Writing
From handwriting to creative writing, learn more about ways to encourage kids' writing! An often overlooked topic area, writing can provide a means to enhance students' vocabulary, comprehension, and spelling skills.
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Effective Reading Interventions for Kids With Learning Disabilities
Research-based information and advice for sizing up reading programs and finding the right one for your child with a learning disability.
Writing Disabilities: An Overview
Learn from an expert why some kids with learning disabilities struggle with writing how some instructional approaches can help.
Assistive Technology Tools: Writing
Find out how to select assistive technology tools that address your child's specific writing difficulties.
Writing Poetry with English Language Learners
This article discusses strategies for writing poetry with ELLs, presents an overview of poetry forms that can be used effectively in writing lessons, and suggests some ideas for ways to share student poetry.
Handwriting: What's Normal, What's Not
This article lists some milestones to look for as your child's handwriting skills begin to develop. The article also describes some signs and symptoms of dysgraphia, a learning disability that affects a child's handwriting and ability to hold a pen, pencil, or crayon.
Dysgraphia: More Than Just Bad Handwriting
Teachers and parents should suspect dysgraphia if a child's handwriting is unusually difficult to read. Find out more about this neurological problem that can cause physical pain as some children struggle to write.
Developing Writing and Spelling at Home: Pre-K
When engaging in writing, young children often mirror what they see around them; adults and older children writing lists, notes, text messaging. They are observing the way writing is used in our everyday lives. Here are some simple things families can do to support young children's writing.
Developing Writing and Spelling at Home: K-3
Writing is a terrific way for children to express their thoughts, creativity, and uniqueness. It is also a fundamental way in which children learn to organize ideas. And learning to write well helps children to be better readers.
A Student's Perspective on Writing
Eli, a young boy, tells us what it is like to have dysgraphia. Regina Richards, a well-known expert on dysgraphia (and Eli's mom), explains how to help children who struggle with the challenges Eli describes. Practical techniques discussed include POWER (Prepare, Organize, Write, Edit, Revise) and providing authentic positive comments that move the child forward.
The Basic Spelling Vocabulary List
This list was devised to help educators know which spelling words should be taught to children. The list contains 850 words that account for 80 percent of the words children use in their writing; the ones they need to be able to spell correctly.
The Writing Road: Reinvigorate Your Students' Enthusiasm for Writing
Teach your students to avoid the avoidance of writing. Learn how to lead them down the path of enthusiasm and self-confidence about writing through research-proven strategies.
Writing Made Easier: Helping Students Develop Automatic Sound/Symbol Correspondence
This article discusses one component of writing mechanics — finesse with sound/symbol correspondence. It describes a method, called Memory Foundations for Reading, that can be used by a parent with a single child or a teacher with a group and which helps children use many senses to recall letter sounds.
Computer-Assisted Instruction and Writing
This brief provides an overview of computer-assisted instruction and looks at how writing software can help students with developing ideas, organizing, outlining, brainstorming, and minimizing the physical effort spent on writing so that students can pay attention to organization and content.
Accessing Skills Toward Successful Writing Development
Writing is a highly complex language skill. Without skilled, systematic instruction, many students — particularly those with disabilities — may not become proficient writers. At stake is access to the general education curriculum. This brief discusses developmental stages, why writing may pose particular challenges for students with disabilities, and what areas should be the focus for remediation.
Helping Young Children Develop Strong Writing Skills
Writing is an important part of our daily lives, but it is a difficult skill to learn and master. By getting a head start with some simple activities, though, you can help your child begin to develop her writing skills at an early age. By doing so you will be contributing to her future success as a student and as an adult while teaching her how to express herself. In this article, we provide some of the reasons that writing is so important in our lives, as well as a list of suggestions that will help your child become a stronger writer.
Teaching Tips: Authoring with Video
Help students engage in reading and writing by asking them to write captioning for audio-less video clips. This article contains step-by-step instructions for using the technique as well as links to digital media and suggested teaching ideas.
A Teacher’s Guide to Using Newspapers to Enhance Language Arts Skills
Newspapers expand the curriculum with an unlimited amount of information to use as background for learning activities. Discover new ways to use the newspaper in your language arts studies, with these activities from the Newspaper Association of America.
An Introduction to Letter Writing
Letter writing can be fun, help children learn to compose written text, and provide handwriting practice — and letters are valuable keepsakes. This guide was written for England's "Write a Letter Week" and contains activities to help children ages 5–9 put pen to paper and make someone’s day with a handwritten letter.
How to Help Your Students Write Well: An Interview with Steve Graham
Three research based practices help students with learning disabilities improve their writing. Read this interview with Steve Graham, author of Writing Next: Effective Strategies to Improve Writing of Adolescents in Middle and High School who explains how you can help your students succeed in communicating through the written word.