Running head: TEACHING WRITING Hallam 1

Teaching Writing to Students with Disabilities

Courtney Hallam

Coastal Carolina University

Professor Dianne Mark

EDUC 111

Section 05

February 28, 2019

Abstract

Students with intellectual or learning disabilities often struggle with writing. However, their

teachers can change this. Teachers can utilize many strategies to teach their students to write

effectively. Students can use software programs if they have trouble with handwriting, which

will allow them to focus on the content of their writing. The best acronym for special educators

to remember when teaching writing, is ACCESS. With help from their teachers, special

education students can learn to write well and to become passionate about it.
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Teaching Writing to Students with Disabilities

Introduction

Many schools today have students in attendance with learning disabilities. These students try just

as hard, if not harder, than their counterparts enrolled in all general education courses. Many

times, they have a difficult time grasping how to write and how to do it effectively. It is the job

of their special education teacher to help them learn how to write and how to do it with purpose.

I wanted to read more about teaching students with disabilities how to write, as when I assisted

multi-grade special education class last year, many of the students struggled with writing. They

all knew how to write, but they did not know how to write academically. The students could not

remember how to use punctuation or when to capitalize. They also had a very hard time knowing

when to incorporate certain ideas into their papers and how to include details that added meaning

to their points. This subject is not only important to me because of my time assisting in a

classroom, but because I have seen the effects of not learning how to properly write for students

with disabilities. It can be very easy for people to say that it is not that difficult, but when one’s

brain comprehends information differently it can be. Students of all abilities with any type of

disability should be able to write, and it is through their special education teacher that they can

catch up to their peers.

ACCESS!

Writing is not just used for interacting with others, it is a way for students to express themselves.

Students with disabilities can be taught to write using a mnemonic, ACCESS. Each letter stands

for a different area that teachers can focus on to teach students how to write properly. The first

area is concerned with accommodations and assistive technologies. Many students with

intellectual disabilities struggle with spelling and efficiently writing. To help children overcome
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this obstacle they can use a scribe, spell check, or speech-to-text software. Commonly used

software programs, including Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and Apple Pages, often have these

tools built in. Teachers can also provide students with word arrays or word banks. Using these,

students just have to choose words and can see the spelling of them. This eliminates much of the

struggling that they go through. Students can use words and corresponding pictures to create

stories. They can use frames such as “I want…” or “I see…” to get them started in writing

sentences. Graphic organizers can help students gather their ideas before writing, they can use

webs or series of photos.

The second part of ACCESS focuses on concrete writing topics and experiences. When a

child has an intellectual disability, they can struggle to understand certain writing topics,

especially when they are abstract like most. Special education teachers often have to change the

wording of writing prompts to make them more concrete. Students sometimes find it easier to

write about something that they have experienced if they can look at a photograph, rather than

just trying to recall past events.

The third part of ACCESS focuses on critical skills. Since special educators must teach

according to certain standards, they often need to incorporate life skills into writing. Students can

write about where they are going to live as adults, what they will need to live, or nutritional

information. Teachers are encouraged to instruct students to figure out how their writing affects

others, and then focus on the content of their writing. Educators need to remember that what they

teach cannot end in the classroom, so they must constantly ask students to use writing for

multiple purposes. Students can use writing to communicate with others, sign in/out of the

classroom, and when they are using social media.

The fourth part of ACCESS focuses on explicit instruction. Using this method, teachers

give students directions, model how to use different writing behaviors, provide students with

writing prompts to assess their grasp of the subjects, and then give them feedback immediately.

Teachers tell students to do one task at a time, even if a student makes a mistake, the teachers

moves on. This allows for students with intellectual disabilities to grasp tasks faster and move

through them more efficiently.

The fifth part of ACCESS focuses on strategy instruction. This is when teachers describe

a writing strategy, model the strategy while asking students for their input, utilize examples, and

help generalize the information. Students with an intellectual disability find this to be a

beneficial way to learn and teachers find it to be efficient in getting across information to their

students. Self-regulated strategy development is when students move through writing strategies

and master them at their own pace. This allows students with intellectual disabilities to feel as if

they have more freedom with their education, which they enjoy.

