how to teach writing skills to special education students

Teaching Expressive Writing to Students with Learning Disabilities

A recent meta-analysis (Gersten & Baker, 1999) highlights research-based instructional approaches for teaching written expression to students with learning disabilities, including ways to teach students how to analyze material learned in the classroom and how to write personal narratives, persuasive essays, and other genres. All of the instructional interventions studied improved the quality of students’ written products, and there was evidence of positive impact on students’ self-efficacy, i.e., their senses of being able to write.

Expressive writing was defined as writing for the purpose of displaying knowledge or supporting self-expression (Graham & Harris, 1989). This analysis asked, “Given a group of studies designed explicitly for the purpose of improving the writing of students with learning disabilities, which interventions and components were found to be most effective, and what is the strength of their effects?” This definition and research question led the analysis to include studies of a various interventions. Virtually all of the interventions studied were multifaceted. Three components stood out as ones that reliably and consistently led to improved outcomes in teaching expressive writing to students with learning disabilities:

Adhering to a basic framework of planning, writing, and revision

Explicitly teaching critical steps in the writing process, providing feedback guided by the information explicitly taught.

Teaching students to write requires showing them how to develop and organize what they want to say and guiding them in the process of getting it down on paper. Most of the interventions used a basic framework based on planning, writing, and revising. These steps are part of a recursive, rather than linear, process, i.e., each step may be revisited during the writing process, and the steps do not always proceed in the same order. In these studies, each step was taught explicitly, with several examples and often supported by a “think sheet,” a prompt card, or a mnemonic.

• Planning. Well-developed plans for writing result in better first drafts. Teachers or peers who write well can verbalize the process they go through to help students develop their own “plans of action.” One type of plan of action, called a “Planning Think Sheet,” uses a series of sequential, structured prompts. It specifies a topic and asks the questions, “Who (am I writing for)?,” “Why am I writing?,” “What do I know?,” “How can I group my ideas?” and “How will I organize my ideas?” (Englert, Raphael & Anderson, 1992). Another technique is to use semantic mapping to help students plan their writing.

A well-developed plan of action also gives the student and teacher a common language to use in discussing the writing. The dialogue between teacher and student represents a major advance in writing instruction over traditional methods that required students to work in relative isolation.

• Revising and editing. Revising and editing skills are critical to the writing process. Developing methods to help students refine and edit their work has been difficult, but a few researchers have begun to develop specific strategies that appear promising. For example, Wong, Butler, Ficzere, and Kuperis (1996), in teaching students to write opinion essays, used peer editing as an instructional strategy for the students. Pairs of students alternated their roles as student-writer and student-critic. The student-critic identified ambiguities in the essay and asked the writer for clarification. With help from the teacher, the students made revisions. The teacher also provided the student-writer with feedback on clarity and on the cogency of the supportive arguments. Once the clarity and cogency of the essay met the teacher’s standard, the pair moved on to correct capitalization, spelling, and punctuation. Through this process, the student-writer had to explain his or her communicative intent to the peer and revise the essay to faithfully reflect it. These clarifying interactive dialogues led the student-critic and student-writer to understand each other’s perspective. In this way the trainees developed a sense of audience for their writing.

Explicitly teaching text structures provides a guide for the writing task, whether it is a persuasive essay, a personal narrative, or an essay comparing and contrasting two phenomena. Different types of writing are based on different structures. For example, a persuasive essay contains a thesis and supporting arguments, while narrative writing may contain character development and a story climax. Instruction in text structures typically includes numerous explicit models and prompts. Although different writers may proceed with the structures in a different order, good writing involves what Englert & Mariage (1991) called “overlapping and recursive processes.” These processes do not proceed in a particular order, and one process may inform another in such a way that the author returns to previous steps to update or revise on a regular basis. Again, a plan of action is helpful. The plan makes text structures more visible to students and helps to demystify the writing process.

A third component common to these successful interventions was frequent feedback to students on the overall quality of writing, missing elements, and strengths. When feedback is combined with instruction in the writing process, the dialogue between student and teacher is strengthened. Giving and receiving feedback also helps students to develop “reader sensitivity” and their own writing style. Wong et al. (1997) hypothesized that interactive dialogues, which led students through multiple cycles of reflection, realization, and redress of problems, helped students “see” their thoughts and write from another’s perspective. Across the studies of successful writing instruction, teachers and students had an organizational framework and language to use in providing feedback on such aspects of writing as organization, originality, and interpretation. Wong and her colleagues modeled procedures, for students and teachers, providing feedback so that they would attend to the surface features of writing (e.g., spelling and punctuation) as well as to the presentation of ideas.

Specific methods

Numerous methods for teaching written expression incorporate these three common principles. Two examples are Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) (Graham & Harris, 1989b) and Cognitive Strategy Instruction in Writing (Englert et al., 1995; Englert & Mariage, 1991). The SRSD technique involves self-directed prompts that require the students to (a) consider their audience and reasons for writing, (b) develop a plan for what they intend to say using frames to generate or organize writing notes; (c) evaluate possible content by considering its impact on the reader; and (d) continue the process of content generation and planning during the act of writing. Cognitive Strategy Instruction in Writing includes brainstorming strategies for preparing to write, organizing strategies to relate and categorize the ideas, comprehension strategies as students read and gather information for their writing, and monitoring strategies as they clarify their thoughts and the relationships among their items of information. All of these strategies are applied prior to the actual writing.

Emerging issues in writing instruction for students with learning disabilities

Gersten and Baker (1999) identify some issues in which research is expected to blossom in coming years. The first group of issues concerns the mechanics versus the content of writing. Early evidence suggested that writing instruction that focused more on content would better capitalize on the strengths of students with learning disabilities. When asked to write about complex ideas, students with learning disabilities often showed conceptual performance beyond that which would be expected on the basis of their performance on lower-level skills such as capitalization, punctuation and spelling (Goldman, Hasselbring, & The Cognition Technology Group at Vanderbilt, 1977).

More recent research indicates that dictating to a scribe can eliminate mechanical difficulties and result in a longer, higher-quality composition (e.g., De La Paz & Graham, 1997). While students must eventually learn to do their own writing, these findings suggest a possible bridge to higher performance. Gersten and Baker point out that daily writing instruction should include time devoted to both the mechanics and the process of writing. Problems with the mechanics of writing must be addressed in expressive writing instruction; there is a reciprocal relationship between mastery of transcription skills and growth in the quality of writing. When students have mastered the mechanics, their cognitive resources can be devoted to planning, composing, and revising their work.

According to Gersten and Baker, another issue that is likely to be the focus of expressive writing research is the transfer of writing skills and the spontaneous use of the strategies involved in writing to other subject matter areas to raise the student’s overall level of academic achievement. In the meta-analysis reported here, few investigated the transfer of writing skills. Those that did found mixed results. Wong called for instruction to promote transfer of skill. When students are provided such opportunities, she says, transfer will be greatly enhanced.

Based on Teaching Expressive Writing To Students With Learning Disabilities: A Meta-Analysis by Russell Gersten and Scott Baker, 1999.

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DeLaPaz, S. & Graham, S. (1997). Strategy instruction in planning: Effects on the writing performance and behavior of students with learning difficulties. Exceptional Children, 63(2), 167-181.

Englert, C.S., Garmon, A. Mariage, T. Rozendal, M. Tarrant, K. & Urba, J. (1995). The early literacy project: Connecting across the literacy curriculum. Learning Disability Quarterly, 18,253-275.

Englert, C.S., & Mariage, T. V. (1991). Shared understandings: Structuring the writing experience through dialogue. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 24(6), 330-342.

Englert, C.S., Raphael, T.E., & Anderson, L.M. (1992). Socially mediated instruction: Improving students' knowledge and talk about writing. Elementary School Journal, 92, 411-449.

Gersten, R. & Baker, S. (1999). Teaching expressive writing to students with learning disabilities: a meta-analysis. Eugene, OR: University of Oregon.

Goldman, S.R., Hasselbring, T.S., and The Cognition Technology Group at Vanderbilt (1977). Achieving meaningful mathematics literacy for students with learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 30(2), 198-208.

Graham, S. and Harris, K.R. (1989a). Components analysis of cognitive strategy instruction: Effects on learning disabled students' compositions and self-efficacy. Journal of Educational Psychology, 81, 353-361.

Graham, S. and Harris, K.R. (1989b). Improving learning disabled students' skills at composing essays: Self-instructional strategy training. Exceptional Children, 56 (201-214).

Wong, B.Y.L., Butler, D.L., Ficzere, S.A., & Kuperis, S. (1997). Teaching adolescents with learning disabilities and low achievers to plan, write and revise compare-contrast essays. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice 9(2), 78-90.

Wong, B.Y.L., Butler, D.L. Ficzere, S.A., & Kuperis, S. (1996). Teaching low achievers and students with learning disabilities to plan, write, and revise opinion essays. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 20, 197-212.

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Interventions for Students with Writing Disabilities

Print Resource

By Jessica A. Carmichael and James B. Hale

Debunking the Myths: If You Can Talk, You Can Write

An old myth still can be heard in some schools: If you can talk (expressive language), and are taught handwriting and spelling in school, then you can also write well. For some children this may be true, but explicit instruction in handwriting, spelling, and written expression is needed for children to successfully convey their ideas in writing. As Hooper et al. (2011) note, there are many brain systems and neuropsychological factors that influence written expression competency. While some of these are related to literacy can lead to both writing and reading learning disability (LD) when impaired, other causes of writing LD, such as visual-motor integration skills and executive functions (Fenwick et al., 2015), require additional attention during assessment and instruction.

Approximately 4-6% of students have a written language learning disability (Bernstein, 2013)

WHAT IS INVOLVED IN WRITTEN EXPRESSION?

Written expression includes the basic skills of handwriting and spelling, but other important skills – related to executive (brain boss) functions, play a critical role as well. As a result, it is important to note that children with literacy problems often have problems with handwriting (e.g., comorbidity of “aphasia” and “apraxia”; Hale & Fiorello, 2004) and other children with executive function problems (e.g., ADHD, depression, anxiety) are likely to struggle with written expression (Mayes & Calhoun, 2006).

A telltale warning sign of writing difficulties is when a child can present her ideas well using spoken language but the writing product is much more limited or poorly constructed.

Handwriting: Visual-Tactile-Motor Connections

The physical act of handwriting may cause some students difficulty. Students with graphomotor (i.e. paper and pencil) difficulties often have signs of constructional apraxia , which can be caused by visual, tactile, and/or motor aspects of handwriting. If they have this problem, they may write less, regardless of whether they have good ideas or not. That is why an evaluation of the visual-tactile-motor functions, and the coordination of these processes, can help guide an intervention for a child (Feder & Majnemer, 2007). The following table highlights the issues at hand (pun intended!)

Basic Skill Automaticity and Written Expression  Orthographic-motor automaticity is necessary to free up higher level processes for adequate written expression (Jones & Christensen, 1999)

Spelling: Understanding and Producing Sound-Symbol Connections

Spelling is an important part of writing that many students struggle with, but there are many causes of spelling problems. There is a strong link between a student’s reading and spelling, because sound (phoneme)-symbol (grapheme) connections are needed for both (Nag & Snowling, 2013).

