Dr. Sheldon Horowitz (Moderator):
    Welcome to LD Talk, the Web's only online discussion devoted to topics of interest to the learning disabilities community.

My name is Dr. Sheldon Horowitz, and I am the director of professional services at the National Center for Learning Disabilities. Today's LD Talk topic is, "LD and Written Expression." Our guest experts are Dr. Steve Graham and Dr. Karen Harris.

When you stop to think about the wide range of skills that are needed to be a good writer, it is no surprise that so many students with learning disabilities struggle with written expression. For example, children with reading disabilities often have serious difficulties with spelling, which in turn has an adverse affect on their ability to communicate in writing. Also vulnerable are children who have weaknesses in areas such as vocabulary, reading and listening comprehension, word retrieval, and those who have trouble with the basic mechanics of writing (e.g., handwriting, spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and sentence structure).

And surely those students who struggle due to poor organization skills and information procesing deficits that impact their ability to engage in the self-regulation strategies critical to writing are likely to be at risk for problems in the area of written expression. For children who struggle with writing, and consequently develop negative attitudes about themselves as writers, what motivational techniques can we use to change these students' perceptions of writing?

Steve Graham is the Currey Ingram Professor of Literacy at Vanderbilt University. His research focuses on identifying the factors that contribute to writing development and writing difficulties, developing and validating effective instructional procedures for teaching writing, and the use of technology to enhance writing performance. He is the current editor of Exceptional Children and the past editor of Contemporary Educational Psychology. He is the author of the Handbook of Writing Research, Handbook of Learning Disabilities, Writing Better: Teaching Writing Processes and Self-Regulation to Students with Learning Difficulties. and Best Practices in Writing Instruction. Steve also authored Writing Next: Effective Strategies to Improve Writing of Adolescents in Middle and High School, a meta-analysis of writing intervention research for grades 4 through 12 conducted for the Carnegie Corporation of New York and published by the Alliance for Excellence in Education. Steve has received numerous awards including: Career Research Award from the International Council for Exceptional Children, Samual A. Kirk Award from the Division of Learning Disabilities, Distinguished Researcher Award from the special education interest group of the American Educational Research Association, Don Johnston Lectureship award for Career Contributions to Literacy, and Distinguished Alumni 100th Anniversary Valdosta State University.

Karen R. Harris, Currey Ingram Professor of Special Education and Literacy at Vanderbilt University, has worked in the field of education for over 30 years. She has taught kindergarten and fourth grade, as well as elementary and secondary students with ADHD, learning disabilities, and behavioral/emotional difficulties. Dr. Harris' research focuses on theoretical and intervention issues in the development of academic and self-regulation strategies among students who are at-risk and those with severe learning challenges such as learning disabilities and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Author of over 100 publications, she contributes to the leading journals in special education, general education, and educational psychology. She is currently editor of the Journal of Educational Psychology. She is co-author of several books, including two recent books with Steve Graham, Writing Better: Teaching Writing Processes and Self-Regulation to Students with Learning Difficulties., and their soon to be released book, Powerful Writing Strategies for All Students, both published by Brookes Publishing Co. Nationally, she has served as president of the Division for Research of the Council for Exceptional Children, as an officer for the American Educational Research Association. She and Steve Graham received the Distinguished Researcher Award for special education research from the American Educational Research Association and the Career Research Award from the International Council for Exceptional Children.

Dr. Steve Graham and Dr. Karen Harris:
    We are happy to say that there are now a lot of different resources out there to help make it possible to learn about, or use, Self-Regulated Strategy Development for writing (SRSD). Teachers have applied the writing and self-regulation strategies used in SRSD from grades K-12. Below, we have listed online and print resources:

1. All of the stages of instruction can be seen in both elementary and middle school classrooms in the video, "Teaching students with learning disabilities: Using learning strategies" produced by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

This video offers the most complete view of the process of SRSD, as two classes are followed throughout instruction.

2. A free, online interactive tutorial on SRSD is available through Vanderbilt University.

The tutorial includes all stages of instruction and video clips from the ASCD video. From the IRIS homepage, select Resources, and then select Star Legacy Modules. Next, click on "Using Learning Strategies: Instruction to Enhance Learning." There is also a module on the persuasive writing strategy POW + TREE for elementary students. To get to this one, locate the header "Differentiated Instruction," then click on the module titled "Improving Writing Performance: A Strategy for Writing Expository Essays."

3. The Schwab Learning Web site includes information on using SRSD as well as other writing interventions and approaches.

4. Robert Reid at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has a fantastic Web site devoted to strategies instruction at http://www.unl.edu/csi.

Additional Detailed Print Descriptions of Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) instruction are available in the following resources:

1. Harris, K. R., & Graham, S. (coming out in late summer, 2007). Powerful Writing Strategies for All Students. Baltimore, MD: Brookes.

Going into printing now, this book includes a discussion of how and why to use SRSD for writing, followed by lesson plans for all of the strategies we have developed for elementary through high school, as well as prompts and support materials for instruction. We are very excited to have this book available to teachers and parent, as it gives everything needed to use SRSD in the classroom.

2. Graham, S., & Harris, K. R. (2005). Writing Better: Teaching Writing Processes and Self-Regulation to Students with Learning Difficulties.. Baltimore, MD: Brookes.

Our newer book gives great detail on each strategy and covers the SRSD approach. Strategies useful in elementary through high school are included.

3. Harris, K., & Graham, S. (1996). Making the Writing Process Work: Strategies for Composition and Self-Regulation (2nd Ed.). Cambridge: Brookline Books.

In our original book there is greater detail on how to do SRSD and the self-regulation components here than in either of the other two books we have done. There are detailed chapters on preparing, implementing, and evaluation SRSD instruction.

4. Harris, K.R., Graham. S., & Mason, L. (2003). "Self-Regulated Strategy Development in the Classroom: Part of a balanced approach to writing instruction for students with disabilities." Focus on Exceptional Children, 35, 1-16. This article gives a detailed description of teaching a writing strategy in one classroom, and SRSD guidelines.

Discuss It

• explore students' current writing and self-regulation abilities
• graphing (self-monitoring) may be introduced, using prior compositions; this may assist with goal setting;
  
  
• further discuss strategies to be learned: purpose, benefits, how and when they can be used (begin generalization support);
  
  
• establish students commitment to learn strategy and act as collaborative partner; establish role of student effort;
  
  
• may identify and address current negative or ineffective self-talk, attitudes or beliefs;

Model It

• teacher modeling and collaborative modeling of writing and self-regulation strategies, resulting in appropriate model compositions;
  
  
• analyze and discuss strategies and model’s performance; make changes as needed
• can model self-assessment and self-recording through graphing of model compositions;
  
  
• continue student development of self-regulation strategies across composition and other tasks and situations; discuss use (continue generalization support).

