All means all with writing opportunities
By Mona Pruett, M.S., OTR
Carrie's eighth-grade class has been working on a unit about the forces of nature. Mrs. Hall has read her class books about volcanoes, tornados and hurricanes. Carrie has enjoyed watching movies from National Geographic about the destruction of tornados. Her classmates even simulated a tornado using liter bottles. Now, Carrie's teacher has asked her students to write a journal entry about how they would react in the event of a tornado. Carrie's teacher, however, does not have Carrie complete this activity because she is an emergent reader, and cannot hold a pencil and does not have the ability to access a computer. Carrie is left to sit and watch her peers complete the writing assignment.
Across the hall, George's science class is learning about nuclear reactions. George has shown a keen interest in this subject. He has participated in class discussions, focused on details of nuclear reactions, formulated conclusions regarding the effects of particular nuclear reactions and debated the validity of his peers' conclusions. George's teacher has assigned the class a paper to write on the effects of a hypothetical nuclear reaction. George becomes agitated, breaks his pencil and rips his paper. Mr. Harris realizes that George is unable to read and write like his class peers so he allows George to sit in the back of the room and play a math game on the computer.
How many times a day is one of these scenarios repeated in secondary inclusive classrooms? For multiple reasons, many students struggle with writing assignments, thus making this part of instruction the most challenging. Eventually teachers give fewer and fewer written assignments because of these challenges. Daily writing opportunities, however, are an essential component to good literacy instruction. Through writing, students practice sound-symbol relationships, recognize letter patterns within words, develop vocabulary and build an understanding of grammar and syntax (Copeland & Keefe, 2007). Writing also facilitates the students' understanding of literacy and the importance of print. Think of the opportunities that a typical student has to practice writing skills. From the time he was a preschooler making marks in the sandbox to eventually learning how to copy notes from the board without looking at his hand, the typical student has developed the sense of letter formation, letter-sound relationships and the function of print (e.g., lists, letters, notes and even text messaging). A task does not become a proficient skill without daily practice.
But how can we ensure that writing is a daily occurrence in all classrooms? First, students must be provided with meaningful opportunities to engage in writing activities throughout the day and they must be involved in an environment that creates meaningful experiences about which to write. In other words, students need to be motivated to communicate their experiences, their ideas and their thoughts. Second, students must be provided access and support with the challenges of writing. Putting thoughts and ideas in written form does not always require that the student use the mechanical method of pencil and paper. Many available options allow the student to begin to develop an understanding of written text. Finally, students with significant writing challenges need effective instruction geared to their learning needs (Copeland & Keefe, 2007). This article will explore each of these three areas in order to provide a broad understanding of effective solutions for involving all students in writing assignments.
Environment and opportunity
First, a learning environment that creates opportunities for shared experiences allows students to write about a common topic and provides many writing-enriched activities. Students can create journal entries, compile directions for activities, create recipes, write lists for shopping or write captions to pictures. The opportunities are endless. It is important to make these activities meaningful and associated with the topic. In order to be a motivated writer, the student needs to have a reason to express his thoughts, ideas or experiences. Avoid practice-writing sessions such as copying words, directions or homework. Beginning writers need to learn the association of letters to print. Help your student make this association by responding to their attempts at writing. For example, Rick types: "rrrrrrrrrrccmmveerrrrrmmmmm." You respond, "My, you've typed a lot of r's. Your name, Rick, starts with the letter 'r'."
Access and support
Access to appropriate supports and assistive technology during writing assignments allows the student opportunities to explore the writing process. From simple pencil grips to sophisticated software, all students can be actively engaged in the writing process. Written communication is a form of symbolic communication. Some students with emergent reading and writing abilities are able to express themselves using graphic-based symbols. Software programs such as Writing with Symbols, Clicker 5, SymWriter, Pix Writer and Classroom Suite allow the user to select pictures to write sentences. Gretchen Hanser and Karen Erickson (2007) from The Center for Literacy and Disability Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have developed a set of alternative pencils for students with the most significant disabilities. These alternative pencil ideas are based on using eye gaze, partner-assisted scanning and alphabet flip charts to allow the user to explore letters of the alphabet. Whatever method of access chosen for the student, it is important to make the selection based upon what is best for that student, not based upon what is available in the classroom. In addition, all students must see the results of their work. Simply copying on paper what a student has dictated or indicated by eye gaze is not enough for the student to develop into an efficient writer. Through writing, the student demonstrates a connection between print, letters, words and meaning.
Effective instruction
Finally, effective writing instruction should be evidence-based, geared to the student's learning needs and feature regular examination of the student's progress (Copeland & Keefe, 2007). Just as little research has been done in the area of literacy instruction for students with intellectual disabilities, there is little research on effective writing instruction. However, good writing instruction should include instruction in both the process of writing and writing strategies.
Writing is a complex process that involves multiple activities. Most students with intellectual disabilities are not involved in learning the steps of the writing process. Therefore, it is important to model this process and use it each time the student is given a writing task. Incorporate think-alouds as you write. Verbalize what you are writing, why you are writing and/or why you want to change what you have written. By using think-alouds, the student is learning how to plan, compose and revise his writing. The writing process is student-centered; therefore, the student needs to participate in the stages of writing. The use of pictures, graphic organizers or word banks can assist the student in the planning and composing phase of writing. Text-to-speech software can also assist with the revising component of writing.
Writing strategies are individualized for each student and target his or her specific needs. Some students might need support from a cloze procedure or sentence frame. Other students might need support from word banks, story boards or story maps. Most writing strategies used for typical learners can be modified and applied to the student with the most significant writing challenges.
By exposing the student to an environment that is rich in experiences and offering the student appropriate support and assistive technology, the writing process will be facilitated. The student with writing challenges will then be given the opportunity to express his thoughts and ideas in written form, thus enhancing his literacy skills.
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