Although sound-symbol connections needed for spelling and reading are more related to perceiving and mapping these relationships, some students have difficulty with the motor memory of spelling (Planton, Jucla, Roux, & Démonet, 2013). Some students can read words well, but because they have difficulty with representing the orthography (visual representation) in motor memory. The practice of handwriting spelling words improves sound-symbol connections when spelling and reading (Berninger et al. 2008).

KEYBOARD WARNING!

Don’t automatically provide keyboarding or computers for handwriting and spelling problems, children need to practice both to learn sound-letter connections!

Error analysis is critical for helping children learn correct spelling patterns, as noted in the table below.

Sources: Hale & Fiorello, 2004; Cassar et al., 2005.

More teachers are turning to keyboarding and computers for children with writing or spelling difficulties, which often results in improved written output  (Berninger et al., 2014). While these computer skills are useful, they can actually cause more difficulties for children with sound-symbol association problems in spelling and reading if introduced too early. As noted earlier, extensive research findings show that when a child uses handwriting to spell words they often improve their word reading too (Berninger et al., 2008), so handwriting and spelling are not only important for writing, but reading as well!  

Written Expression: Most Complex of All Academic Tasks

Written expression is the most complex academic task, but little time is spent on it during classroom instruction (Hooper et al., 2011). One thing that written language requires is what is known as brain boss skills or executive functions.

During writing tasks, students must:

• Brainstorm main and supporting ideas
• Plan and organize their ideas so they are presented in logical order
• Write sentences that include nouns and verbs that logically convey ideas
• Monitor their writing to ensure sentences are grammatically correct
• Evaluate their sentences in terms of grammatical accuracy, and in relation to the initial plan
• Revised the writing draft to ensure an optimal error-free final product, something seldom accomplished by children with writing disabilities

The myth that if you can handwrite, spell, and use expressive language that you will write well has now been dismissed. Direct instruction in written expression is critical, especially for children with executive function problems (e.g., ADHD, depression, anxiety), who are likely to have significant written expression LDs (Mayes & Calhoun, 2006). These children may have excellent ideas, but translating them into writing is a struggle. Interventions that foster metacognitive (i.e., thinking about thinking) competency (Harris, Graham, Brindle, & Sandmel, 2009) may be quite helpful.

Executive functioning (EF) in Writing – the process of planning, organizing, implementing, monitoring, evaluating, and changing the writing sample a student produces.

THE BRAIN AND WRITING

Written expression requires the whole brain, but the frontal-lobe circuits are most important, as they coordinate motor, internal and internal executive control, and decision/error monitoring (see table below).

INTERVENTIONS FOR HANDWRITING, SPELLING, AND WRITTEN EXPRESSION

Given that there are a number of cognitive processes that can cause writing difficulties, it is important to tailor interventions based on individual student needs. The following section discusses various evidence-based strategies that can be implemented, but targeted interventions should address individual child needs.

STRATEGIES FOR LETTER FORMATION AND SPACING

GOAL – Have students learn to write using appropriate letter size, shape, and spacing.

Cognitive Instruction (Zwicker & Hadwin, 2009)

• Cognitive approach includes letter identification, directional modeling, imitation, discussion, practice, and evaluation effective
• Skills targeted: Motor coordination, visual-motor integration, and directionality of handwriting
• Target age group: Grades 1-2
• Student Alphabet Warm-Up for mapping sounds and letters
• Teacher modeling of directionality and steps for producing letter parts (e.g., Berninger approach)
• Student traces letters following teacher model (imitation)
• Teacher and student discussion of similarities/differences of letter formation
• Student names letter, directional steps, and then writes; repeats without arrows, then copies
• Student circles best formed letter (visual discrimination required)

Handwriting Letters/Words Critical Writing

Hoy, Egan & Feder, (2011) note handwriting of actual letters/words is critical; sensory-motor interventions without handwriting are ineffective

à Practice Makes Perfect!

Graph Paper (Hale & Fiorello, 2004)

• A simple strategy that uses graph paper as a tool to guide appropriate writing
• Skills targeted: Motor coordination and visual-motor integration of handwriting
• Target age group: Grades 1-5, older children with spatial handwriting disability
• Provide student with graph paper instead of lined paper during writing tasks
• Have the student fit each written letter into one square of space on the graph paper
• Have the student use one square of space to indicate a space between words
• Over time and with increased accuracy, use increasingly faded graph paper until the student is able to write appropriately sized/spaced letters and words on regular lined paper

STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING SPELLING ACCURACY

GOAL – Increase spelling accuracy and sound (phoneme) – symbol (grapheme) correspondence

Cover-Copy-Compare (Skinner, McLaughlin, & Logan, 1997)

• An intervention that increases spelling proficiency through training and repetition
• Skills targeted: accuracy, fluency, and maintenance of spelling
• Target age group: Grades 2+
• Student looks at a correctly spelled word
• Correctly spelled word is covered
• Student spells the word from memory
• The correct spelling of the word is unveiled for the student to compare with their spelling
• If the student spelled the word correctly, they move on to a new word; if the student is incorrect, they repeat the cover-copy-compare method with the same word again

Say-Trace-Write Model (Graham & Freeman, 1986)

Uses oral language to assist with the learning of motor scripts

• Have the student say the word out loud
• Student writes the word
• Student checks their word against a model to determine accuracy
• Student traces the model and says the word aloud
• Student writes the word from memory
• Student checks their word against the model to determine accuracy

Self-Correction with Verbal Cues (Gettinger, 1985)

• An intervention that uses verbal self-talk to enhance written spelling accuracy
• Teacher trains students in spelling self-correction methods, followed by practice tests with teacher feedback
• Spelling pre-test with 5 words each session.
• Check work and correct errors. Student given flash cards to compare to spelled words (8 steps)

Spelling post-test administered, flash cards used by student to check accuracy

STRATEGIES FOR PROMOTING WRITTEN EXPRESSION

GOAL – Increase written output/word count and improve quality of ideas in the written product.

Sentence Combining (Saddler, 2005)

• Kernel sentences 1 are developed into more diverse and complex sentences using direct instruction
• Skills targeted: Flexibility and complexity of thought conveyed in sentences, more interesting writing
• Target age group: Grade 2 and higher

1 A kernel sentence is a simple, active, affirmative declarative sentence with only one verb.

• Teacher provides sentence-combining examples using think-aloud approach.
• Students given kernel sentences, usually in pairs or small groups
• Students use multiple kernels to combine words and phrases using connecting words, isolating and expanding key points
• Eventual metacognitive brainstorming of related ideas leads to word or phrase additions
• Guided practice, then independent practice.

Students with writing problems often write simple sentences that lack syntactic maturity (Robinson & Howell, 2008). Unlike traditional grammar instruction, having students expand kernel sentences improves both sentence complexity and diversity, and more interesting written language product.

Teacher-Directed Strategy Instruction (Troia & Graham, 2002)

• Teacher-directed strategy instruction of goal-setting, brainstorming, and organizing
• Skills targeted: Provides purpose/direction, increasing content/complexity, and organization to convey
• Target age group: Grade 4 and higher
• Pre-instruction in SPACE (setting, problems, actions, consequences, emotions) and DARE (Develop position statement, add supporting arguments, report/refute counterarguments, end conclusion)
• Direct instruction in the STOP & LIST (Stop, Think of Purposes, List Ideas, Sequence Them) approach to planning the writing sample
• Process approach to writing (drafting, revising, proofreading, editing, publishing) for guided practice and then independent practice

Integrated Writing Instruction (MacArthur, Graham, & Schwartz, 2005)

• Authentic sentences about life experiences to increase student engagement and motivation
• Skills targeted: Authentic writing with peer feedback and integration fosters writing motivation
• Target age group: Grade 6 and above
• Status-Checking Teacher checks with students about writing goals for day
• Mini-Lesson Teacher provides mini-lesson on writing process with writing strategies offered
• Student Writing Students draft authentic sentences based on self, group, or teacher topic ideas
• Peer & Teacher Conferences Feedback from peers and teachers leads to revision and improved product
• Publishing/Group Sharing Students share revised passages in group discussion, bulletin board, or approved computer website

PLEASE (Welch, 1992)

• Metacognitive strategy for idea generation, organization, composition, and editing
• Skills targeted: Metacognitive brainstorming of ideas, planning and organizing, writing, and revising
• Target age group: Grade 6 and higher

Click here to access LD@school’s template for the PLEASE strategy.

Adapting these strategies for younger students . Young children do not typically write essays, but these metacognitive strategies can be adapted to suit the narrative writing tasks of early curricula.

PLAN and WRITE (De La Paz, 1999)

• Metacognitive strategy that helps students plan/organize their ideas
• Helps students refer back to the goal of the assignment to aid in the writing process
• Skills targeted: planning, writing expository essays, and goal-directed writing
• Target age group: Grades 6-12

Click here to access LD@school’s template for the PLAN and WRITE strategy.

TOWER WITH COPS (Mercer & Mercer, 2001)

• Skills targeted: planning, organization, monitoring, and revision of written work using TOWER and COPS techniques
• Target Age Groups: Grades 1+

Click here to access LD@school’s template for the TOWER strategy.

Click here to access LD@school’s template for the COPS strategy.

Helpful for ALL Students and ALL Ages ! These interventions are easily implemented for all beginning writers. Posting one or more of these mnemonics in class for all students to refer to during writing assignments is a great class-wide strategy for writing success!

Additional Resources

• Intervention Central: http://www.interventioncentral.org/response-to-intervention
• What Works Clearinghouse: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/
• Dolch/Fry Word Lists: http://www.k12reader.com/dolch-word-list/

Great resource to use when choosing words to use in spelling interventions

Berninger, V. W., Nielsen, K. H., Abbott, R. D., Wijsman, E., & Raskind, W. (2008). Writing problems in developmental dyslexia: Under-recognized and under-treated. Journal of School Psychology , 46 (1), 1-21.

Bernstein, J. H. (2013). Process Analysis in the Assessment of Children. The Boston Process Approach to Neuropsychological Assessment: A Practitioner's Guide , 300.

Carter, M., McLaughlin, T. F., Derby, K. M., Schuler, H., & Everman, J. (2011). Differential effects of cover, copy, and compare in spelling with four high school students with severe behavior disorders. Academic Research International , 1 (1), 43-51.

Cassar, M., Treiman, R., Moats, L., Pollo, T. C., & Kessler, B. (2005). How do the spellings of children with dyslexia compare with those of nondyslexic children?. Reading and Writing , 18 (1), 27-49.

De La Paz, S. (1999). Teaching Writing Strategies and Self-Regulation Procedures to Middle School Students with Learning Disabilities. Focus on exceptional children , 31 (5), 1-16.

Feder, K. P., & Majnemer, A. (2007). Handwriting development, competency, and intervention. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology , 49 (4), 312-317.

