Guest Post: Writing strategies for students with ASD
Danielle Colley is an Autistic Support teacher at Phoenixville Middle School in the Phoenixville Area School District. Danielle has been been a Special Education teacher for 3 years and has worked with children in the summer months at ESF Summer Camps held at the Episcopal Academy in Newtown Square, PA. Danielle is my guest blogger this week...she is also my wife!
As an Autistic Support teacher, I have struggled with writing instruction in my classroom, as well as ways to assist my students in transferring certain writing strategies to their regular education classes. Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) tend to be very “concrete” thinkers. While most of my students have very organized writing with a good handle on conventions, many of them have difficulty with word choice, elaboration and writing style. Their writing is short and concise, which is not always a bad thing. However, when a standardized test score tells them that they are not proficient writers because they did not include enough detail, I feel that they need to be taught strategies in order to succeed. Since many of these students struggle to “think outside of the box”, I have often wondered what strategies or tools I can introduce to assist them with their writing. I also wonder how I can make accommodations or modifications to writing assignments in order to meet their needs, while also holding them to a high standard.
As a teacher of students on the spectrum, I believe that providing checklists and rubrics that clearly define the purpose of the writing are extremely helpful for my students. Instead of leaving the topic open-ended, which can be a source of stress, I often try to choose the topic for them or give them a short list of topics to choose from. While brainstorming may be appropriate and engaging for many regular education students, it is something very difficult for students on the spectrum, which can turn writing into an unpleasant experience. The checklists allow the students to self-monitor their writing to ensure that they are answering key questions for their audience.
Another strategy that is appropriate is using cartoons, particularly humorous ones, to capitalize on ASD students’ visual strengths. Cartoons can be texts that can be analyzed in class or produced in class. When given the option to write a poem, an essay, or a cartoon, I have found that a majority of the students in my classroom gravitate toward cartoons. Cartoons allow the students to produce short sentences or phrases that are appropriate for that type of writing. Again, it is important to provide the students with a topic or clear expectations for the cartoon. For instance, students can create their own social stories that can be used during Social Skills group.
A case study is presented in the article, “Exploring New Waters: Writing Instruction for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders". The case study involved an intervention presented to a 7-year-old girl with Autism using technology. The program used in the case study, PixWriter, allowed the girl to write short stories by providing her with pre-created templates with an array of words. The young girl was writing three-sentence stories. However, this could be used as a tool in a middle school classroom to present students with a variety of sentence starters or transition words to assist with their writing style. Not only does it assist students with word choice, it incorporates technology, which is highly motivational.
To conclude, instead of saying that a certain group of students “can’t” do something because of skill deficits, teachers need to look for ways to reach those students using a variety of tools and strategies. Much of what I do is trial and error. However, when I find that one thing that works for a student in my class, it is extremely rewarding for all involved.
As an Autistic Support teacher, I have struggled with writing instruction in my classroom, as well as ways to assist my students in transferring certain writing strategies to their regular education classes. Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) tend to be very “concrete” thinkers. While most of my students have very organized writing with a good handle on conventions, many of them have difficulty with word choice, elaboration and writing style. Their writing is short and concise, which is not always a bad thing. However, when a standardized test score tells them that they are not proficient writers because they did not include enough detail, I feel that they need to be taught strategies in order to succeed. Since many of these students struggle to “think outside of the box”, I have often wondered what strategies or tools I can introduce to assist them with their writing. I also wonder how I can make accommodations or modifications to writing assignments in order to meet their needs, while also holding them to a high standard.
As a teacher of students on the spectrum, I believe that providing checklists and rubrics that clearly define the purpose of the writing are extremely helpful for my students. Instead of leaving the topic open-ended, which can be a source of stress, I often try to choose the topic for them or give them a short list of topics to choose from. While brainstorming may be appropriate and engaging for many regular education students, it is something very difficult for students on the spectrum, which can turn writing into an unpleasant experience. The checklists allow the students to self-monitor their writing to ensure that they are answering key questions for their audience.
Another strategy that is appropriate is using cartoons, particularly humorous ones, to capitalize on ASD students’ visual strengths. Cartoons can be texts that can be analyzed in class or produced in class. When given the option to write a poem, an essay, or a cartoon, I have found that a majority of the students in my classroom gravitate toward cartoons. Cartoons allow the students to produce short sentences or phrases that are appropriate for that type of writing. Again, it is important to provide the students with a topic or clear expectations for the cartoon. For instance, students can create their own social stories that can be used during Social Skills group.
A case study is presented in the article, “Exploring New Waters: Writing Instruction for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders". The case study involved an intervention presented to a 7-year-old girl with Autism using technology. The program used in the case study, PixWriter, allowed the girl to write short stories by providing her with pre-created templates with an array of words. The young girl was writing three-sentence stories. However, this could be used as a tool in a middle school classroom to present students with a variety of sentence starters or transition words to assist with their writing style. Not only does it assist students with word choice, it incorporates technology, which is highly motivational.
To conclude, instead of saying that a certain group of students “can’t” do something because of skill deficits, teachers need to look for ways to reach those students using a variety of tools and strategies. Much of what I do is trial and error. However, when I find that one thing that works for a student in my class, it is extremely rewarding for all involved.
Thank you for an such a great topic. I admire any special education teacher and truly think your are the often unsung heroes of the educational world.
ReplyDeleteI love the ideas you have laid out and the use or visually stimulating tools such as cartoons to help your student's development.
I don't know if you have access to iPads but there are some amazing tools you might check out. There is an app Toontastic which teaches students story arcs with pre set characters and animations. I would often have my students build the story visually using the various backgrounds and characters. They can tell the story verbally in the app. I would then have them transfer it to paper. With the story already "written", the writing came a lot easier. Also checkout apps like Puppet Pals and Book Creator. Book Creator has comic book templates that your ASD students might find engaging.
Thanks again for your post.
Jake Lee
Hi Jake,
DeleteThank you for your comment. I showed my wife the resources you suggested and she liked Toontastic a lot. She does not have access to iPads (at least she didn't last year), but she does have desktop computers in her room so she can help her students with work from other classes. She said she will most likely encourage parents and other teachers to check out Toontastic for differentiation/extra credit opportunities.
Danielle,
ReplyDeleteEquality is not the same as equity. Giving students the same support is not necessarily fair. Some students may need extra support or different types of support. You mentioned rubrics for writing. I have found in the past that this has been extremely helpful with students with Autism. At first I used to think that if I gave a rubric to a student I had to give it to all but I have learned now that, that is not what may be fair. Although I do use rubrics for all students at the beginning of the year (in second grade) when they are establishing themselves as writers I don't give it to all students later in the year. I found that some do the bare minimum when given a rubric and once they have consistently shown that they are capable of fulfilling the minim requirements of the rubric they are better off by not restricting them to what they should be done and let them be more creative. Others however, like the students you mentioned, will most likely still need those rubrics to aid with the writing and that is fine. Once again we must tailor instruction and not focus and giving all students the same to be fair.
I don't think giving each student a rubric and/or checklist is bad practice, if they feel they can complete the assignment without the resources that are given to them then that is their choice but they should be given the same opportunity. It is a shame that "equity" isn't taken into consideration on state tests, especially when so much emphasis is placed on them!
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