Who are these strategies for?
These strategies are for students who struggle to form letters. They may be cognitively able to produce written content but need access to assistive technology to do so. These students are working on forming sentences using capitalization, correct grammar, and punctuation. They may be beginning to form paragraphs.
Beginning Writers
Currently I do not have anyone at this level, but I will share how I would instruct this level if I did have students learning to form letters. We use the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum for writing instruction. Once students have the pre-writing strokes, we work on letter formations using the sticks from Handwriting Without Tears. I laminated the stick mats from the program and put soft velcro along the lines. We practice tracing the lines on the soft velcro for some sensory input. I add hard velcro to the sticks and then we practice putting the sticks on the lines. Then once they have mastered that, I take the velcro away and use the mats and sticks. I do not have a picture of these at this time because a co-worker is currently borrowing them.
After learning letter formations, we start working on HWT journals. I start with the earliest level which is actually pre-k (Get Ready for School). This practices forming letters and holding a crayon/pencil in a pincer grasp.
Mid-Level Non-Writers
My mid level non-writers are students who know all of their letters and sounds, are able to either orally or receptively identify the letters and can find them on their AAC devices or a computer. These students struggle with fine motor but are able to produce written text using assistive devices. I should add that these students are in 2nd/3rd grade. This is currently where most of my writers are.
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. I meet with my students twice a week to sit down and focus on writing skills.
Our first step in the process of creating our writing piece is to choose a picture to write about. I use real-life language cards similar to these ones below:
Once the students have chosen their picture we complete a graphic organizer answering WH questions about the picture. I created a strip of these for visual reference and every time we discuss the WH questions I make sure that I am pointing to that visual in reference. We also use this strip when reading books. I feel this is important to make real world connections and generalize the topics. This usually takes us the entire time we meet to complete.
The next time we meet, we use the graphic organizer to form our sentence. Even though writing is extremely difficult for this group, I feel it's important to continue to show them that written words have meaning. I will write their sentence out on a large sentence strip to model what their sentence should look like. We practice reading the sentence. Then, I will highlight a sentence strip for them and have them write it. After we have written the sentence we use our assistive tech to type it.
Assistive Technology
We use a variety of different tools to complete written work. These students will probably use these tools as a more practical way of producing written communication in the real world. Here are some of the things that we are working on at this level:
Keyboarding Without Tears: These students are learning the ins and outs of a keyboard and getting familiarized with it. This program is amazing! My students actually BEG me to practice typing because they love it so much! This program using some of the basics from Handwriting Without Tears and correlates it onto the technology. I have a large keyboard mat that we use to practice finding the letters and placing them on the mat. I have seen significant improvement in my student's and their typing skills! The program is online based and only costs $10 per student. It tracks their data and gives you a ton of lesson plans that go with it. I highly recommend this program! Link below.
Label maker: This was a game changer for us. We use the label maker for daily name practice, typing our names for papers, and reducing the stress that written work puts on my students. I have students who literally have meltdowns when they are expected to write. The label maker eliminates that stress and allows the students to answer questions to papers, math problems, etc. and print with 1 button! They love it and are motivated by it. It's cheap and easy!
Using AAC Devices to Produce Written Text
This is a topic I am so passionate about. AAC devices or "talkers" in my classroom, are of utmost importance to us. I model using the talkers on how to create a sentence, and we work hard get the students to create full sentences. My students are currently at this level. They have had their devices since Kindergarten, and are way passed core vocabulary. Forming sentences is our next level.
I often have been asked, "are they truly reading?" when they use their talkers to read to me. I will write a blog post about this later, but I get the same question when they produce written text on their talker "are they truly writing?" Yes. Yes, they are. The way I see it is, as a typical child thinks in their head what they want to write and their brain transmits that information and they produce written text on paper, they are writing. For a student using an AAC device it is EXACTLY the same, sans writing. Their brain is coming up with the words they want, they are finding those words on their devices, and they are producing a written sentence. This is real life. This is how they will communicate their thoughts out in the real world, we are just taking away the paper. This is so important! It's the same way with reading, and I hope to write a blog post soon on how I taught my students who are nonverbal to read.
This is what we are currently working on in our classroom! I hope some of these ideas help you with your non-writers! If you have any great ideas you have and use in your classroom, please share! I love learning new ways to teach!
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