Fenwick, M., Kubas, H. A., Witzke, J. W., Miller, D. C., Maricle, D. E., Harrison, G. L., Macoun, S. J., Hale, J. B. (2015). Neuropsychological profiles of written expression learning disabilities determined by concordance-discordance model criteria. Applied Neuropsychology: Child.

Gettinger, M. (1985). Effects of teacher-directed versus student-directed instruction and cues versus no cues for improving spelling performance. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis ,  18 (2), 167-171.

Graham, S., & Freeman, S. (1986). Strategy training and teacher-vs. student-controlled study conditions: Effects on LD students' spelling performance. Learning Disability Quarterly , 9 (1), 15-22.

Hale, J. B., & Fiorello, C. A. (2004).  School neuropsychology: A practitioner's handbook . Guilford Press.

Harris, K. R., Graham, S., Brindle, M., & Sandmel, K. (2009). 8 Metacognition and Children’s Writing. Handbook of metacognition in education , 131.

Hooper, S. R., Costa, L. J., McBee, M., Anderson, K. L., Yerby, D. C., Knuth, S. B., & Childress, A. (2011). Concurrent and longitudinal neuropsychological contributors to written language expression in first and second grade students. Reading and Writing , 24 (2), 221-252.

Jones, D., & Christensen, C. A. (1999). Relationship between automaticity in handwriting and students' ability to generate written text. Journal of educational psychology , 91 (1), 44.

MacArthur, C. A., Graham, S., & Schwartz, S. S. (1993). Integrating strategy instruction and word processing into a process approach to written instruction. School Psychology Review, 22 , 671-681.

Mayes, S. D., & Calhoun, S. L. (2006). Frequency of reading, math, and writing disabilities in children with clinical disorders. Learning and individual Differences , 16 (2), 145-157.

Mercer, C. D., & Mercer, A. R. (1989). Teaching students with learning problems . Merrill Publishing Co.

Nag, S., & Snowling, M. J. (2013). Children's reading development: learning about sounds, symbols and cross-modal mappings.

Planton, S., Jucla, M., Roux, F. E., & Démonet, J. F. (2013). The “handwriting brain”: a meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies of motor versus orthographic processes. Cortex , 49 (10), 2772-2787.

Robinson, L. K., & Howell, K. W. (2008). Best practices in curriculum-based evaluation & written expression. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds.), Best practices in school psychology V (pp. 439-452). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.

Saddler, B. (2005). Sentence combining: A sentence-level writing intervention. The Reading Teacher, 58, 468-471.

Skarr, A., McLaughlin, T. F., Derby, K. M., Meade, K., & Williams, R. L. (2012). A comparison of direct instruction flashcards and cover, copy, compare to teach spelling to elementary school students. Academic Research International , 2 (2), 247-263.

Skinner, C. H., McLaughlin, T. F., & Logan, P. (1997). Cover, copy, and compare: A self-managed academic intervention effective across skills, students, and settings. Journal of Behavioral Education , 7 (3), 295-306.

Troia, G. A., & Graham, S. (2002). The effectiveness of a highly explicit, teacher-directed strategy instruction routine changing the writing performance of students with learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities , 35 (4), 290-305.

Welch, M. (1992). The PLEASE strategy: A metacognitive learning strategy for improving the paragraph writing of students with mild learning disabilities. Learning disability quarterly , 15 (2), 119-128.

Zwicker, J. G., & Hadwin, A. F. (2009). Cognitive versus multisensory approaches to handwriting intervention: A randomized controlled trial. OTJR: Occupation, Participation and Health , 29 (1), 40-48.

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Effective writing instruction for students with learning problems

by: The GreatSchools Editorial Team | Updated: November 20, 2022

Print article

Writing is both a social and a cognitive process. In the world outside the classroom, people write to communicate with an audience, drawing on their knowledge of content and writing, strategies for planning and revising, and basic writing skills. In a previous article , I discussed writing development and disabilities in terms of five components:

• the social context for writing
• the writer’s knowledge
• planning processes
• text production
• evaluation and revision
• self-regulation

In this article, I will outline components of effective writing instruction, to help parents assess the quality of instruction in their child’s classroom. The goals of good writing instruction for students with disabilities are the same as those for all students.  All students need to develop their knowledge about the purposes and forms of writing, basic writing skills, strategies for planning and evaluating their work, and motivation. However, struggling writers need more support and more intensive, explicit instruction in skills and strategies.

A high-quality writing program will provide a balance between opportunities for children to engage in writing that is meaningful to them, and to receive explicit instruction in the skills and strategies they need to become proficient writers. Development of the self-regulation strategies and motivation needed for independent writing are also important. The writing classroom should provide:

• a context for regular, meaningful writing
• instruction in handwriting, spelling, and sentence formation, as needed
• instruction in strategies for planning, revising, and self-regulation during the writing process
• attention to development of motivation for writing
• use of technology to support the writing process (this important topic will be addressed separately in a future article)

Context for regular, meaningful writing

The foundation of an effective writing program is the opportunity for frequent writing on meaningful tasks that have an audience and purpose. This principle is at the heart of the Writers’ Workshop approach used widely over the past 20 years. 1 When children have a regular time to write, see their writing tasks as meaningful, and get responses to their writing from peers, teachers, and others, they are motivated to write and come to understand the purposes and value of writing.

Consider, for example, the contrast between learning persuasive writing in order to master the five-paragraph essay format, and learning persuasive writing in order to argue a point of view in a social studies debate. Or consider the difference between writing a story that only the teacher reads and grades, and reading your story to your peers in class or publishing it in a class magazine for parents.

Writing for real purposes makes writing far more enjoyable. Furthermore, it helps students to understand the reasons behind the various forms of writing. For example, they learn that persuasive writing needs to consider the possible objections of the readers. And the opportunity to read their stories to the class gives them direct feedback on what features made it entertaining.

It is sometimes a challenge for teachers to design opportunities for students to publish and share their writing with audiences.  Fellow students in the class are the most common audience — always available to provide responses in peer conferences or class readings. Many teachers have students create class magazines or write books for the class library.  Some teachers invite parents and other guests to readings of class work, or encourage children to write letters to a variety of audiences.  The Internet now provides a range of possible new audiences. Many websites publish children’s work or support collaborative research projects among classrooms.

In addition to writing for specific audiences, writing can be made meaningful by connecting it to other areas of the curriculum. Writing as part of research projects in science and social studies shows children how writing about a topic can enhance their learning. When the projects are shared with others, they provide a model for communication in a learning community — an important use of writing in the adult world.

Parents can provide important support for this aspect of writing by encouraging children to write at home. Think of all the ways you use writing — from shopping lists, to thank-you notes, to email — and engage your child in those activities.

Explicit instruction in basic writing skills

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.  For many students with writing problems, difficulties in these skills are a significant barrier to writing.  These students need extra time devoted to explicit instruction and practice in basic skills.   This instruction should be carefully planned and include regular monitoring of student progress. However, it also needs to be efficient so that it does not dominate either instruction or writing time.

Handwriting

The basic goals of handwriting instruction are to help students develop writing that is legible and fluent, that is, relatively rapid and not effortful. 2 As in reading, fluency is important. 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 (10-15 minutes) followed by application in meaningful writing tasks are most effective. Fluency in handwriting is best promoted through frequent writing, and develops gradually over time. Instruction in the primary grades for children experiencing difficulty with handwriting may help to prevent later writing problems. In addition to instruction, teachers and parents should consider the use of word processing or other computer tools as a way of compensating for problems with handwriting.

Spelling and decoding skills are strongly connected.  Both require phonemic awareness and phonics skill, knowledge of spelling patterns, and familiarity with high-frequency words. Thus, spelling is part of both reading and writing instruction. Students with reading and writing problems generally need explicit, intensive instruction in decoding and spelling that emphasizes sound-symbol relationships and patterns. 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.

In addition, students with spelling problems need support in memorizing the spelling of high-frequency, irregularly spelled words (for example, “right,”  “laugh,” and “their”).  Word lists, word walls, personalized spelling dictionaries, and strategies for studying spelling words are all common ways to support learning high-frequency words.

In addition to instruction, students need opportunities to practice spelling words both in lists and in the context of writing. A few recommendations pertain particularly to writing.

• First, instruction should pay special attention to the words most commonly used in student writing. 3
• Second, because many students with learning disabilities will continue to have problems with spelling even after learning to read fluently, it is especially important for such students to learn strategies for proofreading their writing.
• Third, they also need to learn to use tools, including dictionaries and spell checkers, to monitor and correct their spelling.  Personalized dictionaries, in which students write the words they are learning, can be helpful.

Sentence formation

Even good writers often pause to figure out how to express their ideas in sentences. For struggling writers, writing correct, effective sentences is a significant problem. In addition to learning to write grammatically correct sentences, they need to learn to write sentences with embedded clauses, write topic sentences that introduce main ideas, use transition words, and craft introductory sentences. There is less research on instructional methods in this area than for spelling and handwriting, and some of the research results go against common wisdom or practice. For example, traditional grammar instruction, with its focus on rules for correct writing, has little impact on the quality of students’ writing.

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. 4 All three methods require students to apply their language sense (asking themselves: “Does that sound right?”) to writing increasingly complex sentences, rather than learning grammatical rules. In sentence expansion , students begin with “kernel sentences” composed of a subject and verb, for example, “John ran.”   Then they add elements to expand the sentence to tell more about the “who, what, why, when, and where.”  In sentence combining methods, students begin with several short sentences and learn how to combine them into longer more complex sentences. In paragraph-based methods, students learn sentence patterns for the topic, detail, and concluding sentences in different types of writing, such as sequence paragraphs and persuasive paragraphs. As always when learning skills, it is important for students to have opportunities to practice these skills in meaningful writing tasks, with regular feedback.

Strategies for planning, revising, and self-regulation

Proficient writers have sophisticated strategies for planning and evaluating their writing. They:

• set goals for communicating with an audience
• use knowledge of genre to generate and organize content
• evaluate their writing in terms of their goals and general standards for writing
• often revise extensively

In contrast, struggling writers do little planning and limit their revising primarily to correcting errors. The research on the cognitive processes of good writers has been used to develop strategies to teach to less proficient writers. For example, we can teach students planning strategies that help them to use knowledge of organizational elements of text (e.g., in persuasive writing:  position, reasons, evidence, and conclusion) to generate and organize their writing.  Research provides strong evidence that we can successfully teach struggling writers to use more effective strategies for planning and revising and, thereby, help them to make substantial improvements in their writing. 5 Fortunately, strategy instruction is effective with average learners as well as struggling writers, so it is a good method for general education classes that include students with disabilities.

Figure 1 below provides an example of a strategy for revising a piece of writing. 6 This peer revising strategy involves a pair of students who get together to help each other evaluate and revise their papers. The steps are written as instruction to the student who is acting as editor. 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. Note that a wide range of evaluation criteria could be used in step 3. The strategy provides a routine to support students in evaluation and revision that looks more like the processes that proficient writers use.

