensure that students are writing for a meaningful purpose. Opportunities to write are authentic when: They serve a local (i.e. classroom, school, or community) purpose. They address and/or serve a larger, societal purpose (e.g. an upcoming election or civil rights). Topics are selected by students. - While this can t always be the case, students should be able to select the topic as often as possible. Final products are shared with real audiences (e.g. a school administrator, the local newspaper, a business). Graphic Organizer 5 : 1. Introduce and Establish Purpose: a. Identify a graphic organizer that aligns with the genre of text students will be writing about. b. It should highlight text structure and elements that align to the genre of text (e.g. For persuasive writing, there should be a topic sentence, reasons to support the topic sentence, an explanation of each reason, and a coherent ending). c. Explain to students how and why this particular graphic organizer aligns to the genre and will help them to meet objective(s) and goal(s) for this particular piece of writing. 2. Model How to Use the Graphic Organizer to Draft: a. Pick ideas and decide what to write about. b. Organize notes by brainstorming and putting ideas into the planner or graphic organizer. c. Write and elaborate by continuing to modify the graphic organizer throughout the draft and writing process (Adapted from Graham & Harris, 2005). How the strategy supports the action Students with learning disabilities often experience low self-efficacy and motivation for writing (Graham, Harris, & Larsen, 2001). When students write about topics that are meaningful and important to them, their motivation increases (Fitzgerald, 2013). When students have the opportunity to write about topics that are meaningful, they are able to connect with the purpose and audience (Fitzgerald, 2013; Graham & Harris, 2003). Students with learning disabilities often struggle with working memory and cognitive overload (Graham, Collins, & Rigby-Wills, 2013). Explicit and systematic instruction provides structure to the complex process of writing (Graham, Collins, & Rigby-Wills, 2013; Graham, Harris, & Larsen, 2001; Olinghouse et al., 2010). Graphic organizers help teachers to make the internal thought processes of writing visible for students (Englert & Dunsmore, 2004).Graphic organizers also provide structure and serve as a space for students to anchor their thoughts and ideas throughout the writing process (Tovani, 2004). 5 Numerous grade-specific examples for graphic organizers can be found at www.readwritethink.org
Strategies to Address Specific Learning Disabilities in Writing References (Back to Table of Contents) American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of disorders (5 th ed.), text revision. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Association. American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Specific learning disorder fact sheet. Retrieved from http://www.dsm5.org/documents/specific%20learning%20disorder%20fact%20sheet.pdf Baker, S. K., Chard, D. J., Ketterlin-Geller, L. R., Apichatabutra, C. & Doabler, C. (2009). Teaching writing to at-risk students: The quality of evidence for self-regulated strategy development. Exceptional Children, 75(3), 303-318. Baker, S., Gersten, R., & Graham, S. (2003). Teaching expressive writing to students with learning disabilities: Research-based applications and examples. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 36(2), 109-123. Bender, W. N. (2004). Learning disabilities: Characteristics, identification, and teaching strategies (5th ed.). Boston: Pearson, Allyn, and Bacon. Cortiella, C. & Horowitz, S. H. (2014). The state of learning disabilities: Facts, trends and emerging issues. New York: National Center for Learning Disabilities, 2014. Datchuk, S. M. & Kubina, R. M. (2012). A review of teaching sentence-level writing skills to students with writing difficulties and learning disabilities. Remedial and Special Education, 34(3), 180-192. Englert, C. S. & Dunsmore K. (2004). The role of dialogue in constructing effective literacy settings for students with language and learning disabilities. In E. R. Silliman & L. C. Wilkinson (Eds.), Language and literacy learning in schools (201-238). New York, NY: The Guilford Press. Fitzgerald, J. (2013). Constructing instruction for struggling writers: What and how. Annals of Dyslexia, 63, 80-95. Gallagher, K. (2011). Write like this: Teaching real-world writing through modeling & mentor texts. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers. Gargulio, R. M. (2009). Special education in contemporary society: An introduction to exceptionality (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. Gillespie, A., & Graham, S. (2014). A meta-analysis of writing interventions for students with learning disabilities. Exceptional Children, 80(4), 454-473. Gillet, J. W., Temple, C. A., & Crawford, A. N. (2004).Understanding reading problems: Assessment and instruction (6th ed.). Boston, Mass: Allyn and Bacon. Gorman, S. & National Center for Education Statistics (2010). An introduction to NAEP. Retrieved from: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2010468 Graham, S. & Harris, K. R. (2003). Students with learning disabilities and the process of writing: A meta-analysis of SRSD studies. In H. L. Swanson, K. R. Harris, & S. Graham (Eds.), Handbook of learning disabilities (323-344). New York, NY: The Guilford Press. Graham, S. & Harris, K. R. (2005). Writing better: Effective strategies for teaching students with learning difficulties. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co. Graham, S. & Harris, K. R. (2016). A path to better writing: Evidence-based practices in the classroom. The Reading Teacher 69(4), 359-365.
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