The Assistive Technology Blog

Excerpt from LD Online (http://www.ldonline.org):

Helping Students Who Struggle to Write

By: Regina G. Richards (2001)

"Eli shook himself to stop daydreaming .... Writing was definitely the worst task of all. It was just way too hard to remember all the things he needed, like periods and capital letters. And then it was almost impossible to think about how to spell words when he was busy trying to think about the story." 1

Students benefit when they compensate for writing problems because so often writing struggles interfere with learning and prevent them from fully demonstrating what they have learned. Compensating helps them bypass the problem area and still accomplish the goal of the activity. Some example classroom compensations include the following:

Staging:
dividing the task into smaller units and performing each subtask independently. Some students become overwhelmed because tasks appear to be too large or have too many steps. Staging helps them focus on each subtask with greater concentration and an emphasis on quality.

Providing structure for math:
using large graph paper or looseleaf paper turned sideways helps the student alignment numbers properly in multi-step math problems. Some students benefit from having their math problems machine copied in enlarged format with additional white space, as this also prevents errors in copying the problem.

Adjusting writing format:
allowing each student to choose the format that is most comfortable. Some students perform better in manuscript whereas other students perform better using cursive. Allowing work to be completed by computer word processing helps the student use staging more efficiently while also bypassing the mechanical difficulties of letter form and space.

Spelling:
allowing for misspelling on in-class assignments. Hold students responsible for correct spelling on final drafts, encouraging use of a phonics-based spell checker, such as one of the Franklin Electronic Resources® with a speaking component.2