The final part of ACCESS focuses on systematic evaluation. Teachers can use data

collection sheets to record student progress and to track the amount of prompting necessary for

students to make it through each step of the writing process. Teachers can also track student

development using rubrics that can be created with a general education teacher. This allows for

the rubric used for students with intellectual disabilities to mirror the rubrics being used for their

general education counterparts.

Color-Coded Graphic Organizers

Graphic organizers are used by many special educators for their students. They allow for

students to plan out their ideas and draft a paragraph. By color-coding their graphic organizers,

they will know which area is for which type of sentence. In the intermediate elementary grades,
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students are taught that when writing a paragraph there are four types of sentences. These

sentence types include topic, detail, explanation, and conclusion. Three total colors will be used

and should not be switched while students learn how to use these organizers. One color should

be used for the topic and conclusion sentences, another color should be used for the explanation

sentences, and a third color should be used for the detail sentences. This prevents confusion

among students as they will now associate certain colors in their graphic organizer with a type of

sentence.

Teaching Spelling, Writing, and Reading

Many students with learning disabilities and intellectual disabilities struggle with spelling. One

way to overcome this struggle is for the teacher to give students explicit spelling instructions.

When students master the spelling of just a few keywords, they are able to retain that

information. They then learn how to spell these words and make few, if any, mistakes in spelling

them. Students can learn how to spell words by tracing them, playing games, studying with

classmates, and by practicing.

Self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) was created to assist students that are

having difficulty learning how to write and read. Students with disabilities often dislike writing

as they do not understand some of the concepts. Therefore, they avoid engagement with writing,

which makes it difficult for them to ever learn it. Using SRSD, students track their own progress

as writers. This allows them to engage with their writing, and they learn to enjoy doing it.

Teachers move through each step of the writing process at a slower pace and allow

students to catch up. This encourages students to continue improving their ability to write. SRSD

requires teachers to rely on student input to check for understanding. This creates a caring

environment in which students know that their teacher will be there to support their learning,
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which allows for students to learn to enjoy writing. SRSD is currently being used in classrooms

today, and testing results show that it makes a huge difference for the student success.

Next Generation Writing at the Secondary Level

Many schools across America have adopted the Common Core State Standards Initiative

(CCSS). The National Assessment of Educational Progress aligns itself with the CCSS,

specifically in the area of writing. Many standardized tests require students to write persuade,

convey, or explain either real or imagined situations. Being able to respond using an

argumentative or persuasive essay is the goal for students as seniors in high school. However, for

students with disabilities this may not be a realistic goal.

The CCSS instructs teachers on what to teach, but they do not tell them how to teach their

students. Studies have found that when students with intellectual disabilities have to handwrite,

they become confused which leads to them becoming frustrated. However, when teachers

implement software programs that utilize speech-to-text, these students perform well and turn in

quality work. Speech-to-text allows for students to focus on the content of their essay, rather than

their handwriting. When teachers use mnemonic devices for writing strategies with students that

have intellectual disabilities, they are able to remember more information.

Conclusion

Using the information from the four articles that I researched, I have learned ways to help my

future students learn to write. I do not want to make writing miserable, so if the class needs to

take more time going over a writing strategy, I will do that. I want my students to enjoy school

and writing. My students should be able to come to class and feel like I fully support them. When

I was working with a special education elementary school class in high school and observing one

in UNIV110E, the teachers both made sure to slow down and help all students understand the
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material. In both classrooms, students left feeling confident with what they learned, and they

turned in their written assignments with pride. These summaries taught me that not every way of

teaching writing will help every student to the same degree, so I will have to tailor prompts to

individual students. Teaching writing to students with intellectual or learning disabilities may be

challenging, but I cannot wait to get to do that.

References

Canella-Malone, H. I., Konrad, M., & Pennington, R. C. (2015). ACCESS! Teaching writing

skills to students with intellectual disability. Teaching Exceptional Children,47(5), 272-

280.

Ewoldt, K. B., & Morgan, J. J. (2017). Color-coded graphic organizers for teaching writing to

students with learning disabilities. Teaching Exceptional Children,49(3), 175-184.

Harris, K. R., Graham, S., Aitken, A. A., Barkel, A., Houston, J., & Ray, A. (2017). Teaching

spelling, writing, and reading for writing. Teaching Exceptional Children,49(4), 262-272.

Straub, C., & Alias, A. (2013). Next generation writing at the secondary level for students with

learning disabilities. Teaching Exceptional Children,46(1), 16-24.