Figure 1: Peer Revising Strategy6

• LISTEN and READ along as the author reads the story.
• TELL what the story is about and what you liked best.
• READ the story to yourself and make NOTES about:
• CLARITY? Is there anything you don’t understand?
• DETAILS? What information/details could be added?
• DISCUSS your suggestions with the author.
• Author decides what changes to make.

Effective instruction in strategies for planning and revising a piece of writing requires a teacher to:

• Provide an explicit explanation of how the strategy works.
• Demonstrate or model the strategy while “thinking aloud” to show students the cognitive processes involved.
• Provide guided practice in which the students try out the strategy with teacher support.
• Provide independent practice and application in other situations.

It takes several weeks to teach a strategy effectively, so usually teachers would only teach 3 or 4 strategies in the course of a year.

Another important part of teaching strategies is helping students to develop self-regulation strategies . Several aspects of self-regulation can be included along with strategy instruction.

• First, self-regulation involves the ability to select strategies and monitor whether they are working . Thus, teachers must spend time discussing why the strategy is important and when and where it might be used. In addition, they teach students how to evaluate their own writing and decide whether a strategy is working for them.
• Second, self-regulation includes task management , so teachers discuss with students how to set aside a time and place for writing.
• Third, it includes strategies for coping with difficulty and maintaining persistence . Teachers help students to learn things they can say to themselves to keep a positive attitude and to praise or reward themselves for good work.

The model of strategy instruction developed by Steven Graham and Karen Harris 7 , the Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD), as its name indicates, includes several procedures for enhancing self-regulation.

Motivation and final words

One of the most difficult challenges about working with students who struggle with writing is increasing their motivation. One cannot consider a writing instruction program successful unless, in addition to teaching skills and strategies, it helps students to develop positive attitudes toward writing. Without such positive attitudes, it is unlikely that students will use writing well outside of the classroom or continue to develop their skills.

I’d like to close by mentioning two important aspects of a writing program that contribute to motivation. First, writing instruction should engage students in writing that is satisfying to them in its own right. When writing is taught as an exercise with the emphasis solely on proper form or passing a test, not only do students remain unmotivated, but also they are less likely to learn what is being taught because it is not connected to any meaningful purpose. In contrast, when students write for meaningful purposes, have some choice in topic, and share and publish their work for peers, parents, and others, they develop a positive appreciation for the value of writing.

Second, failure is one of the main causes of poor motivation. Students who expect to fail at writing tasks will engage in them reluctantly, if at all. The antidote for failure is explicit instruction that shows students how to use effective writing processes and provides adequate practice so that they can develop mastery. Students want to know “how to do it,” and it is the teacher’s role to show them. When students work in an environment where they write for meaningful purposes and teachers provide explicit instruction on how to write effectively, the motivation to learn to write is seldom a problem.

When parents understand the challenges that students with learning difficulties face as they strive to become proficient writers, they are better equipped to help their kids overcome frustrations with writing, to provide opportunities at home for kids to practice meaningful writing, and to advocate for their children’s learning needs in the classroom.

• Calkins, L. The art of teaching writing . Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1994.
• Graham, S. “Handwriting and spelling instruction for students with learning disabilities:  A review.”   Learning Disability Quarterly ,Vol. 22.
• Graham, S., Harris, K. J., et. al. “The basic spelling vocabulary list.” Journal of Educational Research , Vol. 86.
• Haynes, C., & Jennings, T. “Listening and speaking: Essential ingredients for teaching  struggling writers.” Perspectives (in press).
• Graham, S. “Strategy instruction and the teaching of writing: A meta-analysis.” In C. A. MacArthur, S. Graham, et al., Handbook of Writing Research , 2006.
• MacArthur, C. A., Schwartz, S. S., et al. “Effects of a reciprocal peer revision strategy in special education classrooms.”  Learning Disabilities Research and Practice , Vol. 6.
• Graham, S. & Harris, K. J. Writing better: Effective strategies for teaching students with learning difficulties . Baltimore, MD: Brooks, 2005.

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Article contents

Effective practices for teaching writing to students with disabilities in the united states.

• April Camping April Camping Arizona State University
• , and  Steve Graham Steve Graham Arizona State University
• https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.1208
• Published online: 30 September 2019

Writing is especially challenging for students with disabilities, as 19 out of every 20 of these students experience difficulty learning to write. In order to maximize writing growth, effective instructional practices need to be applied in the general education classroom where many students with special needs are educated. This should minimize special education referrals and maximize the progress of these students as writers. Evidence-based writing practices for the general education classroom include ensuring that students write frequently for varying purposes; creating a pleasant and motivating writing environment; supporting students as they compose; teaching critical skills, processes, and knowledge; and using 21st-century writing tools.

It is also important to be sure that practices specifically effective for enhancing the writing growth of students with special needs are applied in both general and special education settings (where some students with disabilities may receive part or all of their writing instruction). This includes methods for preventing writing disabilities, tailoring instruction to meet individual student needs, addressing roadblocks that can impede writing growth, and using specialized writing technology that allows these students to circumvent one or more of their writing challenges.

• composition
• instruction
• disabilities

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Implementation | Recommended Reading

Writing Instruction for Special Needs Students

Read Time 2 mins | Mar 26, 2020 9:49:59 AM | Written by: Toolbox

Download the research report below

We all know that one effective strategy is to break down a task into smaller, more manageable tasks. Teachers often segment a five paragraph essay, by asking students to ‘just write the introduction.’ But it’s the word ‘just’ that’s almost laughable. (In fact, do you ever notice how anytime the word ‘just’ precedes a task, it’s usually in attempt to make a difficult process appear easy?) “Just writing” an introduction can be so overwhelming and anxiety-producing for a special ed student that they simply shut down. The question becomes HOW to teach these skills.

Research has shown that focusing on the discrete skills and aspects of the writing process produces higher student achievement and success rates than writing taught with a holistic focus on product. When not overwhelmed with having to ‘fill’ an entire page of lined paper, special needs students, after direct instruction that includes teacher modeling and guided practice, can celebrate being successful at writing an interesting beginning for a story, or writing an enticing lead for an expository piece. A segment of elaborative detail, or of suspense. Small successes along the way encourage them and build confidence.

Guiding Students in Special Education to Generate Ideas for Writing

When students are stuck, breaking the brainstorming stage down into separate steps can help them get started writing.

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Most students don’t have too much trouble following the traditional steps of the writing process: brainstorm, outline, and draft, then revise and edit. Some students, though, get stuck in the brainstorming phase. As a special educator, I have encountered the “stuck” student many times. When we treat brainstorming as an opportunity for skill building, students can feel more confident developing ideas for writing.

Standard brainstorming strategies 

Writing requires many skills to work together at the same time: idea generation, hand strength and stamina, letter formation, spelling, sentence composition, grammar, editing, proofreading, and so forth. If any of those skills is weak, it makes writing significantly harder. Many students who struggle with writing have not had sufficient practice building each foundational skill to a point where they readily access it when performing more complex skills in the classroom. In other cases, a student’s disability may impair some aspect of their learning, be it fine motor or cognitive. They learn to master skills when instruction and practice is broken into small pieces.

Many of my interactions with students looked something like this: 

Teacher: In Charlotte’s Web , a major theme is friendship. You are going to write a paragraph that shows how the characters were good friends and helped each other.

Student: (Sitting, not working.)

Teacher: Sally, can I help you get started?

Student: I don’t have any ideas.

Teacher: Let’s brainstorm together using your graphic organizer.

Student: No!

Teacher: OK. Try on your own, and I’ll check back with you in a couple of minutes.

Student: No ideas! No ideas! (Runs out of the classroom.)

If student behavior is viewed as some type of communication, this example shows that a learner is likely communicating that they don’t have a skill required or are not able to access this skill at this time.

Brainstorming as skill building

By breaking a skill into small parts and allowing your students to practice those parts until they become automatic and effortless, an instructor can decrease a student’s frustration level and remove a significant barrier to their thinking. It’s the same in any skilled performance—basketball players practice shooting and passing, cellists repeat musical scales, and chefs practice different styles of chopping. Skill-building exercises can help students become more confident and competent at any skill, including writing. 

Rather than push students to use a graphic organizer or other standard brainstorming tool to help them generate their ideas, I began to use a skill-building process that has students first name things related to a topic and then generate a list of ways those things demonstrate the topic: 

Teacher: Sally, in this story our characters are Charlotte, Fern, Wilbur, and Mr. Zuckerman. Tell me ways that they helped each other.

Student: Uh, I don’t know.

Teacher: I’ll start. In one chapter, Charlotte spun words in her web to help Wilbur. Now you try. How else did they help each other?

Student: Uh, Fern saves Wilbur from her father.

Teacher: Exactly. Now, tell me ways that Templeton helped someone.

Student: Templeton found words in the newspaper for Charlotte to spin in her web.

Teacher: Great! What about Wilbur? 

Student: Wilbur watched over Charlotte’s egg sac.

Teacher: Yes! You’ve got so many good ideas for writing. 

Students who first generate ideas about a topic—access what they know about it—more easily write their outlines and drafts for the bigger-picture assignment. For Sally, brainstorming was too overwhelming as an initial step, so we started off by naming examples. I gave Sally a topic—name ways characters in Charlotte’s Web helped one another—she named examples of things (characters), and we generated a list of ways those characters helped one another.

Implementing Brainstorming as Skill Building

This “naming” strategy is easy to implement with individual students or in groups. These are steps to get you started. 

Step 1. Introduce the student to the exercise.

Teacher: You’re going to be writing down ideas. 

For this step, you will need a sheet of paper, small whiteboard, or blank document on your computer. If your student hates writing by hand or is a slow typist, do the writing for them or use dictation. Remember, we’re trying to remove barriers to generating ideas, such as slow handwriting and hesitation around spelling.

Step 2. Select a topic for practice.  

Teacher: Name things that can get ruined (phone, cake, backpack, etc.).

You or your student will write a list of items that can get ruined. If a student struggles to generate these examples, take turns: You go first, then prompt them to go. If that doesn’t work, start off by identifying and writing down a few items around the room that can get ruined. 

Step 3. Revisit the list to describe each item.  

Teacher: Now we are going to write some ways that each item on your list can get ruined.

Next to each item, you or the student will record a few ways it can get ruined. As an example, for a bike, the student might list the following: It could get a flat tire, the chain could fall off. Again, if your student has trouble at this point, state an idea and see if they can come up with the next one.

Step 4. Use the descriptions to write a paragraph. 

Teacher: Pick one of these items to write about.

With the items and examples in place, the student can start to write a basic paragraph about a prompt like “Write about a time when something you cared about got ruined and how you felt about it.” If the student gets stuck at this point, encourage them to use a simple structure: Introduce the topic, give examples of ways that items can get ruined, and describe a time when something like this happened to you. At first, focus on the quality of your students’ ideas and descriptions, and not their handwriting, sentence construction, or vocabulary. The goal here is to spark an interest in writing. You can push for perfect prose later.

Step 5. Continue daily practice with new topics. 