Memorize It

• though typically begun in earlier stages, require and confirm memorization of strategies, mnemonic(s), and self-instructions as appropriate;
  
  
• continue to confirm and support memorization in following stages.

Support It

• teachers and students use writing and self-regulation strategies collaboratively to achieve success in composing;
  
  
• challenging initial goals established collaboratively; criterion levels increased gradually until final goals met;
  
  
• prompts, guidance, and collaboration faded individually until each student can compose successfully alone;
  
  
• self-regulation components not yet introduced may begin;
  
  
• discuss plans for maintenance, continue support of generalization;

Independent Performance

• students able to use task and self-regulation strategies independently; teachers monitor and support as necessary;
  
  
• fading of overt self-regulation may begin;
  
  
• plans for maintenance and generalization continue to be discussed and implemented.

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Question from Audrey Zinman, parent:
    What advice do you have for non-verbal LD students to help organize their expository writing? In elementary school, these kids are viewed as verbal rock stars. When information becomes more complex in middle/high School, these students can fall off an academic cliff. Words which were their friends become their enemies-- a frustrating experience. For example, writing a research paper becomes a monumental task both in keeping track of materials (notecards etc.) and in structuring/organizing an arguement to support a thesis. Too many moving pieces on the desk and too many moving ideas in their brains-- a organizational nightmare. What are some effective strategies to help these kids realize their potential and regain their confidence with words and writing?

Dr. Steve Graham and Dr. Karen Harris:
    Thank you Audrey for your very insightful question. We've received other questions from parents who have similar concerns, making mention of how their children struggle with thought, word and project organization.

Being able to organize all that goes on with effective writing is one of the biggest challenges our kids face, and it is at the heart of SRSD instruction. In addition, however, there is the need for students to be familiar and comfortable with the steps in the writing process, which are embedded in SRSD as well: planning/prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. To help our students become able to organize their writing and the writing process, we need to teach them writing strategies for the task or genre they are working on (such as expository writing), model the use of these strategies, support them as they learn to manage the use of these strategies (through materials such as think sheets or graphic organizers, prompts, and so on), and gradually let go of support until they are able to manage this complex process alone.

If your school can’t or won’t provide this level of assistance, look for a good tutor. We give lots of details on how to do this, in a nutshell how to do SRSD, in our three books:

Graham, S., MacArthur, C., & Fitzgerald, J. (2007). Best Practices in Writing Instruction. NY: Guilford.

Graham, S., & Harris, K. R. (2005). Writing Better: Teaching Writing Processes and Self-Regulation to Students with Learning Difficulties.. Baltimore, MD: Brookes.

Harris, K. R., Graham, S., Mason, L., & Friedlander, B. (2007). Every child can write: Educator's guide to powerful writing strategies. Baltimore, MD: Brookes.

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Question from Frustrated parent and Michele Gilkerson:

    Question 1: from Frustrated Parent What can be done to get teachers to understand how much energy goes into writing for a student with a written expression disability? Even copying things from the board is a huge challenge (and often, in my opinion, unnecessary). Most teachers will say "He/she can do it", and I say, "of course they can--but it uses up lots of mental energy." Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Question #2: Michele Gilkerson, parent How can you get teachers to understand the huge amount of mental energy that is required for a student with a written expression disability to expend and how copying from the board is an unnecessary waste of their limited energy for school? It takes my son four times as long as anyone else in his class.

Dr. Steve Graham and Dr. Karen Harris:
    I am answering both questions together here, as they are basically the same problem. One thing that may be worth sharing is that it often takes a child with a learning disabilities twice as long (or in the case of the second question above, four times as long) to simply copy something as it does other children.

If you want to illustrate how frustrating this can be, ask the teacher to copy a simple statement (where the words average about 6 letters) for one minute timing how many letters they write in a minute (say 120 letters in a minute). Then ask them to do the same copying task again for five minutes, but now they have to wait 3 seconds between the writing of each word (this is how long it takes someone who writes 120 letters in a minute to write a 6 letter word). You can give them feedback as to when to start the next word. If you think this should be a ten minute task, make it so. Most adults get frustrated pretty fast.

With that said, one of the ways that youngsters become more fluent with writing is by writing, but clearly there are more motivating ways to gain fluency than carrying out copying tasks. Nevertheless, students with slow handwriting are at risk on timed tests and must work much harder to complete writing assignments simply due to their slow handwriting.

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Dr. Sheldon Horowitz (Moderator):
    Can you offer some suggestions for parents of young school age children about what expectations they should have of their child's school? For example, what is the school suppose to be doing, what is good teaching in writing and what should a parent expect their child to be learning?

Dr. Steve Graham and Dr. Karen Harris:
     This is a question we are often asked, and we have put together a few thoughts to share with you, and others who are asking similar questions. First of all, children will not develop this essential skill if we do not devote time and attention to its mastery. Here are some of the key things schools should be addressing for all students, with extra attention to the progress of students who struggle with writing, including our kids with LD:

• Knowledge about the characteristics of different writing genres, intended audience, and writing topics.
  
  
• Writing strategies involved in basic composing processes including planning, drafting, monitoring, evaluating, revising, and editing.
  
  
• Command of basic writing skills such as handwriting, spelling, sentence construction, grammar and usage.
  
  
• Development of the 7 traits of effective writing: ideation, organization, word choice, sentence fluency, voice, conventions, and presentation.
  
  
• Interest and motivation to write as well as perceptions of competence as a writer

Michael Pressley and his colleagues at Michigan State University have been involved in the study of how expert teachers teach writing, this can further sharpens our vision of how to construct an effective writing program. These teachers:

• Make sure their students are engaged; students spend most of their time doing something that involves thoughtfulness (such as crafting a story or learning how to construct a complex sentence);
  
  
• Teach basic writing skills, strategies, and knowledge balanced by ample opportunity to apply what is learned;
  
  
• Involve students in writing for a variety of different purposes;
  
  
• Create a writing classroom environment that is supportive, pleasant, and motivating;
  
  
• Encourage students to accomplish as much as possible on their own (to act in a self-regulated fashion), but teachers are ready to offer support and instruction as needed;
  
  
• Use reading to support writing development and vice versa;
  
  
• Monitor students’ growth in writing and encourage students to monitor their own growth;
  
  
• Provide extra assistance to students who experience difficulty;
  
  
• Are passionate about writing.

Finally, recent reports such as Writing Next (Graham & Perrin, 2006) and other systematic reviews of writing intervention research (see the Handbook of Research on Writing) provide additional detail on how to teach writing, showing that quality of students’ writing is improved by:

• Explicitly teaching strategies for planning, revising, and editing;
  
  
• Modeling effective use of writing strategies;
  
  
• Having students work together to plan, draft, revise, and edit their compositions;
  
  
• Using prewriting activities such as graphic organizers or think sheets to gather information;
  
  
• Involving students in inquiry activities designed to help them further develop their ideas for writing;
  
  
• Making the goals for writing assignments clear and specific;
  
  
• Teaching students how to construct more sophisticated sentences;
  
  
• Providing students with the opportunity to read, evaluate, and emulate models of good writing;
  
  
• Teaching students how to use word processing as a tool for composing.

