Aleyshia Gilchrist

SPED561/Fall 2016
Writing
Many students with LD experience difficulties mastering the process of writing.
My beliefs on effective writing strategies for students with learning disabilities come
down to the following: providing effective writing instruction, goal setting, and
evaluation.
When it comes to writing with students with learning disabilities, effective
writing instruction is very important. All students can benefit, at some point in their
development, from direct instruction in the basic writing skills of handwriting,
spelling, punctuation, and sentence formation. Handwriting instruction should consist
of legibility and fluency. When students are not fluent and have to pay attention to
handwriting, it interferes with other aspects of the writing process. Either cursive or
printing can be effective. Instruction should include teaching how to form letters
correctly, as well as how to hold the pen and paper. Short daily practice sessions
followed by application in meaningful writing tasks are most effective. Fluency in
handwriting is best promoted through frequent writing, and develops gradually over
time (Staff, 2016). Spelling and decoding skills are strongly connected. In writing, the
practice of invented spelling in the primary grades helps students to develop their
phonemic awareness and phonics knowledge. Instructional methods that emphasize
spelling patterns by grouping words with similar patterns are effective.
For struggling writers, writing correct, effective sentences is a significant
problem. Three methods that have support from research or from the practices of
effective teachers are sentence expansion, sentence combining, and teaching sentences
within paragraph types. All three methods require students to apply their language

sense to writing increasingly complex sentences, rather than learning grammatical

rules (Staff, 2016).
Setting goals are very effective with teaching writing to students with learning
disabilities. Studies have shown that goal setting in students in grades 4-8
showed positive results. In one study, students elected a goal for their compositions
from a set of goals provided by the instructor. In other students, instructors gave
students specific goals for revising or for including genre elements in their writing
(Fisher, 2015). It is also important to ignore negative expectations; set high but
realistic expectations for each child's writing performance; help students develop an "I
can" attitude; monitor and improve the quality of classroom interactions for struggling
writers; plan writing lessons so that all children can accomplish tasks successfully;
and build a positive relationship with each child, accepting them as individuals and
showing enthusiasm for their interests (Graham, Harris, & Larsen, 2014).
It is also important for students to evaluate their writing in terms of their goals
and general standards for writing. To teach the strategy, the teacher models applying
the evaluation questions to samples of writing and making revisions to improve the
writing. The teacher engages the students in collaboratively applying the strategy until
students are ready to practice it in pairs. The strategy provides a routine to support
students in evaluation and revision that looks more like the processes that proficient
writers use (Staff, 2016).

Artifacts
Fisher, S. (2015, November 18). Four interventions that help students with learning
disabilities improve their writing. Retrieved November 07, 2016, from

Educational Research Newsletter & Webinars,

http://www.ernweb.com/educational-research-articles/learning-disabilitieswriting-strategies/
Graham, S., Harris, K. R., & Larsen, L. (2014, May 9). Prevention and intervention of
writing difficulties for students with learning disabilities. Retrieved November 07,
2016, from Reading Rockets, http://www.readingrockets.org/article/preventionand-intervention-writing-difficulties-students-learning-disabilities
Staff, G. (2016, March 09). Effective writing instruction for students with learning
problems | parenting. Retrieved November 07, 2016, from Great Schools,
http://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/writing-instruction-students-withlearning-problems/