Students who struggle to brainstorm need daily practice with this exercise. Each day, provide a new topic and ask them to work in pairs or small groups to generate ideas and descriptions. Your topics should be relevant to your students’ daily lives (there are pre-made lists of such prompts available online). As your class adjusts, you can add a timer and make idea generation a class-wide game (“You have two minutes to come up with ideas of what can make someone happy”). This is a powerful intervention to help all students get started with their writing.

10 Musts for Teaching Literacy Skills to Students with Significant Disabilities

Erickson & Koppenhaver are both professors and literacy researchers with a history of classroom experience. In their research, they’ve identified 10 success factors that are present when students with significant disabilities are learning to read and write. In today’s post, we share a summary of these elements, excerpted and adapted from Comprehensive Literacy for All . Use these elements (and the accompanying suggestions) as a starting point for supporting students with significant disabilities as they learn critical literacy skills they’ll use forever.

Success factor #1: Knowledgeable others

To become literate, students with significant disabilities need the cooperation and collaboration of a whole team of supportive adults. They require:

• teachers who un­derstand that learning isn’t dependent on perfectly functioning bodies and oc­curs at different rates
• families who read with them, build their confidence, and partner with teachers and other ser­vice providers
• SLPs to implement effective language and commu­nication interventions
• occupational therapists to help them make books and writing tools more accessible
• AT specialists who support them in making their world more accessible
• collaborative teams who believe in the student’s abilities and are willing to problem-solve and experiment as long as it takes to achieve success

Success factor #2: Means of communication and interaction

Students with significant disabilities need a reliable way to communicate precisely with classmates, educators, and families. Learners need to be able to:

• make predictions, summarize main ideas, ask questions, and make comments during literacy lessons
• suggest revision and editing ideas during peer writing conferences
• talk to family members, classmates, and teachers about their reading preferences

Providing individualized communication support to students will help them become active members of your literacy learning community. (For a whole chapter on using assistive technology to support literacy, see Comprehensive Literacy for All .)

Success factor #3: Repetition with variety

Repetition with variety keeps learning interesting, prevents students from tuning out during instruction, and helps your students grow as readers and writers by increasing their independence and flexibility. Try these strategies for engaging and teaching students through repetition with variety:

• Work with students to revise a text for publication. Revisit the text to consider whether it conveys what the author intended and whether the intended audience will understand.
• During shared reading, model and interact with beginning communicators using core vocabulary—but use it differently on each page and in each text.
• Conduct word wall lessons. Introduce a new set of words each week and then engage the class in dozens of different daily activities with all the words to help increase sight word knowledge.
• Hang sentence charts that build on prior knowledge. Make these predictable charts where the beginning sentence stems are same, but the con­clusion of each sentence is based on individual students’ interests.

Success factor #4: Cognitive engagement

Cognitive engagement, as defined by Erickson & Koppenhaver, is “the act of putting persistent effort into mental pro­cesses such as thinking, reasoning, and judgment in order to understand and learn.” Focusing on students’ cognitive engagement can have many benefits, from greater time on task to increased persistence when challenges come up. You can encourage cognitive engagement during literacy activities by:

• Offering students choices of writing topics
• Giving students time to share their writing with classmates
• Modeling how to make predictions about story events based on illustrations
• Encouraging students to write more and avoiding specific instructions when it’s time to revise

Success factor #5: Cognitive clarity

“Why are we learning this, and why is it worth remembering?” To help your students answer this question, hone their sense of cognitive clarity. You can do this by engaging students in meaningful and interesting tasks like these:

• When a letter is introduced, assist students in writing words that begin with that letter and composing texts for real audiences requiring use of that letter.
• When students are reading for meaning, set a purpose to guide their comprehension and help them make connections between what they already know and the text to be read.
• When students are writing first drafts, remind them to read aloud what they have written to see if it sounds like what they meant to write.

When students have cognitive clarity, cognitive engagement follows—and generalized learning isn’t far behind.

Success factor #6: Personal connection to the curriculum

“What’s in it for me?” Students learn better when they have a good answer to this question. Build students a bridge to learning by helping them make personal connections to the curriculum. For example:

• In writing activities, facilitate student topic choice and publish student writing.
• In guided reading lessons, regularly choose texts that build on students’ existing understanding and experience.
• In self-directed reading, continually seek out texts for student reading or listening that represent individual or collective student interests. Acquire a wide variety of books in your classroom to increase the possibility of students making personal connections between literature and their own lives.

Success factor #7: Encouragement of risk taking

Risk taking in the classroom often leads to new learning—but fear of failure may loom large in the minds of students who have learning struggles. Encourage your students to take more academic risks by establishing a sense of safety and belonging in the classroom. For example:

• Accept noncon­ventional communication attempts to show students that it’s safe to try to communi­cate.
• Avoid restricting reading choices to narrow achievement bands.
• Praise your students’ use of strat­egies, regardless of the outcome.
• Encourage discussion about reading rather than focusing mainly on assessing student understanding.
• Convey to students that their ideas matter more than their test scores.
• Model potential new ways of communicating ideas.
• Publish all students’ work.

As students feel safe and supported in your classroom, they’ll likely become more willing to take academic risks, making it easier to acquire new skills.

Success factor #8: Comprehensive instruction

Comprehensive instruction hinges on two big ideas:

• Students learn to read and write in different ways.
• To meet students’ different needs, teachers must teach everything about reading and writing, from letter–sound relationships to reading fluency to independent text comprehen­sion.

Clearly, there are only so many hours in your school day, and it’s difficult to teach every­thing about reading and writing in such a limited timeframe. But you can organize your day to accommodate the widest possible array of learning opportunities. (For a complete guide to comprehensive instruction, see the Erickson & Koppenhaver book .)

Success factor #9: Significant time allocation

Comprehensive literacy instruction requires a significant time investment—but students with significant disabilities may receive very little time for literacy learning. Consider implementing a comprehensive instruction framework that helps you determine the broad emphasis of each period of instruction and what your time allocations should look like. (The guidelines provided in Comprehensive Literacy for All can help.)

Success factor #10: High expectations

Keep your expectations high for all students—the least dangerous assump­tion is to assume that every learner is capable of emergent literacy and communication, regardless of disability. Encourage students to build their skills through a wide variety of activities:

• Daily reading aloud with the student
• Writing or partner-assisted writing activities
• Interactions and modeling with symbolic communication
• Shared reading interactions
• Predictable chart writing
• Independent student access to books

As Erickson & Koppenhaver state in their book, “successful teachers of students with sig­nificant disabilities do not ignore their diffi­culties. They simply recognize that although disabilities affect literacy learning, they need not impair it.” The bottom line is, every learner deserves access to high-quality reading and writing instruction—and with the right supports, everyone can become a literate citizen.

EXPLORE THE BOOK

Drawing on decades of classroom experience, the authors present their own innovative model for teaching students with a wide range of significant disabilities to read and write print in grades preK–12 and beyond. Foundational teaching principles blend with concrete strategies, step-by-step guidance, and specific activities.

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3 Evidence-Based Interventions to Help Students with Written Expression

Evidence-based interventions to help students with written expression.

Did you know that between 6.9% and 14.7% of students have specific writing disabilities, with and without reading problems?  In addition, students who do not have a specific writing disability also struggle.  A National Assessment of Educational Progress writing test indicated that 74% of eighth-grade students and 73% of 12th-grade students were writing at basic or below-basic levels.

Students may benefit from the following instructional approaches depending upon the student’s age and abilities.  Here are 3 evidence-based interventions to help students with written expression:

Transcription – when a student uses transcription, this can possibly help to eliminate any spelling or handwriting constraints.

Handwriting and Spelling Instruction – evaluate the effectiveness of the handwriting and spelling instruction to help improve written expression.  This is helpful for typically developing writers and struggling writers.

Self-Regulation Strategy Development (SRSD) –  This is an instructional model to teach writing strategies to students. SRSD has been researched and shown to result in significant and meaningful improvements in writing knowledge, writing quality, writing approach, self-regulation skills, and motivation.  Read more on SRSD here .

More research is needed on multicomponent interventions (i.e. combining SRSD and transcription) to help students with written expression.

Reference:  Coker Jr, D. L., & Kim, Y. S. G. (2017). Critical Issues in the Understanding of Young Elementary School Students at Risk for Problems in Written Expression: Introduction to the Special Issue.  Journal of learning disabilities , 0022219417708168.

Do you work with students who struggle with written expression?  Check out these resources:

Assistive Technology, Implementation Methods & Educational Resource Recommendations for Kids with Written Output Disorders   digital download is a resource guide for parents and professionals working with students with educationally significant handwriting challenges that make it difficult/impossible for them to complete written schoolwork with paper and pencil.

Special Edition for Kids with ASD – Assistive Technology, Implementation Methods & Educational Resource Recommendations for Kids with Written Output Disorders   digital download  is an assistive technology resource guide for parents and professionals working with students with Autism Spectrum Disorder, over 50% of whom have educationally significant handwriting challenges that make it difficult/impossible for them to complete written schoolwork with paper and pencil.

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Sentence Building Activities for Special Ed

Do you have students in your special education classroom who struggle with writing sentences? Or maybe they struggle with putting words together to form a sentence?

Today I would like to introduce you to Sentence Building .

This resource was created out of a desperate need for my own self-contained classroom. Students in my classroom, verbal and nonverbal, were struggling with sentences… writing them, putting them together… the whole nine yards… but they had IEP goals to meet and I had zero curriculum to help them achieve their annual goals.

So I created it for them, providing models and guidance to promote independence with the task…

…and it worked!

Sometimes it is difficult for some of our students to figure out how to organize words in a sentence. There are so many different reasons your students may be struggling, including ( but not limited to ):

• spelling, handwriting, lack of success previously, can verbalize sentences, but not put the ideas on paper…

I understand both you and your student’s frustrations. Writing sentences is tough! There’s so much that goes into it, but it is a life-long skill our students need to learn and master.

You can use this full-year resource to teach students how to write a sentence, or to reinforce the skills through interactive sentence building practice. These leveled activities can be used in small or whole group, in literacy centers, as morning or word work, in sensory bins or in intervention groups.

Daily sentence writing allows students to:

• practice spelling and identify spelling patterns
• use their thinking skills to create a complete sentence, and
• improve comprehension and writing skills.

With differentiated practice, students will feel confident to:

• write a sentence
• read and spell common words and sight words
• answer comprehension questions about the text
• visual how sentences come together by putting words in order
• use pictures to guide their writing, and
• demonstrate growth

Other skills practiced when using Sentence Builders:  capitalization and punctuation, letter formation, spacing between words, parts of speech, cutting and gluing practice, and more!

• 40 weeks of writing and sentence building instruction • 5 levels of differentiation, print and implement ready!

How is this resource differentiated to meet the needs of all of my learners? There are 3 different levels of sentences: Level 1 – 6 sentences with 3 or 4 words per sentence. Level 2 – 6 sentences with 6 words per sentence. Level 3 – 6 sentences with 8 to 12 words per sentence.

{ Grab the Sentence Builder Bundle here . }

So let’s take a look at how it works, the different levels, and the recommendations for use in the classroom.