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Dr. Sheldon Horowitz (Moderator): 
    A number of teachers and administrators have shared questions and comments regarding claims about 'what works' when it comes to the research base for writing instruction. Can you provide some resources and references for learning more about writing and what is known about writing instruction?

Dr. Steve Graham and Dr. Karen Harris:
     Below is a list of references we often give to teachers, other support professionals, and administrators. On this list you will find a recent report, very readable for practitioners and parents, from the Carnegie Foundation that presents a synthesis of all of the research done in effective writing instruction from grades 4-12. You will also find some other research pieces.

Graham, S., & Perrin, D. (2006). Writing Next: Effective strategies to improve writing of adolescent middle and high school. Alliance for Excellence in Education. Washington, D.C. (Commissioned by the Carnegie Foundation of New York).

A full-text PDF of this document is available for free download from Alliance for Excellence in Education and Carnegie Foundation of New York. Additional print copies of this report may be ordered from the Alliance for Excellent Education at 1201 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 901, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 828-0828.

Selected References on Writing and Writing research:
Applebee, A., Langer, J., Mullis, I., Latham, A., & Gentile, C. (1994). NAEP 1992: Writing Report Card. Washington, D.C.: US Government Printing Office.

Bereiter, C., & Scardamalia, M. (1982). From conversation to composition: The role of instruction in a developmental process. In R. Glaser (Ed.), Advances in instructional psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 1-64). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Graham, S., MacArthur, C., & Fitzgerald, J. (2007) Best Practices in Writing Instruction. NY: Guilford..NY, NY: Guilford.

National Commission on Writing (2003). The Neglected "R." College Entrance Examination Board.

MacArthur, C., Graham, S., & Fitzgerald, J. (2006) Handbook of Writing Research. NY, NY: Guilford.

Pressley, M., & Harris, K.R. (2006). Cognitive Strategies Instruction: From basic research to classroom instruction. In P.A. Alexander & P. Winne (Eds.), Handbook of Educational Psychology (2nd ed., pp. 265-286). New York: MacMillan.

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Question from Lori Daniel, parent:
    My child will be in the 5th grade and he is dyslexic with a learning disability in written expression also. I've questioned what resources are available to assist him in writing and the answers I've gotten from the school are very unclear. Mostly, I am told that in the future, he will be able to use a computer. However, he gets graded on his writing now and he is unaware that his writing is hard to understand by others who are reading what he has written. In the 4th grade, he had to take the TAKS, which required writing and while scores were available for other students, he was told they didn't know how to grade his paper. If they ever did, I don't know the results. The schools expect him to write like other students, yet they don't know how to grade him. This doesn't make sense. What expectations should I have for the schools in assisting him? Or, what could I do, as a parent, to assist him?

Dr. Steve Graham and Dr. Karen Harris:
    While the school is correct that computer technology will increasingly facilitate writing for kids who struggle with this skill, this doesn't solve your problem now - or at least it doesn't solve it fully. Why do I say that? There are computer programs that you can currently use that may be beneficial for your child. These include word prediction or Write Outloud published by Don Johnston Inc. in Wisconsin. The first program makes prediction about what word you yongster is going to write - helping to reduce key strokes. Perhaps more importantly, for your child is Write Outloud that reads back to the writer what they have written. Hearing what you write can make it clear (at least for some writers) that something is not right. In addition, with the advent of portable key boards (such as Alpha Smart), youngsters can take the a keyboard anywhere. However, with all of that said, there are plenty of things that the school can do now. These are practices that have been validated by research and used successfully with students with dyslexia. We have included many of these in previous responses, and encourage you to look at these. One thing that may be especially useful for your youngster is for the school to teach him strategies that help him generrate and organize ideas. This should be taught directly, by modeling how to use them and providing assistance until they can be used independently. We provide several examples of good sources for this type of instruction. We hope you find these helpful.

• Graham, S., & Harris, K. R. (2005). Writing Better: Teaching Writing Processes and Self-Regulation to Students with Learning Difficulties. Baltimore, MD: Brookes.
• Harris, K. R., Graham, S., Mason, L., & Friedlander, B. (2007). Powerful Writing Strategies for All Students. Baltimore, MD: Brookes.
• Using Learning Strategies: Teaching students with learning disabilities in the regular classroom (2002).
• Video and Facilitator's Guide published by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Alexandria, VA.
• IRIS Center. (2006). Star Legacy Module: Improving Writing Performance: A Strategy for Writing Expository Essays.
• IRIS Center. (2006). Star Legacy Module: Using Learning Strategies: Instruction to Enhance Learning
  
  

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Dr. Sheldon Horowitz (Moderator):
    Some techers note that before their students can use more sophisticated writing strategies, they need to get to be better at writing sentences. Can you give some suggestions about how teachers can help with this?

Dr. Steve Graham and Dr. Karen Harris:
     When teaching sentence construction skills, it is always important to describe the skill, establish why it is important, and model how to do it. Then, provide students with assistance until they can apply the skill correctly and independently; some students need a lot more help than others with this, and it is critical that they get the help they need. As students get better with different forms of sentences, ask students to apply what they are learning when they write. Some effective methods for teaching sentence construction skills include sentence frames, sentence expansion, and sentence combining:

1. Sentence frames. With sentence frames, students are given part of a sentence and asked to generate the rest of it. For example, students can be taught to write a simple sentence, with a single subject and predicate, by giving them a frame containing the subject (The dog ___________.) and asking them to complete the sentence by telling what happened (The dog ran.)

2. Sentence expansion. With sentence expansion, students are given a kernel sentence and asked to expand it by adding additional words. For example, students can be taught to make sentences more colorful by adding descriptive words to a kernel sentence:

Rewrite - The cat and dog like the toy - so that the sentence tells more about the cat and dog and the toy (i.e., The big dog and gray cat like the fuzzy little toy.)

3. Sentence combining. With sentence combining, students are taught how to combine two or more kernel sentences into a single sentence that is more complex. Students should work at a level of complexity that is appropriate for them. They learn to rewrite short, kernel sentences using:

• Placement of adjectives or adverbs
• Inserting phrases
• Using ’connectors’ (e.g., but, because, so)

Here are some examples we give to teachers:
Try this simple one:

The noodle was soft.
The noodle was on my plate.

Now try this one:

The noodles were long.
The noodles were skinny.
The noodles fell on the floor.
The noodles cracked into pieces.
The dinner was ruined.

And here is a more complex one (hint - this could end up as more than one sentence):

The snake was a cobra.

The mouse ran by.
The mouse was tiny.
It ran quickly.

The cobra’s mouth opened.
It opened menacingly.
The cobra struck.
The snake was lying in the grass.
The cobra was deadly.

