Differentiating Writing for Non-Writers- Lowest Level

It Takes a Village

Before I even get started with this post, I have to say that I have an amazing team of therapists. We have an awesome occupational therapist that will do whatever we need at the drop of a hat. It takes a village, it truly does, and all of the activities I am posting about have been a collaborative effort between my team and I, so thank you Miss Jessica!

Who are these particular activities for?

I broke this into different levels because I feel that there is SO much information to share! So let me begin by breaking down this level of "writers" in my moderate-severe classroom. This particular group is my younger group, they are also my most severe group of students. We are working on things like: crossing mid-line, making selections, putting things "in", and horizontal lines. We had to break down our pre-writing because we weren't making progress. We have been and will continue to work on making horizontal lines until our students are able to make the lines themselves.

Writer's Workshop for Non-Writers

I do Writer's Workshop during my center rotations weekly. It is time for me to sit and specifically work on writing skills. This is our weak area, and I know this. I decided to make it my goal to tackle this head on this year. In order to do that I needed to think outside the box and collaborate, collaborate, collaborate! My Occupational Therapist and I have worked very hard to make sure have motivating and engaging activities. Each student has a writing folder that I keep their work in. In the higher levels of writing, it takes us a week to complete one step. I will get into that in my next blog post. 

Hands-On Activities 

Before I begin any type of writing with this lowest level, I do a hands-on, texturized activity. We tried to make sure that the activities for making horizontal lines were motivating and engaging for my kids. Here is a picture of some of the items we utilize for motivation: 

My Occupational Therapist made these activities for us. She hot glued large pom-poms on a large popsicle stick. She also used fabric paint on a large popsicle stick. The next is a large dowel rod, with a ball that we stick on the dowel rod. Students need to move the ball left to right to get it off the stick. They love to watch the ball fall off the rod! The last she used a large wrapping paper tube and wrapped the center in tissue paper. The students hold each end of the tube while we hang the ball on a string. They have to hit the ball with the orange part of the tube. This helps are students who struggle with visual perception and it's also really fun!

Horizontal Lines

Once we have completed about 2-3 minutes of making horizontal lines on our texturized materials, I have my students make horizontal lines on paper. I use a large sentence strip and we are using markers right now because they are larger and easier for the students to grasp, and also if it gets on my table, it's easy to wipe off. I help the student place their hand in writing position and then they make a horizontal line following the sentence strip. 

Journaling 

In Ohio, we have extended content standards for students with disabilities who are on a modified curriculum. One of our standards is to make a picture selection to complete a sentence. I created these journals so that my students can participate in journaling at their level. Our theme for the month is weather, so I made weather pictures in their journals and they have to complete the sentence. I give them two options. Once they have made their selection, we read their sentence. 

You can get these journals in thematic packs that correlate with the Unique Learning System here: Non-Writer Journals

Assistive Technology 

We use a few iPad apps to help with our pre-writing skills. Here is a list of the apps we use: 

Dexteria Jr- This app helps with visual tracking, pre-writing strokes, and technology skills such as pinching the screen.

Writing Wizard- This app helps with pre-writing strokes and is HIGHLY engaging. My students love this app. I love it, because the app models how to make the strokes before the students can try to make them, then after they complete the strokes, it gives them some "play time" with the various pictures they use to to form the lines. They also have cute themed pictures likes Santa's, hearts, and shamrocks for the different seasons. Also, big benefit for me- IT TRACKS DATA! Just email it to yourself, and you can print your students pre-writing strokes. Love it!

Ready to Print- This app also works on pre-writing strokes but it is not as engaging as the Writing Wizard, however it is more practical. It shows a highlighted path where the student should be writing, and when they go out of the path, it will show them by making their stroke red. This app comes with companion worksheets that can be laminated for extra practice. Just go to their website (http://apps.essare.net/app/ready-to-print/) and download. This app also tracks data! Just email it to yourself and you can print your students pre-writing strokes. 

These apps are paid apps, but they are so worth it! I have posted some videos over on my instagram page of this particular level of writing. Make sure you check it out! www.instagram.com/multiplymagnificentlearners

Name Stamps

We have students who are utilizing name stamps to write their name on their classwork. We are currently working on "pushing" the stamp down. Our particular name stamps do not give a lot of feedback, so it's hard for the student to tell if they've pushed hard enough to get the stamp on. My OT added pop buttons to the top so when they push on the stamp, they are getting some type of feedback. This seems to have been pretty effective! I took a piece of brightly colored paper and cut a window in it. We laminated it so that we could easily wipe it off. We place the piece of paper over top of construction paper, lined paper, etc. and have students practice targeting that window. I will add a picture of this later, I forgot to take one of this specific tool, but you can see it in the very first photo on this blog and in a video on my instagram account. 

Texturized Writing Utensils

My occupational therapist and I were struggling to get them to hold onto markers, crayons, pencils, a stylus, anything really. They were just NOT having it. She came up with the genius idea to add different textures to the utensils. She chose textures specific to what my students like, but you can add any texture really. This trick has been so useful for us. The students will hold the utensils long enough to make horizontal lines. I will also add a picture of this specific tip/trick when I get the chance, but for now you can hop over to my instagram to see it in a video. 

Hope this was helpful! Drop me a comment if you want a closer look into anything or have any more ideas for me to add to our routine!