There are 6 sentences within each level. This is Level 1, so each sentence has 3 or 4 words.

I recommend printing these cards on cardstock and laminating so you can reuse them each year.

Have students work on one sentence at a time. Using the picture cards, have students put the words in order to form the sentence correctly.

Next is getting the cut and paste worksheet ready.

For some students, I will have them cut their own sentence strips apart. For others ( or if we are short on time ), I will cut them out ( typically while they are putting the sentence together ).

Now it’s time to paste!

With this worksheet, there are 4 options available. As shown ( errorless, with pictures ), errorless with words, and just pictures or just words. Having these different levels of differentiation will help you meet the needs of all learners in your classroom, while working on the same thing.

Paste the sentence strip onto the worksheet. We love using our glue sponges !

This first step, putting the sentences together and cutting/pasting activity, is typically done on the first and second day of writing instruction.

As we move into day two, start by having students put the sentences in order again. You can mix all of the picture cards up, have students sort the cards, and then put the sentences in correct order.

Then you will move into the third day of writing instruction with either the trace or write Sentence Builder ( depending upon student skill level ).

Students will use the picture cards as a model to write the sentence in correct order, as well as spell all of the words correctly.

Typically if students finish early, we have this “extra” Sentence Builder activity to complete… and sometimes we will complete this on a Thursday if we’ve completed the rest of our writing work.

This challenge activity provides two options for students. One, use the words given with each picture to write 2 new sentences about that picture with the words. Two, the extra challenge at the bottom asks students to write their own sentence about each image.

This really gets students thinking outside of the box and gives them an opportunity to showcase lesson mastery and creativity.

Level 2 – each sentence has 6 words per sentence. All of the activities are identical to Level 1.

You can easily have students working on the same week’s topic ( this post shows the weather set ), but on different levels. All of the images are the same within each level, but the sentence difficulty increases.

Level 3 – each sentence has 8 to 12 words per sentence. All activities are, again, identical to Level 1.

What are other teachers, like you, saying about Sentence Builders?

“ The sentences are formulated in such a way that they work on sentence structure as well as grammar and can also be used as comprehension activities if you come up with questions for them. ” – Samantha W.

“ I am so excited for this resource!!! Differentiating writing in my class is challenging as they just want to copy each other. Now they have their own personalized stuff. ” – Macy B.

“ LOVE LOVE LOVE! This is differentiated to my lower level writers but also to my writers who need challenged. It is a great resource and I use it in independent writing centers. ” – Passion2Teach

“ What a wonderful, comprehensive resource for writing! I love the differentiated levels- all of my students will be able to participate! ” – Annie A.

If you’d like to try a set out for free, you can download a free set of Level 2 in the Resource Library .

{ Grab the Holiday Sentence Builder Bundle here . }

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:

• Getting Students Excited to Write in Any Classroom
• Accommodating Guided Reading Levels: Part 2

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Creative Writing Activities for a Special Needs Student

I always assigned creative writing activities on the first day of school to start the year off on the right foot. For instance, I wanted the students to share something from their Summer vacation right after lunch this particular school year.

However, one of my students had a hard time with the assignment.

“I can’t do this!” John said, slamming his pencil down. “These writing assignments are just too hard for me,” he continued.

“What is it about the assignment that makes it too hard for you, John,” I said.

“I’m just not good at writing, and I don’t know what to write about,” John said.

Writing is one of the hardest tasks for children who have special needs. The process of getting their thoughts and ideas down on paper is overwhelming for students.

Creative Writing Activities for a Special Needs Student  

Although writing can be a tedious process, there are many different ways for students to express themselves through writing. Here are eleven great writing activities to try with your students. 

Want One-On-One Expert Help?!

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11 Writing Activities Your Special Needs Students Will Enjoy

#1 comic book writing.

I have found that some of my students love writing comic book stories. They don’t feel overwhelmed like they do when they are assigned a five-paragraph essay. In addition, it is a creative way to practice writing in smaller sentences. 

You can find comic book-creating websites or templates online to help you plan the assignment. I have found that Make Beliefs Comix is a great online resource for those wanting to explore and write creatively. I have a student who uses this website, and he loves being able to create his own comic book. 

#2 Sensory Writing

Sensory writing is an engaging way to encourage students to use all of their senses in their writing.

Begin by offering your students a variety of sensory experiences, such as:

• Smelling different scents
• Touching various textures
• Listening to different sounds
• Looking at things in different ways, like under a microscope, magnifying glass, or in the dark with a flashlight

Then, have them describe these experiences using vivid language and detail. Sensory writing activities help students to develop their descriptive writing skills and connect their experiences to their writing.

#3 Memory Writing

Memory writing is an activity where students can reflect on something they read earlier in the week. The reading could be something that they read or experienced in reading groups. 

The students have a time limit to reflect and write so that everyone has an opportunity to write about what they remember. This creative writing activity is important because it encourages students to recall their memories, which builds stronger connections in the brain. 

#4 Reading Response Journals 

As a student, I hated work that seemed like a waste of time. One thing that I remember was that each week we had to write a reading response about something that we had read that week. 

A reading response journal is a series of entries from students’ reflections, opinions, and reactions to readings. This active learning technique encourages them to examine things thoroughly and relate what they’ve read to their prior knowledge and experiences.

Tips for Reading Response Journals

• Let your student know this is his journal. No one else has to read it, and he will not be graded on what he writes in it. 
• Give ample time for each student to write in their journal immediately after reading time when it is fresh on their mind. 
• Provide journal prompts so your students aren’t sitting there staring at the blank page, overwhelmed with what to write. Here are a couple of reading response journal prompts: 
• Reader Response Journal Prompts
• Reader Response Journal Questions

#5 Picture Storytelling

Visual aids can be a powerful tool to engage special needs students in creative writing. Provide your students with a selection of interesting images, such as landscapes, animals, or scenes from everyday life.

Encourage them to choose one image and write a short story based on what they see. This activity allows students to practice their descriptive writing skills while simultaneously stimulating their imagination.

#6 Group Storytelling

Group storytelling is a collaborative and interactive way to help your students practice their writing skills.

First, divide your students into small groups and give each group a story prompt or a sentence to start with. Then, have each student take turns adding a sentence or two to the story.

This activity helps students learn to work together, practice writing coherent narratives, and develop their listening skills.

#7 Sentence Structure Writing  Activities

There are many ways to practice writing skills. However, as a teacher, I always think of ways to get my students to work on their sentence structure that is not so boring or overwhelming. 

Ideas for Practicing Sentence Structure

• Give them a topic that they have to write about in under 100 words.
• Provide them one word to write a paragraph about what they know about that word. 
• Give them unique writing prompts that could have fun and creative endings. For example, “If they were to have a dinosaur for a pet, what would they do with their dinosaur?”
• Have them map out an outline of their paper using a specific topic. 
• Do a brainstorming activity using their research topic. 

#8 Mad Libs

Mad Libs is an activity that helps students practice their grammar and vocabulary skills in a fun way without pressure.

Create a simple story template with blanks for various parts of speech (nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.). Have your students fill in the blanks with their own choices of words.

When they’re done, read the completed Mad Libs story aloud, and enjoy the silly and creative results!

#9 Letter Writing

Letter writing can be an enjoyable way for students to practice their writing and communication skills. Encourage students to write letters to friends, family members, or even fictional characters.

Teach them about the different parts of a letter, such as the greeting, body, and closing. Letter writing helps students practice organizing their thoughts, expressing their feelings, and writing in a clear and structured manner.

You can even check out these pen pal programs for kids to write to astronauts, authors, and deployed soldiers.

#10 What If” Scenarios

Encourage your special needs students to think outside the box by presenting them with “what if” scenarios. Provide prompts that ask students to imagine alternate realities or situations, such as “What if…”

You could become invisible for a day?

The world was made of candy, you discovered a secret door in your house that led to a magical land, technology suddenly ceased to exist, everyone had the power to fly, you could communicate with animals, there was a potion that could grant any three wishes, humans could breathe underwater, time could be paused for an hour each day, you found a map to a hidden treasure.

Have your students write a short story or paragraph describing the scenario and its consequences. This activity fosters creativity and helps students explore new perspectives and ideas in their writing.

You could make this a What if  Wednesday activity that your students would look forward to each week.

#11 Rewrite

Lastly, another creative writing activity that is fun and gets children to think creatively is something I call “rewrite.” 

Many stories over the years have been rewritten with new endings. For example, Cinderella is a story that has multiple different endings.  

Give students a short story to rewrite that would change the story in some way. This assignment can be an excellent writing activity to teach them about plagiarism. In addition, you can instruct them on the best way to write the story without copying the author’s ideas or information. 

What Creative Writing Activities Do You Use In Your Classroom? 

Writing can be difficult for special needs students. However, creative writing activities can be a fun way for students to learn the basics of writing. Choose from any one of these five writing exercises, or try them all! 

No matter which you choose, we’re confident that they will help your student develop their language skills in ways that are both enjoyable and challenging.

Do you have an idea for another creative exercise or activity not listed here? Drop it in the comments below so we can add it to our list. We look forward to hearing how this helps your students!

Additional Resources 

• Writing Strategies Made Simple
• How to Easily Create Social Stories to Successfully Teach Children
• Reading And Writing Our Way Through Thanksgiving

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Growth in Literacy Skills: 5 ELA Curricula for Special Education

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• July 3, 2023
• Back to School , Curriculum , Functional Life Skills , Teacher Tips

Introduction

When it comes to supporting struggling learners in the realm of English Language Arts (ELA) and literacy skills, special education teachers need comprehensive and effective curricula designed to meet their students’ unique needs. In this blog post, we will explore five outstanding ELA curricula that have proven to be highly beneficial for special education classrooms.

These curricula not only offer engaging content but also provide differentiated instruction, multisensory approaches, and comprehensive support to help struggling learners succeed. Let’s dive into the details of each curriculum in no particular order and discover how they can transform ELA instruction for students with special needs.

1. Readtopia by Building Wings

Website: https://www.buildingwings.com/readtopia/.

Readtopia by Building Wings is a research-based ELA curriculum that engages students through real-world, high-interest content. It provides differentiated instruction, scaffolded support, and multimedia resources to help struggling learners develop reading comprehension, vocabulary, and critical thinking skills. With its interactive features and flexible implementation options, Readtopia ensures that students with diverse abilities can actively participate in ELA lessons and build confidence in their reading abilities.

2. Early Literacy Skills Builder (ELSB) by Attainment Company

Website: https://www.attainmentcompany.com/curriculum/english-language-arts/early-literacy-skills-builder.

Early Literacy Skills Builder (ELSB) by Attainment is specifically designed for students with significant cognitive disabilities. This curriculum focuses on early literacy skills such as letter recognition, phonemic awareness, and basic sight words. ELSB provides hands-on activities, visual supports, and repetitive practice to help students develop foundational reading skills. With its systematic approach and adaptive materials, ELSB empowers special education teachers to support their students’ literacy growth from the earliest stages. This curriculum is perfect for kindergarten literacy skills and literacy skills for preschoolers.