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Question from chriscnaz. parent to 10yr old gifted student with written expression LD:
    How can you seperate and address written expression deficits when there are severe dysgraphia issues? My son has better expressive skills than mechanical writing skills, but these 2 skill sets are always addressed together in SPED goals and objectives.

Dr. Steve Graham and Dr. Karen Harris:
    You really can't separate these two issues, as they influence each other. For example, the mechanics of writing are also very demanding for developing writers. Likewise, the thinking processes involved in writing are very demanding. Planning, drafting, monitoring, evaluating, revising, and editing all require considerable mental energy. Energy that children must expend to type or write letters or figure out how to spell a word is not available for carrying out essential writing processes such as planning, evaluating, revising, and so forth. In fact, the mechanics of writing are so demanding for young writers that they minimize their use of these thinking processes. Thus, an important goal is to help developing writers become fluent enough with mechanics so that they do not interfere with the thinking processes of writing.

Even though lower-level and higher-level processes are linked together we need to teach both, especially to students with LD. We offer tips below for teaching both handwriting and spelling.

Handwriting

Teaching Letter Formation

• Model how to form the letter
• Describe how the letter is similar and different from other letters.
• Use visual cues, such as numbered arrows, as a guide to letter formation.
• Provide practice tracing, copying, and writing the letter from memory.
• Keep instructional sessions short, with frequent review and practice.
• Ask children to identify or circle their best formed letter or letters.
• Encourage students to correct or rewrite poorly formed letters.
• Monitor their practice to ensure that letters are formed correctly.
• Reinforce their successful efforts and providing corrective feedback as needed.

More on Handwriting

• Make sure that each child develops a comfortable and efficient pencil grip.
• Encourage children to sit in an upright position, leaning slightly forward, as they write.
• Show them how to place or position their paper when writing.
• Provide children with plenty of opportunities to use different types of writing tools and paper.
• Implement appropriate procedures for left-handed writers, such as how to properly place or position their paper when writing.
• Monitor students’ handwriting, paying special attention to their instructional needs in letter formation, spacing, slant, alignment, size, and line quality.
• Encourage students to make all final drafts of papers neat and legible.
• Expect that students will inevitably develop their own handwriting style, adapting how they write letters so they can be produced more efficiently.
• Organize the class so that additional handwriting instruction can be provided to children who need it.
• Place special emphasis on the teaching of difficult letters, such as a, j, k, n, q, u,and z, as well as reversals.
• Ask children to set goals for improving specific aspects of handwriting.
• Dramatize children’s progress by posting neatly written papers
• Consider if an alternative to handwriting, such as an Alpha Smart keyboard, is warranted.
• Have the child copy a short passage several times, trying to write it a little faster each time to increase handwriting fluency.
• Help children develop a positive attitude about handwriting.

Spelling Learning Spelling Words on the Weekly List

• Administer a pretest to identify which words need to be studied.
• Teach students an effective strategy for studying words.
• Have children practice their words together.
• Administer a posttest to determine which words were mastered.
• Ask that words misspelled during testing are corrected.
• Monitor that students continue to correctly spell mastered words over time.
• Provid additional study for words that were not mastered or maintained over time.
• Reinforce the correct spelling of taught words in children’s writing.

Learning the Skills to Spell unknown words

• Make sure that each child can segment words into sounds as well as add, delete, and substitute one sound for another in a word.
• Show students how the sounds in a word are related to print.
• Teach them common sound/symbol associations, spelling patterns, and helpful spelling rules.
• Have students build words from letters or letters and phonograms (e.g., c - at).
• Teach strategies for determining and checking the spelling of unknown words.

What else can I do?

• Provide students with plenty of opportunities to read and write, as new spellings are learned through both of these activities.
• Model correct spelling when I write something in front of the class.
• Encourage students to correct misspellings in all final drafts of papers.
• Providing instruction and practice in proofreading.
• Encouraging children to use spell checkers, dictionaries, and so forth to determine the correct spelling of unknown words.
• Organize class so that I can provide additional spelling instruction to those who need it.
• Adjust the number of words students have to learn each week, as struggling spellers will know fewer words at the start on their weekly spelling list.
• Provide students with a personalized list of words to study.
• Ask children to set goals for how many new words they will learn to spell each week.
• Set aside additional time for them to study their spelling words at school.
• Present only a few words to be studied at a time.
• Test students’ daily progress on the words they are studying.
• Encourage them to monitor their study behavior and subsequent spelling performance.
• Use spelling games and computer programs to reinforce the learning of spelling words and skills.
• Teach children spelling mnemonics for words that are especially difficult to spell.
• Providing them with a personalized dictionary that contains an alphabetical listing of the correct spellings of words they are likely to misspell.
• Place spelling demons and other difficult words on wall charts.
• Dramatize progress in spelling by posting papers with little or no misspellings.
• Help students develop a positive attitude about spelling.

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Dr. Sheldon Horowitz (Moderator):
    Many parents have written NCLD saying that only a small amount of time is spent teaching writing at their children's schools. Thoughts?

Dr. Steve Graham and Dr. Karen Harris:
     Good writing requires an awful lot, and takes many years to develop. Knowledge of the different types of writing; mastery of basic writing skills; strategies for planning, drafting, revising, and editing; self-regulation of the writing process; as well as motivation must come together to create a paper that is clear and effectively achieves the writer's purpose. Such writing is characterized by the following seven traits:

• Clearly presented and fully developed ideas
• Writing that is easy to follow and logically organized.
• Effective and precise word choice
• Varied use of sentence structure to promote fluency, rhythm, and natural speech patterns.
• Writing that captures appropriate tone or mood to make the desired impact on the reader.
• Correct spelling, usage, and grammar.
• A written product that is legible, attractive, and accessible.

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Dr. Sheldon Horowitz (Moderator):
    Karen talked about "Reading with a Writer's Eye" at a recent conference. Can you explain what you mean by that and how it is part of writing instruction?

Answer: Knowledge about the different purposes and forms of writing can be acquired or strengthened in part through reading. As students read stories, for example, they will see (with teacher guidance as needed) that the main character is often trying to solve a problem or achieve a particular goal. They can also see that some stories have a message or try to teach you something about life. They may even notice that some authors use techniques, such as cliff hangers, to enhance the reader's interest.

While students clearly acquire some knowledge through reading, how much they learn is unknown, and they may not apply what they learn in their own writing. One method for doing this is to have students "read with a writer's eye." This involves thinking carefully about, and discussing, how the author crafted text to achieve certain purposes. For example, after reading a mystery, the teacher can encourage discussion, directing students' attention to important features of text, such as how the author planted a false lead to make the story more interesting and complex. Students are then encouraged to use the same technique in a mystery they write.

