Resources

Composition/Organization of writing

Before deciding on any interventions below, first compare the student's writing to his/her oral language. If they match (i.e. the student is writing the same way he talks) then consult your Speech/Language Pathologist for possible language interventions. It is very rare for a student to be able to write better than he speaks. If, however, his ability to compose thoughts, sentences, and stories orally is much better than his ability to write these thoughts and stories, then try one of the following interventions:

• Interactive Writing
• Graphic-Organizers
• Color-Coding Strategy
• Paragraph Frames
• Sentence Expansion
• Sentence Combining

Encoding/Spelling

• Copy-Cover-Compare
• Take a Good Look
• Web the Word
• Elkonin Boxes
• Alphaboxes
• Building Words
• Compare and Contrast

Fine Motor

Oftentimes a student who has difficulty with writing composition also may have difficulties with forming letters. If you feel this is the case, consult your OT for possible interventions.

Progress Monitoring Writing

Progress monitoring for writing will be very specific to the intervention you've chosen. It's best to progress monitor the student's ability to apply the skill within the context of an actual writing task. Begin by taking a baseline: ask her to write a story with no help from you and count the targeted skill.

So, for instance, if the student needs help composing and organizing her writing, then you might count the number of sentences the student wrote that remain on topic and follow in sequential order. If the skill is spelling then you might count the number of correctly spelled words.