3. Adapted Classics by Attainment Company

Website: https://www.attainmentcompany.com/curriculum/english-language-arts/adapted-classics.

Attainment’s Adapted Classics is a unique ELA curriculum that brings the world of classic literature to students with special needs. It offers simplified adaptations of well-known novels and stories, making them accessible and engaging for struggling learners. Through Adapted Classics, special education teachers can introduce literary elements, comprehension strategies, and critical thinking skills while nurturing a love for literature. This curriculum provides inclusive materials, interactive activities, and extensive support to help students explore the beauty of classic literature.

4. Unique Learning Systems by N2Y

Website: https://myaccount.n2y.com/.

Unique Learning Systems by N2Y is a comprehensive curriculum that encompasses various subject areas, including ELA, for students with complex learning needs. It offers adaptable lessons, interactive activities, and differentiated materials to meet the diverse abilities and interests of students. The literacy skills component of Unique Learning Systems focuses on developing language skills, reading comprehension, writing, and communication. With its rich resources and personalized learning options, this curriculum empowers special education teachers to provide meaningful development of literacy skills instruction to struggling learners.

Learn more about how I plan for N2Y in this blog post.

5. Fundations by Wilson Language

Website: https://www.wilsonlanguage.com/programs/fundations/.

Fundations by Wilson Language is a systematic and explicit phonics and spelling program designed to support students with dyslexia and other reading difficulties. It provides a structured approach to phonemic awareness, phonics, and word study, helping students develop decoding and encoding skills. Fundations incorporates multisensory techniques, including tapping and handwriting, to reinforce letter-sound connections and improve reading fluency. By implementing Fundations, special education teachers can equip struggling learners with the foundational skills necessary for reading success in pre-literacy skills.

Incorporating effective ELA curricula is essential for special education teachers seeking to empower struggling learners with the literacy skills and confidence needed to navigate the world of literacy. The five curricula highlighted in this blog post—Readtopia, ELSB, Adapted Classics, Unique Learning Systems, and Fundations—provide special education teachers with comprehensive resources, differentiated instruction, and inclusive materials. By leveraging these curricula, teachers can create engaging, accessible, and impactful literacy skills experiences that unlock the full potential of their students with special needs.

What are the 6 abilities of literacy?

All of these curricula have six early literacy skills:

• Phonemic Awareness: This skill involves the ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words. It includes activities like recognizing rhyming words, blending sounds to form words, and segmenting words into individual sounds.
• Letter Recognition: Early literacy development includes recognizing and identifying letters of the alphabet. Children should be able to recognize uppercase and lowercase letters and associate them with their corresponding sounds.
• Print Awareness: This skill refers to understanding how print works, including knowing that print carries meaning, recognizing the difference between letters and words, and understanding the directionality of reading (left to right and top to bottom).
• Vocabulary Development: Building a strong vocabulary is crucial for early literacy. It involves learning and understanding the meanings of words, which enables children to comprehend and express themselves effectively.
• Phonics: Phonics is the relationship between letters and their sounds. It involves teaching children the sounds that letters or groups of letters make and how they can be blended together to form words.
• Comprehension: While comprehension skills develop over time, even at an early age, children can begin to understand and interpret simple stories and texts. Comprehension skills involve understanding the meaning of what is being read, making connections to prior knowledge, predicting outcomes, and answering questions about the text.

Read more about how I adapt curriculum to meet the needs of all learners.

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Special Education Teachers: Top 26 Skills and Qualities Needed

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Are you excited by the idea of making an impact in the lives of students with learning differences? Children with a variety of learning challenges are often greatly affected in how they learn in the classroom and interact with others. Since special education teachers are meant to support this wide range of learning disabilities, their skills often extend far beyond conventional teaching methods.

To thrive in this fulfilling and impactful career, it’s important to understand what the role entails so you can provide inclusive learning environments, foster individual growth, and accommodate the diverse needs of your students. Here’s an overview of this incredibly rewarding career path, as well as the most important qualities and skills needed to be successful as a high quality special education teacher.

What Makes a Good Special Education Teacher?

Professionalism and ethical standards are essential skills to be a good special education teacher. Honesty, integrity, and fairness should guide your actions and decisions, while remaining up-to-date in this field will enable you to maintain a high level of professional competence.

Commitment to collaboration, self-awareness, reflection, and respect for diversity are additional qualities that are valued in special education teachers. These character traits are what Regis College looks for in prospective applicants to their Master’s in Teaching Special Education .

This is largely because special education teachers engage with parents and colleagues frequently to provide the best learning strategies for students that are both innovative and inclusive. “You can't do what the teacher next door does. It doesn't always work for your group of students,” says Dr. Priscilla Boerger, program director of Regis College’s Master’s in Teaching Special Education.

Want to learn more about Teaching Special Education? Download Our Free Checklist!

Top Skills Required for Special Education Teachers

While the previously mentioned qualities are essential to your success as a special education teacher, there are additional qualifications and skills that can boost your potential for landing a special education teaching job.

When preparing to become a highly qualified special education teacher , it’s important to consider the baseline skills needed to be an effective educator. According to our analysis of job postings data, here are the top skills school districts and principals want in prospective teachers and how they can enhance your performance as a special education teacher.

Top Skills for Teachers

1. teaching.

As an educator, you’ll have the rewarding opportunity to guide and inspire students in the classroom. In the case of special education, this means breaking down complex concepts, adapting instructional strategies, and providing individualized support is crucial. No matter what population of students you work with though, effective teaching ensures all students receive the knowledge and skills they need to thrive academically and personally.

2. Communications

Communication is fundamental to your success as a teacher because it’s the cornerstone to how students absorb instruction, curriculum, and guidance. All children process information in their own way, but students with learning challenges may have impairments that limit speech, hearing, vision, or social awareness. As such, developing effective communication methods enables you to convey instructions, provide feedback, and address concerns that ensure everyone is on the same page in supporting student growth.

Writing skills are indispensable for teachers since assessments and curriculum materials are often written by the instructor. Special education teachers are responsible for additional written materials, such as individualized education plans (IEPs), progress reports, and other documentation to track student development. Writing also enables you to communicate clearly with other professionals—such as psychologists or speech therapists—who collaborate on education plans.

4. Planning

On a daily basis, teachers must manage their time well and plan activities to meet learning goals. Special education teachers have additional planning responsibilities that focus on the short- and long-term goals of students with various learning challenges. While short-term planning in special education may involve more immediate activities that can help inform students’ IEPs, long-term planning is meant to anticipate potential challenges, develop assessment models, and adapt strategies to accommodate diverse learning styles.

5. Management

Teachers are responsible for maintaining a positive learning environment that promotes student engagement. “Classroom management is key because without a managed classroom, learning's not happening,” says Boerger. By implementing consistent rules, routines, and behavior management strategies, you can support students in achieving their full potential and minimize disruptions. In this way, strong management skills enable you to create a safe and nurturing space where students can focus on learning.

6. Mathematics

Math proficiency is an important skill in the classroom because teachers often work with students who require additional support in this subject. Having a solid foundation in mathematical concepts and problem-solving strategies can actually aid in designing the most beneficial instruction techniques.

7. Interpersonal communications

In addition to communication with students, teachers are also constantly communicating with fellow educators and parents. Since special education teachers frequently collaborate with students, parents, and support professionals, having strong interpersonal communication skills can greatly improve the ability to advocate for student needs.

“Communication with parents and guardians is so critical to building partnerships with the families,” Boerger explains. “Teachers can't always do it alone, so having those families work with the teachers for their child's success is going to be critical.”

8. Research

Thorough research skills are beneficial when educators encounter unfamiliar situations. Not only does research keep you informed about best practices, but it also helps you discover new interventions and evidence-based strategies. By fostering ongoing professional development through research, you can make more informed decisions that positively impact student outcomes.

9. Leadership

Leadership skills are important for empowering teachers to advocate for students, influence positive change, and collaborate well within teams. By taking initiative, demonstrating strong communication skills, and being proactive in problem-solving, you can better support the overall success of your students.

10. Problem-solving

While all teachers need to be adaptive, special education teachers have to be flexible and creative when facing a variety of challenges. Some of these problems can range from disruptive behavior to resource management. By analyzing situations, assessing student abilities, and developing creative solutions, you can adapt your teaching strategies to address student needs.

Top Skills for Special Education Teachers

While these highly valued skills for teachers are important to your success in special education, there are a number of skills that are specific to the industry.

According to our analysis of job postings data, here are the top job-specific skills employers look for in a special education teacher.

11. Special education

Special education training equips teachers with the skills to evaluate learning disabilities and provide a safe, equitable learning environment. Special education teachers need to be knowledgeable of inclusive practices, legal requirements, and strategies to support students with diverse needs.

12. Individualized education programs (IEP)

Individualized education programs outline the specific goals, accommodations, and services for students with disabilities. Gaining a better understanding of how to develop and implement IEPs allows you to effectively assess students' strengths and needs, and ensure they closely align with the IEP objectives.

13. Lesson planning

Well-structured lesson plans are a major part of creating a rewarding classroom environment that caters to different learning abilities. For special education teachers, lesson planning involves selecting appropriate resources, setting benchmarks, incorporating accommodations, and designing objective-driven activities.

“From the very beginning, students write lesson plans in our program,” says Boerger. “They actually do what's called a ‘gateway assessment,’ which is where we assess them on reviewing a lesson to see if they can find things that are missing or how to make it better.”

14. Disabilities

A comprehensive understanding of disabilities is necessary to accommodate the unique challenges faced by students with learning differences. By recognizing the strengths and limitations associated with various disabilities, you can foster a nurturing environment for all students and implement individualized learning plans.

15. Classroom management

“Classroom management is not only important, but it's the skill that we hear from our supervising practitioners in the classrooms that students lack the most,” Boerger notes. Special education teachers must establish clear expectations and boundaries while offering positive reinforcement. They have to strike a good balance between offering consideration, driving progress, and limiting disruptions—which requires a mix of patience, confidence, and experience.

16. Autism spectrum disorders

Since children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are prevalent in special education, learning to identify characteristics, needs, and interventions specific to ASD is crucial. Teachers must be prepared to manage challenging behaviors and adapt instructional techniques to communicate better with these students. As a result, knowledge of ASD empowers you to promote social and academic growth for students on the spectrum.

17. Curriculum development

Special education teachers often play a role in curriculum development, ensuring that it’s accessible and adaptable for students with disabilities. By modifying curriculum materials, differentiating instruction, and incorporating multi-sensory approaches, you can provide meaningful learning experiences, while also addressing individual student goals.

18. Working with children

Educators who are passionate about working with children will be most successful in this career. Patience, empathy, and the ability to build rapport are essential in establishing positive relationships with your students and recognizing their individual strengths and interests. Focus on being an active listener, providing emotional support, and fostering a nurturing environment, so you can create a sense of belonging and trust.

19. Behavior management

Special education teachers have to be skilled at recognizing the underlying factors behind challenging behaviors. By promoting positive reinforcement, using visual cues, and implementing structured routines, you can support students in self-regulation and social-emotional development.