Another way to facilitate students' acquisition and use of writing knowledge is to provide them with models of specific types of writing. For instance, when introducing students to story writing, a good starting place is to examine one or more stories to identify common features, such as placing the story in a particular place and time. Once the basic elements of a story are established, model stories can be used to explore other aspects of good story writing, such as using words that create a clear image. After "reading with a writer's eye," students can be asked to use what they have learned when writing their own stories. One way to do this is to have them generate possible ideas for each of the basic parts of the story before writing it. Models also provide a concrete example of a finished product - one which can be emulated by students.

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Question from Penny Colgan-Davis, Principal, Frankford Friends School:
    How can teachers in regular ed. classrooms support children who have struggles in writing? We're a very small school with no learning support services. We notice that students who have either struggled to learn to read or who have been evaluated and found to have some kind of learning disability find writing especially hard (so many skills coming together in one activity, I'm assuming). Often they "freeze" when it comes to writing and sit there and sit there, saying they "can't think of anything" to write about. We incorporate a lot of "pre-writing" think-alouds and discussions/mini-lessons, using Lucy Calkins and Nancy Atwell as models, but still, when push comes to shove and children have to write, they seem so overwhelmed, they don't get anything down that even comes close to what they had "wanted to say." We hate to see these kids fear writing so and want to unlock whatever it is that makes them shut down so they can begin to tell their stories. Thanks.

Dr. Steve Graham and Dr. Karen Harris:
    It is critical that all children receive effective instruction in the regular classroom, but especially students who find writing challenging. I am enclosing in this response a list of evidenced based-practices that have a proven track record (from research) in enhancing how well students write. I first list what has worked with students in general. Then I list activities that have been repeatedly observed when researchers have studied writing teachers who obtain exceptional writing progress with students. Finally, I present writing practices that have a proven track record with struggling writers and children with special needs.

Also, please note that writing process approaches may not be very effective unless the teacher is pretty skilled. Visit the Alliance for Excellent Education's, Publications page and click on the link for "Writing Next: Effective Strategies to Improve Writing of Adolescents in Middle and High Schools"

Finally, you may want to look at the book:

Graham, S., MacArthur, C., & Fitzgerald, J. (2007). Best Practices in Writing Instruction. NY: Guilford.

In this publication, be sure to review sections entitled, "Evidence-Based Practices in the Regular Classroom;" "Practices of Exceptional Teachers," and "Practices that Work with Struggling Writers."

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Dr. Sheldon Horowitz (Moderator):
    Can you talk about how parents and teachers can foster students’ interest in writing and promote an "I can do" attitude?

Dr. Steve Graham and Dr. Karen Harris:
    

• Have students write for real purposes and real audiences;
• Teach and develop powerful writing strategies and self-regulation of the use of these strategies-there is a lot to be said for the old adage, nothing succeeds like success!
• Create a classroom environment that is supportive, pleasant, and low-risk
• Allow students to make their own decisions and accomplish as much on their own as possible;
• Foster a sense of accomplishment.
• Look for ways to motivate students everyday.

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Dr. Sheldon Horowitz (Moderator):
    The following was submitted by Eddy Graham, Teacher: "Most of my students do not like to write, and to be honest, I am not too crazy about it either. What can I do to make writing more fun and motivating?"

Dr. Steve Graham and Dr. Karen Harris:
     Most children like to write when they first start school, but they often become less enamored with writing over time, and for children who find this skill difficult, many of them learn to hate it. We list a 19 things below that teachers can do to help promote more positive attitudes and a positive classroom environment.

1. Make sure that your writing assignments have a real purpose. Have students identify why they are writing and what they hope to accomplish. Likewise, when providing writing instruction, make sure students know what they are learning, why they are learning it, and where they can apply it.

2. Have students share their writing with others. They are more likely to do their best writing when there is an audience. Sharing should be an integral part of your writing program. Students can share their plans, an initial draft, a portion of their composition, or the completed paper with you, their peers, or other children or adults. Before writing, students should be encouraged to think about their audience and how they plan to maximize their impact on the reader.

3. Establish clear rules for student behavior during the writing period. Keep the rules simple and reasonable in number. Consistently reinforce them. Students' are not likely to enjoy writing (or learn well) if the classroom is chaotic.

4. Create a risk free environment where students feel comfortable taking risks with their writing. This means being accepting and encouraging of students' efforts and encouraging them to act in the same manner. For example, make it a rule in your class that when someone shares their writing, the first thing that you or your students do is to say what you liked most about it.

5. Do not circle every misspelled word or write "Awkward" next to every grammar error or clumsy wording. Intensive concentration on students’ miscues can make children more aware of their limitations and less willing to write. This is not to say that you should ignore these miscues, but select only 1 or 2 to concentrate on at a time. Otherwise, you are likely to overwhelm a beginning writer.

6. Support students as they begin to apply the knowledge, skills, or strategies you teach them. This can include reteaching, providing useful hints and reminders, giving useful feedback, and initially helping students apply what was taught.

7. Have students help each other as they plan, draft, revise, edit, and/or publish their work. This is most effective when the process of working together is structured. For instance, students are more likely to give good advice for revising, if they are asked to focus on specific aspects of the composition, such as identifying places where the writing is unclear or more detail is needed.

8. Make writing more motivating by allowing students to choose their own writing topics some of the time. For example, when the class is working on story writing, students should create the subject or the plot that their story will revolve around. Students don't need to choose the topic for every writing assignment, as they also need to learn how to respond to assigned topics as well, such as using writing to further extend their thinking about something they have read.

9. Increase student's ownership of an assigned writing topic by allowing the child to develop unique interpretations of them. For example, author and drama critic Peter Benchley modified what he saw as a boring final exam on the point of view of Great Britain and the United States on international fishing by writing from the point of view of fish.

10. Encourage students to take ownership of their writing. This includes allowing them to arrange a suitable writing environment, construct a personal plan for accomplishing the writing task, work at their own pace (when possible), and to decide what feedback from peers and the teacher is most pertinent for revising a paper.

11. Celebrate student success by displaying their very best work. This can be done by prominently displaying it in the classroom or in other places in the school. Students can also be asked to publish such work in a class or school newspaper, read their composition aloud to children in other classes, or share their paper at a special event.

12. Look for opportunities to give students positive feedback about their work. Let them know when they have done something well in their writing. Praise works best when it identifies what the child did well. Praise should be used when it is warranted, as overusing it can blunt its effectiveness.

13. Encourage students to monitor their own progress. This can be done by having them select their very best writing to keep in their writing portfolio, identifying why they selected each piece. Students can also be asked to compare a composition written early in the school year with one written later, identifying how their writing has improved.

14. Foster an "I can do" attitude among your students. Constantly emphasize that the key to good writing is effort and the use of what you have learned.

15. Monitor students' writing progress. Conference with them about what they are doing well and what you plan to help them do better. Establish how you will help them develop needed knowledge, skills, or strategies.

16. Make writing motivating by setting an exciting mood. Be enthusiastic about writing and what your students' write.

17. Show your students that you are a writer too. Share your own writing with them. Talk about the different ways you use writing each day.

