Reaching All Students in Writing Instruction

1. Reaching All Students in Writing Instruction Presented by Mary K. Acker A focus on Attention Deficit Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder

2. Warm-up • Answer the following questions in a quick freewrite: • What does “learning difficulty” mean? • What do “Attention Deficit Disorder” and “Autism Spectrum Disorder “ refer to? • How could these learning difficulties affect the writing process?

3. Definitions • Learning difficulty n: any of various conditions that interfere with an individual's ability to learn and so result in impaired functioning in language, reasoning, or academic skills and that are thought to be caused by difficulties in processing and integrating information • Attention Deficit Disorder n: a syndrome of disordered learning and disruptive behavior that is not caused by any serious underlying physical or mental disorder and that has several subtypes characterized primarily by symptoms of inattentiveness or primarily by symptoms of hyperactivity and impulsive behavior or by the significant expression of all three • Autism Spectrum Disorder n: any of a group of developmental disorders marked by impairments in the ability to communicate and interact socially and by the presence of repetitive behaviors or restricted interests

4. Ways Add hinders the writing process • -Act of receiving initial directions is delayed • -Difficulties starting and following through with assignments are experienced • -Holding ideas in the mind is difficult • -Organizing information is challenging • -Creative ideas are generated but cannot be “put on paper”

5. Alternative instruction methods: ADD • -Allow more time for completion of tasks • -Guide topic selection • -Teach brainstorming skills and help with recording ideas • -Teach organizational strategies to track ideas students wish to use • -Stimulate the flow of writing

6. Ways asd hinders the writing process • -Limited social skills make collaborating and communicating challenges • -Anxiety builds easily and quickly • -Importance of material is often not perceived • -Difficulties with reasoning and concluding are experienced • -Interruptions to routines block an understanding of requirements

7. Alternative instruction methods: Asd • -Take advantage of technology-assisted instruction • -Use shaping and chaining practices • -Participate in picture exchange communication and provide visual menus • -Use response prompting • -Simply state purpose for activity and allow transition time

8. Think-pair-share activity • How would you alter this writing assignment to meet the learning needs of your student who has a learning difficulty? • Your students have just read the poem “Shooting Rats at the Bibb County Dump” by David Bottoms. You assign them an activity in which they must write their responses to the following questions in a time period of twenty minutes. • -What’s going on in the poem and what are some details or images that support what you think? • -Who is the speaker and how does he or she feel about the situation? • -Which lines or images are the most powerful? Confusing? • -What surprised you the most about this poem? What pleased you the most?

9. Situational factors to consider • -Room organization • -Traffic flow • -Desk placement • -Private work station • -”Time out” • -”Escape” spaces

10. Assessment and getting help • -It is most important for teachers to remember that each student learns differently • -Frequent use of pre-assessments and formative assessments will help differentiate learning needs • -It is a good idea to work in conjunction with a special education assistant or literacy specialist

11. Closing activity • -Refer to your freewrite; compare what you wrote to what you think about learning difficulties after hearing the lesson. • -Edit your freewrite to include a section where you record the following information: • One fact you learned about how ADD affects the student writing process • One fact about how ASD affects the student writing process • Two facts about alternative instruction methods

12. ANY QUESTIONS?