Writing Strategies for Special Education Students

     Special education students especially have had a history of struggling with writing. However, research over the past two decades has yielded some promising results. Several research-based instructional strategies have proved useful at ameliorating the quality of students’ writing. Researchers emphasize the importance of explicit, direct instruction for students with learning disabilities. Learning is enhanced when students receive concrete, explicit instructional strategies coupled with teacher and/or peer feedback in the form of verbal dialogue (Baker, Gersten, & Graham 2003).

     Learning disabled students tend to be more motivated when they write in meaningful situations. Sharing free-write journals and having discussions about the topics in their journals have shown to facilitate growth in writing. Both the number of details and length of the sentences increase. Students with learning disabilities blossom during these types of sociocultural approaches to writing. They write more and offer more detail when the writing is for authentic purposes (Anderman, Parecki, & Palincsar).

     Specific planning strategies have been used to help engage upper elementary students with learning disabilities in the writing process. Two strategies that have been tested with success are SRSD (Self-Regulated Strategy Development) and STOP (suspend judgment, take a side, organize ideas, and plan more as you write). Students wrote more functional essay or informational elements with the strategy instruction. Being cognizant of students’ abilities will enable teachers to plan the most appropriate instructional strategy methods (De La Paz & Graham, 1997). 

     Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) combines academic strategies with self regulating procedures. Employing the strategy has proven successful with elementary students with learning disabilities. Students who experience strategies where they have ownership over their own thought processes learn to be more capable, independent thinkers (Mason, Harris, & Graham, 2002).

     Writing interventions geared toward facilitating learning disabled students to write personal and persuasive essays have been found to be effective. Studies reveal that instructional interventions produce moderate to strong positive effects on learning disabled students’ writing. Students welcome the opportunity to express themselves in meaningful ways. The expressive writing strategies or interventions for learning disabled students produce undeniable gains in their overall performance and their sense of self-efficacy (Gersten & Baker, 2001).

     Adolescents with learning disabilities have a strong desire to express themselves but sometimes flounder in the process. They want someone to read their words instead of pass judgment. Personal writing journals are a pathway for this desire. Adolescents feel a sense of ownership with their writing and begin to produce more comprehensive, quality work. Expressive journal writing gives students a sense pride in their accomplishments and the nonjudgmental outlet they seek (Del Giorna, 1997).                           

     Well planned strategy instructions help teenagers with and without learning disabilities perform their best on writing assignments. Strategies that provide detailed scaffolding for expository essays help students through all three stages of the writing process. Guiding struggling adolescents during the writing process fosters confidence and independence. Strategies help them achieve and self-regulate (Wong, 2000).