18. Connect writing to students' lives and the world in general. Have them document the types of writing they do outside of school. Develop a wall chart where the class identifies how they use writing away from school.

19. Provide incentives for writing at home. For example, have parents document that their child writes for 20 minutes at home every school night for a month. Provide a special party for these children, allowing each to select a book to own from an array of books donated by parents or a sponsoring business partner.

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Question from Lee Westervelt, Principal, Early Childhood Center, Jenison Public Schools:
    We expose children to writing at age four in our preschool programs. In terms of early intervention, what are some key signs to look at written expression in terms of delays. Thank you!

Dr. Steve Graham and Dr. Karen Harris:
    I am probably not going to give you fully the answer you want here, but that has never stopped me! We don't currently know enough about early written language development, but some early signs that may signal that writing problems are going to occur later include the following:

• students who have speech and language difficulties are at-risk for writing problems.
• Likewise, students with classic early signals in terms of learning disabilities and behavior disorders are at-risk because most of these children eventually end up with writing problems.
• Children who have difficulty hearing and manipulating sounds in words (phonological awareness) are at risk , as this is a critical skill in spelling, and spelling is an important early predictor to writing success.
• Likewise students who have unusual difficulty in learning to write the letters of the alphabet in kindergarten are at risk, because handwriting, especially handwriting fluency, is an even more powerful predictor than spelling.
• Finally, children who resist engaging in writing activities when they are 4 and 5 are at-risk. Most children start school liking to write (although this starts to take a nose dive pretty quickly), and it is unusual for a child to dislike writing early on.

Because we do not have a solid research base on these early precursors to writing disabilities, it is important to keep a level head about all of this.

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Dr. Sheldon Horowitz (Moderator) Can you explain what you mean when you talk about "genres of writing?" What should children be learning at differet grade levels?

Dr. Steve Graham and Dr. Karen Harris:

  Genres are different types of writing: story writing, report writing, personal narrative, persuasive writing, and so on. By the end of elementary school, students need to be able to use writing to:

• Communicate with others (e.g., personal letters, business letters, notes, cards, email)
  
  
• Create personal narratives (e.g., journal writing, autobiography, writing about a personal event, and so forth)
  
  
• Entertain (e.g., stories, plays, poems, and so forth)
  
  
• Learn (e.g., learning log, reports, journal entries, summarizing, biography)
  
  
• Inform (e.g., writing lists, explaining how to do something, describing an object or place, describing an event, news report, reports, biography)
  
  
• Respond to literature (e.g., book evaluations, book reports, book reviews)
  
  
• Persuade (e.g., advertisements, opinion about a controversial topic)
  
  
• Demonstrate knowledge (traditional classroom tests, high stakes tests involving writing, and high stakes tests involving multiple choice answers)

Students should be expected to engage in the following writing activities at all grade levels: story writing, poetry, writing a play, journal writing, summarizing, responding to reading through writing, book report, report writing, writing a description, writing an explanation, learning logs, letter writing, and emails. They should also use writing to gather, think about, and report what they have learned when doing extended inquiry projects. In fact, such projects provide an excellent venue for students to apply what they have learned in writing. These writing activities should become more complex from grade to grade. For example, in second grade it is reasonable to expect that students’ persuasive text will contain a statement of belief or premise, three or more supporting reasons, and a concluding statement. By fifth grade, however, students should also refute counter-arguments and provide more sophisticated explanations and examples. As a result, what students need to know about writing changes, expands, and becomes more integrated at they become more skilled.




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Dr. Sheldon Horowitz (Moderator):
    Many schools still use the "whole language approach" for reading and writing. For children who still struggle, even in that environment, what would you suggest?

Dr. Steve Graham and Dr. Karen Harris:
     As we have argued often in our writing, the whole language and writers’ workshop approaches have a lot to offer in terms of good writing instruction, and fit a lot of what we noted in our earlier answer about good writing instruction.

In fact, we have two favorite books in this area: for older students: Nancy Atwell, In the Middle (check out other books by her as well); for Elementary/Middle grade students: Gail Tompkins, Teaching Writing: Balancing Process and Product. These are great books, and there are others out there that are very helpful in setting up good writing instruction and fostering motivation. But, research indicates that whole language and writers' workshop alone are not enough for many students, if not most - not just students with LD. Writing simply does not develop "naturally" for most of us, in other words, by having children write for real purposes and real audiences.

While students must write frequently and for many purposes, they also need to be explicitly taught critical writing skills, processes, and knowledge. The key is to create a balanced writing program that involves a judicious combination of writing, explicit instruction, and less formal techniques such as conferencing and capitalizing on teachable moments.

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Question from Steve Street, Asso. Prof. SLD Licensure, MN State Univl. Moorhead:
    Dr. Graham...I am a nut about the work KU-CRL continues to do with the Kansas Strategies and Content Enhancement Routines. I am also driven by the concept of successive approximations in developing writing skills for students with SLD learning needs. I continue to be challenged by "getting started" ideas for non-writers at the secondary level given their writing failures for years. What suggestions do you have in developing "getting started" in writing ideas for secondary students with SLD learning needs? Thanks.

Dr. Steve Graham and Dr. Karen Harris:
    This is always a tough question, as the difficulties these youngsters have encountered have developed over years, and there is no easy to fix. Often when a student learns to dislike writing, they frequently continue to dislike it, even if they become relatively skilled with it. With that in mind, here are a few suggestions.

Providing choice in the topics students write about can motivate some students to write. There may be a particular topic they are interested in and letting them initially write about it or related topics can sometimes get these youngsters moving.

Having a writing partner (one who will not take over the whole process) to discuss ideas for a piece in advance and each of writers take responsibility for specific parts of the task can get some struggling writers going. This is probably better if the writing partner theme is a classwide approach.

Before students start to write about an assigned topic holding classroom discussions about it, and listing the most salient ideas on the board can be helpful for some students who are challenged by getting started. These students may still need some guidance on selecting the focus for their paper and organizing ideas, but content (or much of it is already generated in the group discussion).

Of course trouble getting started may not be just a motivational issue; it may also be an issue of having slow handwriting skills, poor spelling, or ineffective planning and revising strategies. As you already know from your work with the KU strategies these problems can be addressed directly.




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Dr. Sheldon Horowitz (Moderator):
    Self-monitoring is another part of the self-regulation of writing. Please explain that more.

Dr. Steve Graham and Dr. Karen Harris:
     The essence of self-monitoring is that students keep track of how well they are doing on things they have targeted - so it works very well along with goal setting. Students can monitor one or more aspects of their writing (but not too many all at once!), such as how many elements of a certain types of writing they have included (in other words, students check to see if they have all the parts of a good story, of a good opinion essay, etc.), how many great vocabulary words they have used (vocabulary is a critical part of scoring in assessment of students' writing); our kids call them "million dollar words" (we use to call them thousand dollar words, but the kids didn’t think that was a good enough phrase). We have students graph what they are monitoring, so that they can see their progress. You can see sample graphs and get a lot of information on how to do goal setting, self-monitoring, self-instructions, and self-reinforcement in our 3 books we listed in an earlier answer. In short, self-monitoring involves:

• Step 1. The first step is to determine and define explicitly what the students will self-monitor.
  