20. Instructional strategies

Having a rigid outlook won’t serve you well as an educator. Classroom teachers draw from a broad toolkit of instructional strategies, which they can tailor to different students based on cognitive and physical disabilities or behavioral challenges. To make the learning experience both practical and enjoyable, special education teachers must learn to deliver information in ways that are engaging and encourage students to take an active role in their own education.

Technology Skills Teachers Need

With the evolution of technology found in today’s classrooms—and the emergence of hybrid online learning—teachers are often expected to have a number of computer/technology skills to succeed. Special education is no exception.

According to our analysis of job postings data, here are the most sought-after technology skills for special education employers.

21. Microsoft Office (Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word)

Proficiency in Microsoft Office programs improves organization, communication, and instructional delivery. Educators need tools to track student progress, analyze data, create classroom materials, present information, connect with parents and peers, and keep records. Above all, mastery of widely used tools will make it easier to get acclimated to the teaching environment and support student learning.

22. Zoom (video conferencing tool)

Zoom and other video conferencing tools have become essential for remote learning and collaboration. Learning to host video calls enables you to conduct live online classes, hold virtual meetings, and facilitate remote check-in sessions with students and families. Video conferencing also allows for seamless communication and instructional continuity when students have health issues or personal challenges keeping them out of the classroom.

23. Student information systems

Student information systems (SIS) streamline administrative record-keeping and allow smoother collaboration across different special education services. Familiarity with SIS ensures efficient data management, improved student assessments, and increased evidence-based decision-making. Teachers also need to learn how to input and retrieve data correctly in these systems so school systems can maintain accurate records.

24. Learning management systems

Learning management systems (LMS) provide a centralized platform for delivering and organizing educational content. LMS tools help special education teachers create online learning materials, track student participation, enhance accessibility, and promote independent learning. Boerger urges prospective teachers to gain exposure to learning technologies as much as possible during training. “When you do observations or volunteer work, really pay attention to the technology being used so that you can become well-versed in it.”

25. Spreadsheets

Spreadsheets continue to be go-to tools for organizing and analyzing data, which helps teachers gain valuable insights into student performance. Having an advanced knowledge of spreadsheet functions also allows you to streamline common tasks and generate reports for more efficient decision-making.

26. Google classroom

Google Classroom is a popular platform for delivering online learning and managing workflows. By leveraging the platform’s many features, teachers can facilitate real-time collaboration, distribute assignments and resources, monitor student progress, and provide timely feedback.

Become a Qualified Special Education Teacher

The impact of effective special education extends far beyond academics, as demonstrated by these top skills in the field. “Teaching special education is not for everybody, but we do need qualified teachers. There are a lot of kids who need a different way of teaching, and a different way of learning,” says Boerger.

Qualified special education teachers can help close today’s learning gap and build more inclusive environments that foster academic growth and social development. Luckily our analysis of occupation data reveals that special education teaching jobs are expected to grow at a rate of 9.5 percent from 2021 to 2031.

So if you’re interested in supporting children with unique needs, consider speaking with an admission counselor to learn more about the special education degree program at Regis College. This program can help you develop the skills needed to provide quality special education needed to reap the many benefits of becoming a special education teacher.

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June 23, 2023

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12 Resources for Special Education Teachers to Enhance Learning and Maximize Student Success

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Empowering diverse learners: integrating writing-to-learn strategies in a middle school science classroom in the u.s..

1. Introduction

• How do CLD students perceive and experience writing in an IBL program?
• In what observable ways does CLD students’ scientific knowledge and application of that knowledge change through writing?

2. Literature Review

2.1. language of science, 2.2. writing-to-learn in science, 2.3. forward search in writing.

[Writers] transform their ideas by ongoing analyses of their texts in terms of expanding inferences, reviewing idea development, noting contradictions, and making appropriate revisions. In this view the writer learns from writing by attending to, and clarifying, the emerging meanings of the text. (p. 740)

2.4. Knowledge Transfer in Writing

3. methodology, 3.1. context, 3.2. procedures and content, 3.2.1. the chill out curriculum, 3.2.2. writing a report, 3.3. participants, 3.4. data collection, 3.4.1. classroom observations, 3.4.2. semi-structured student interviews.

• Student’s demographic information (e.g., “Could you introduce yourself?”);
• Inventing experiences (e.g., “Could you describe your lunch box inventing experience?”);
• Writing experiences (e.g., “What was your experience with writing in the science class?”);
• Perceptions towards writing in science (e.g., “What do you think of writing in science?”).

3.4.3. Report Writing Drafts

3.5. data analysis, 3.5.1. analysis of interview and observation data, 3.5.2. analysis of student writing documents, 4. findings, 4.1. students’ experiences of writing, 4.1.1. writing facilitates comprehension of scientific concepts.

I feel like when you write something, it’s easier to understand rather than, reading it from a book. Because it’s coming from you. So, you can understand what you write. [When you read,] you don’t know what you’re reading until after you read it. But when you’re writing it by yourself, you think about it more. So, it sticks with you more.

I think [my understanding of the science concepts] developed because we started with one [draft] and we just wrote about our ideas. Then we went back and see what we needed to edit and add more to it and keep developing and more edits.

I knew what convection meant but it was just confusing because these two [convection and conduction] are very similar. But the next time I put it [in writing], even Mr. Lee told me it makes a lot more sense.

4.1.2. Writing Helped Students Understand the Lunch Box Invention Project

The writing helps you understand more of what the project’s about and uses a lot of details [in comparison to] if you just did the lunchbox project… I think the writing helped me connect [science concepts to the lunch box project] because I didn’t really [understand] conduction, radiation before. But then when I write it and then have a good understanding of it. It helped make the project easier.

I felt like writing it and doing it [are] two different ways to see it, like actually seeing [the] live version we’ve been making it. Sometimes I would go back to the writing, add a little more thing, [then] go back to the lunch box and see both. We can add [something to the lunch box] and go back to the writing, and then edit more.

4.2. Development of Writing: Comparison between Initial Draft and Final Draft

4.3. science literacy skills evident in students’ final drafts, 4.3.1. scientific knowledge, 4.3.2. application of knowledge, 4.3.3. extension of knowledge.

In relation to limiting heat transfer, people [have] also created inventions to help prevent heat transfer such as a radiation shield… [S]sources of radiation can be shielded with solid or liquid material, which absorbs the energy of radiation…to reduce the radiation to a level safe for humans.

4.3.4. Evidence-Based Reasoning

This invention is a success because the control group[’]s… initial temperature of the water bottle was 6 degrees Celsius and when putting it inside the shoebox under the heating lamp the temperature of the water was 22 degree Celsius which meant it went up 16 degrees Celsius. The invention made by 7th graders on the other hand started off at 0.8 degrees Celsius and ended at 8 degrees Celsius meaning it went up 7.2 degree Celsius.

4.4. Summary of Findings

5. discussion, author contributions, institutional review board statement, informed consent statement, data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

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Share and Cite

Kim, S.L.; Kim, D. Empowering Diverse Learners: Integrating Writing-to-Learn Strategies in a Middle School Science Classroom in the U.S. Educ. Sci. 2024 , 14 , 1031. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14091031

Kim SL, Kim D. Empowering Diverse Learners: Integrating Writing-to-Learn Strategies in a Middle School Science Classroom in the U.S. Education Sciences . 2024; 14(9):1031. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14091031

Kim, So Lim, and Deoksoon Kim. 2024. "Empowering Diverse Learners: Integrating Writing-to-Learn Strategies in a Middle School Science Classroom in the U.S." Education Sciences 14, no. 9: 1031. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14091031

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Assessment in special education: Actionable tips for general education teachers

Why is assessment in special education important?

General education teachers already have a powerful tool they can use, one they are very familiar with: assessment. Accurate, reliable assessment data can point the way and help general education teachers make impactful decisions to support students with disabilities.

A reliable, accurate assessment can help teachers evaluate what students have learned. The resulting data is also essential for determining if any instructional adjustments should be made, whether it’s for a whole class, a small group, or an individual student. But there are other ways assessment is used specifically for kids with disabilities:

Creating a “present levels of performance” statement

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires that every individualized education plan (IEP) have a present levels of performance statement . This provides a detailed overview of a student’s current academic and functional abilities, including information on the student’s strengths, areas for improvement, and progress toward previous goals. It’s based on all the information and data previously collected and known about the child, including assessment data, and it serves as a baseline to set specific, measurable goals and determine the appropriate support and services the student will need.

An accurate picture of where the student currently stands in their educational journey helps educators and caregivers collaborate effectively to create a plan that addresses the student’s unique needs, promotes their academic and functional growth, and keeps them in the least restrictive environment (LRE) . The present levels of performance statement has to be accurate and must be updated every year.

Identifying accommodations and/or modifications

Assessments for general education students are administered with the assumption that students are capable of showing what they know. But we can’t make this assumption for students with disabilities. For example, years ago, a student of mine who had difficulty with inferencing couldn’t understand the meaning of some of the questions on an assessment. She didn’t know what the questions were asking and spent hours on the test without making meaningful progress. Reliable assessment data can uncover areas like this where students may need more support. The data can make it easier to understand if new accommodations or modifications are required and should be included on the student’s IEP.

When thinking about accommodations for a student, ask yourself, does the data suggest a student could benefit from specific accommodations? For example, suppose you have a student who consistently has difficulty with reading comprehension on tests. You see this student’s scores are significantly lower in reading comprehension compared to their peers. And your classroom observations and formative assessments uncover that the student takes longer to read passages and often misses key details. Based on this assessment data, you might conclude that the student could benefit from extended time on tests or access to audiobooks during independent reading activities.

There are many possibilities for accommodations. “140+ IEP accommodations every special ed teacher should bookmark” is a great link to bookmark. You can find more great resources on the website for the National Association of School Psychologists .

Let’s look at another example if you’re considering whether a student needs an accommodation or a modification. Suppose you have a student who regularly struggles with problem-solving on math assignments and assessments. Your formative assessments tell you that the student has trouble completing problems and often makes errors in multistep calculations. Providing the student with fewer problems, or breaking complex problems into smaller, manageable steps—while ensuring the core concepts are still covered—is a modification that would benefit the student.

The website for the Parent Educational Advocacy Training Center (PEATC) lists many other possible modifications that can help you support the special education students in your general education classroom.

Showing progress on an IEP

Regularly keeping parents and other caregivers of students with disabilities in the loop about what’s going on in school is a great way to reduce any surprises at quarterly updates and annual IEP meetings. And accurate assessment data can be used when sharing great news about progress on the IEP outside of what’s required!

If your school tests with MAP® Growth™ , our Family Toolkit can support you in collaborating with your students’ families.

All of us here at NWEA would like to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who is working so hard to support students with disabilities and keep them moving forward. This student population tends to be one of our most vulnerable, and the work you do can make a real difference—every single day.

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Teach. Learn. Grow. includes diverse perspectives that are meant to be a resource to educators and leaders across the country and around the world. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of NWEA.