  
• Step 2. Information is gathered on the student's current performance on the behavior or event to be self-assessed. For writing, one or two recent compositions, done before SRSD begins, are typically a sufficient sample. This baseline data helps to demonstrate progress throughout instruction.
  
  
• Step 3. The teacher briefly describes the purpose of self-monitoring and the benefits the student will derive. We typically begin by saying something like, "I would like to teach you something that will help you to help yourself write good stories." The benefits of independently self-monitoring in future tasks are then discussed.
  
  
• Step 4. When the purpose of self-monitoring is clear and the student has indicated willingness to self-monitor, the teacher instructs the student in the procedures involved. The teacher and the student will discuss: what will be self-assessed; what criteria are desirable; how to count and record the targeted aspect of writing; when self-monitoring is to occur.
  
  After outlining these steps for the student, the teacher models them for the student, verbalizing what is being done at each step. Then the teacher asks the student to talk the teacher through each step, and finally the student models the procedures and verbalizes the steps independently. These steps are important to be sure that the student clearly understands the self-monitoring procedures as well as the behavior or event to be self-monitored and can easy carry out the self-monitoring procedures independently.

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Question from Lily - mother of a 19 years old:
    What can you do for young adults with writing difficulties? Much is being said about kids, but how can you help big people? Does reading a lot help (to learn new vocabulary)? Does forcing yourself to write as much and as often as possible help?

Dr. Steve Graham and Dr. Karen Harris:
    We know much less about teaching writing to young adults with learning disabilities. But we would like to offer several suggestions. Let's call it the 6-point program to better adult writing for struggling writers.

First, we want to circumvent or minimize areas of difficulties. For example, if a young adult has severe problems with text transcription, we want to be sure that they have access to tools that let them minimize of circumvent these problems. This can include word processing (as handwriting can be learned easier than handwriting for some people), word prediction programs (as this allows writers to reduce the number of key strokes they have to make), and speech synthesis (as this eliminates most typing, but not all).

Second, we need to recognize that the writing that most adults have to do in the work place is typically discipline specific. Thus, they need to become familiar with the basic forms and characteristics of the types of writing they are expected to carry out (this applies to college as well as work). This can be facilitated by studying good models of this type of writing (to determine its characteristics) and trying to emulate it, getting feedback and assistance from others. This is the basic approach that Ben Franklin (minus the feedback) used to improve his writing.

Three, the types of writing that many young adults are asked to do require the ability to locate, synthesize, and evaluate information. They are often at a loss on how to do this. These skills need to be taught directly, taking into account how information is obtained in the discipline in which they are situated. Each skill should be described and explained, how to do it modeled, with the young adult and the coach then doing this together, and fianllt with the young adult doing this alone with the help from the coach as needed.

Four, It is not just an issue of getting information, but the adult writer must decide what to include (separate the wheat from the shaft) and how to organize it. I am going to recommend three resources on how to teach such strategies. While the strategies presented in these books are for younger struggling writers, the methods for teaching organization skills apply to persons of all ages.

Graham, S., MacArthur, C., & Fitzgerald, J. (2007).Best practices in writing instruction. NY: Guilford.

Graham, S., & Harris, K. R. (2005). Writing better: Teaching writing processes and self-regulation to students with learning problems. Baltimore, MD: Brookes.

Harris, K. R., Graham, S., Mason, L., & Friedlander, B. (2007). Powerful Writing Strategies for All Students. Baltimore, MD: Brookes.

Five, when writing in the disciplines, it is always helpful to have a good model to emulate (not plagerize). Many young academics do just this. The first time they write a research paper, they find a well written published study that serves as a model for what they will do. This does not always work, but when it does, it provides a concrete model of the end point product.

Six, young adults should be encouraged to seek feedback from a more skilled writer on the first drafts of important assignments. The person giving feedback should always be encouraged to first say what they liked about the composition.



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Dr. Sheldon Horowitz (Moderator):
    Many parents note that their children dislike writing at home, even those who do not have learning disabilities. Is this a problem or just a personal preference and should parents be concerned?

Dr. Steve Graham and Dr. Karen Harris:
    Difficulties with narrative, expository, and informative writing have been well-documented among approximately 70% of kids in our schools. National and state writing assessments indicate that we are not yet highly effective at developing this critical competency among our students.

Five areas of competence have been identified as particularly difficult in learning to write for most students: (a) generation of content, (b) creating an organizing structure for compositions, (c) formulation of goals and higher level plans, (d) quickly and efficiently executing the mechanical aspects of writing, and (e) revising text and reformulating goals.

Further, although children typically begin school with a positive attitude about writing, many begin to dislike writing at about 3rd grade. This is why a lot of our recent work is aimed at 2nd graders.




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Dr. Sheldon Horowitz (Moderator):
    Can you share some of your reserach evidence and talk about its accuracy as well?

Dr. Steve Graham and Dr. Karen Harris:
     Yes, there are over 30 studies to date that clearly demonstrate that SRSD is an effective approach from 2nd grade through high school. Further, the research indicates that SRSD is not just effective with students with LD, but with most all struggling writers (they must have the preskills to be ready for SRSD - please see the SRSD references we provided in another answer) and for average to good writers as well. Here are some selected references:

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

De La Paz, S., Owen, B., Harris, K. R., & Graham, S. (2000). "Riding Elvis' Motorcycle: Using Self-Regulated Strategy Development to Plan and Write for a State Exam." Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 15(2), 101-109.

Graham, S., & Harris, K. R. (2003). "Students with Learning Disabilities and the Process of Writing: A Meta-Analysis of SRSD Studies." In H. L. Swanson, K. R. Harris, & S. Graham (Eds.), Handbook of Learning Disabilities (pp. 323-344). NY: Guilford Press

Graham, S., & Perrin, D. (2006). "Writing Next: Effective Strategies to Improve Writing of Adolescent Middle and High School." Alliance for Excellence in Education. Washington, D.C. (Commissioned by the Carnegie Corp. of New York).

Greenwald, E., Persky, H., Ambell, J., & Mazzeo, J. (1999). "National Assessment of Educational Progress: 1998 Report Card for the Nation and the States." Washington, DC: US Department of Education.

Graham, S., & Harris, K.R., & Zito, J. (2005). "Promoting Internal and External Validity: A Synergism of Laboratory Experiments and Classroom Based Research." In G. Phye, D. H. Robinson, J. Levin (Eds.), Experimental Methods for Educational Intervention (pp. 235 265). San Diego, CA: Elvieser.

Harris, K.R., & Graham, S. (1992). "Self Regulated Strategy Development: A Part of the Writing Process." In M. Pressley, K.R. Harris, & J.T. Guthrie (Eds.), Promoting Academic Competence and Literacy in School (pp. 277 309). New York: Academic Press.

Harris, K. R., Reid, R., & Graham, S. (2004). "Self-Regulation Among Students with LD and ADHD." In B. Wong (Ed.), Learning about Learning Disabilities (3rd ed., pp. 167 195). Orlando, FL: Academic Press.



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Question from Louise Ennesser, Parent:
    What can be done to make things easier for the child who can verbally express herself with ease in response to questions, but ask her to write down the response to the same question and she can't string two sentences together?

Dr. Steve Graham and Dr. Karen Harris:
    I assume that this is a handwriting and/or spelling problem mostly, as the child can produce a cogent verbal response. I have a particular resonation with your question, as our daughter experienced the same difficulty. For her, the solution was to move to producing text v ia typing versus hand.

For many children typing is an easier skill than handwriting. They can make this transition in grade two and three (I am suggesting the end of grade 2 and 3 because key board are built for adult hands, and in my experience it is better to wait to introduce formal typing instruction when children are around 8 years of age). Did I say formal typing instruction? Yes I did. Just like with handwriting, we want children to become efficient and quick typist. The best way to ensure this is to directly teach this skill.

I would also like to mention alpha smart keyboards as a keyboarding tool that kids can take anywhere. Obviously, one of the problems with typing is that the child will encounter many situations where it is not feasible in the classroom, unless they bring their own keyboard.

For older youngsters (high school), a great alternative is speech synthesis. The reason that I say older students is that speech synthesis does not always work so well with young children who have high squeaky voices (the error rate increases). Also, because speech syntheses (IBM Gold or Dragon Naturally Speaking) do not result in error free transcription from voice to print, the youngster has to be motivated enough to make the corrections.

Of course, there is always the old stand by of dictation for younger kids, but it is difficult to find a scribe consistently and it is not really very practical.

Finally, there is a reasonable amount of evidence that if we can spot kids like this in first grade (ones who copy about 10 letters per minute), we can have a positive impact on decreasing this problem by providing them with extra handwriting instruction (as little as 45 minutes per week over 9 weeks). Such instruction has brought these children up to average levels of handwriting fluency.



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Question from Debbie S. Parent of two LD boys:
    I have two boys. My oldest, a 6th grader, had been formally diagnosed with dyslexia and my middle guy, a 4th grader, has had some preliminary testing that shows a deficit in writing,specifically spelling and written expression. My oldest has recently tested as average in writing but really struggles. What can I do as a parent this summer to get these two kids moving in the right direction?

Dr. Steve Graham and Dr. Karen Harris:
    This is a good question, and one that we are often asked. Summer should not be over stressed with school work, as we want kids back in the fall and ready to go. Having said that, however, we also believe that summers can result in a loss of learning for a lot of our kids with LD. A reasonable investment in time and energy in the summer in learning is a good idea, and families have to work out what is reasonable for their child(ren). If you can afford a tutor who knows a lot about spelling and writing or work out a cooperative arrangement with other parents for tutoring (we have known a number of families who do this with good results), tutoring is a very strong support. One on one instruction matched to where the child is can make a big difference. Some children also work well with their own parents. For spelling, you might see if you can get the spelling curriculum from your son's school (for this year and next year), and work on a few words a week. It is best to work on unknown words (most average learners have only a few unknown words each week from the list the school gives them, so they are not really studying a lot of unknown words each week).

Determine a reasonable number of words, say 5-7 or so, and have your son keep a word bank of new words he can spell, or a graph of how many words he is learning, or some other fun way to see his progress. There are some good learning to spell strategies out there as well, and you might look at a book by Davis et al., Study Strategies Made Easy: A Practical Plan for School Success, for some ideas, or an article by Graham that covers effective spelling instruction: 1999, Handwriting and spelling instruction for students with learning disabilities: A review. Learning Disability Quarterly, 22, 78-98. For writing, it is very important that your sons are comfortable with the steps in the writing process. You will see that we have said a lot more about this in other answers to questions. I would suggest selecting one or two writing strategies from our book, Writing Better: Teaching Writing Processes and Self-Regulation to Students with Learning Difficulties,  and helping your sons learn to use these. Select one or two that are related to the types of writing your child often gets asked to do at school, and that you feel your child can handle. One is plenty; it is better to take the time your son needs to feel good with one strategy. You may have to directly teach additional writing strategies over time, if your school does not offer this type of instruction.



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Dr. Sheldon Horowitz (Moderator):
    You've mentioned that goal setting is one of the self-regulation abilities you teach along with writing strategies. Can you please tell more about what this means and how it works?

Dr. Steve Graham and Dr. Karen Harris:
     We use goal setting as part of SRSD for lots of reasons. Goal setting enhances attention, motivation, and effort. Second, it provides information as to what is desired or required for the writing task at-hand. Goal setting also facilitates planning and strategic behavior while prompting self-evaluation and self-determined consequences.

The process for goal setting includes five steps:

• Ask students to set the goal, breaking it into sub-steps as needed.
• Have students devise a plan for meeting the goal and assessing progress.
• Set the plan into operation.
• Require students to monitor progress.
• Reset or revise goal(s) as necessary.
  
  

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Question from Anna Marie:
    Our school Psychologist said that my son does not have a disability in written expression because sometimes he has problems writing and sometimes he doesn't. The school is taking the position that he would have problems all the time if it was a true disability in written expression. Is that true? How do I know what's really going on?

Dr. Steve Graham and Dr. Karen Harris:
    An obvious explanation is that some of the times, your son is being asked to write about things he is interested in and/or knows something about, and other times this is not the case. When, he is not interested, he is not engaged and does not put forth much effort, with the oppositie happening when he is interested in the topic or knows a lot about it. If this is the case then, this does not really look like a writing disability. However, it is also true that kids with learning disabilities often are very variable in their performance. In addition, just because you can write a reasonably cogent composition about a personal experience does not mean that you can write a good essay explaining how something works. They require different skills. So there are a couple of things that you want to consider. If your son can write well part of the time across different genres (narrative and expository), it may be a motivation problem. If your son can write well in easier genres (where you basically write from memory or make something else), but writes poorly in genres that may require more cognitive effort, then your youngster (most likely) has a writing problem and not a motivation one. Also, it is important to keep in mind that some youngsters will occassionally show flashes of greatness in an area where they have a disability, but this will only be occasionally. Without additional information, this is pretty much the best we can do.



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Dr. Sheldon Horowitz (Moderator):
    That concludes our discussion for today. Thanks to everyone for the thoughtful questions and thanks to our experts, Dr. Steve Graham and Dr. Karen Harris, for their time today. A transcript of the LD Talk will be made available shortly.

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