Academic Intervention Plan: Writing

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Academic Intervention PlanWriting

• Jillian Hutzel, K.W., A.M., D.K. S.P.

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Writing Difficulties

• Attention Problems (Cause)
• Inattention, impulsivity
• (Manifestations)
• Difficulty beginning a written assignment
• Inconsistent legibility
• Careless errors
• Poorly planned papers and reports
• Mental fatigue
• (WGBG Educational Foundation, 2002)

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Writing Difficulties

• Spatial Ordering Problem
• Decreased awareness to arraignment of letters and
  words on a page
• Poor use of lines on paper
• Organizational problems
• Misspelled words
• (WGBG Educational Foundation, 2002)

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Writing Difficulties

• Sequential Ordering Problem
• Difficulty putting letters, processes, or ideas
  in a consistent order
• Lack of transitions
• Poor letter formation
• Poor narrative speaking
• (WGBG Educational Foundation, 2002)

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Writing Difficulties

• Memory Problems
• Poor Gsm, Glr, Gc
• Inability to rapidly recall rules grammar,
  punctuation
• Difficulties calling upon past social situations
  or general knowledge to write a comprehensive
  piece
• Frequent grammar and spelling errors
• (WGBG Educational Foundation, 2002)

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Writing Difficulties

• Language Issue (WGBG Educational Foundation,
  2002)
• ESL/ ELL
• BICS
• Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills
• CALPS
• Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency
• Difficulty
• Proper use of vocabulary words
• Word order
• Word meaning
• Writing about culturally unfamiliar topics
• i.e. the famous colander

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Writing Difficulties

• Poor muscle tone
• Poor pencil grip
• Poor hand writing
• Inability to stay within the line and margins
• Muscle fatigue/ slow writing speed
• (WGBG Educational Foundation, 2002)

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CHC

• Crystallized Intelligence (Gc)
• Grammar (syntax)
• Bland writing with limited descriptors
• Verbose writing
• Inappropriate word usage
• (Flanagan Alfonso, 2011)

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CHC

• Fluid Reasoning (Gf)
• Essay writing and generalizing concepts
• Developing a theme
• Comparing and contrasting ideas
• (Flanagan Alfonso, 2011)

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CHC

• Auditory Processing (Ga)
• Spelling
• Note taking
• Poor quality of writing
• (Flanagan Alfonso, 2011)

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CHC

• Long-Term Retrieval (Glr)
• Accessing words to use during essay writing
• Note taking
• Persuasive writing comparing and contrasting
  ideas
• (Flanagan Alfonso, 2011)

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CHC

• Processing Speed (Gs)
• Limited output due to time limits
• Decreased motivation to write due to the lengthy
  amount of time taken to write
• (Flanagan Alfonso, 2011)

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CHC

• Visual Processing (Gv)
• Spelling sight words
• Spatial problems
• Words overhanging lines
• No attention to margin
• Inconsistent size, spacing, and positioning of
  letters on paper
• (Flanagan Alfonso, 2011)

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CHC

• Short-Term Memory (Gsm)
• Note taking
• Redundant writing
• Spelling multisyllabic words
• (Flanagan Alfonso, 2011)

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Intervention Techniques

• Poor Muscle Tone
• Slant Board for poor muscle strength
• Grips for pencils
• Hold a cotton ball with the pinky and ring
  finger in palm and then use only the thumb,
  pointer and middle finger to write
• It helps correct the childs pencil grip.
• Crouch and Jakubecy (2007)

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Intervention Techniques

• Gf (Flanagan Alfonso, 2011)
• Graphic organizer to arrange information in a
  visual format
• Metacognitive strategies
• Compare new concepts to previously learned
  concepts and ideas
• Use analogies and metaphors when presenting new
  tasks

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Intervention Techniques

• Gc (Flanagan Alfonso, 2011)
• Vocab building
• Text talks (Utah Reading First Educators, 2005)
• Text Talk is an approach to read alouds that is
  designed to enhance young children's ability to
  construct meaning from decontextualized language.
  These lessons provide educators with a resource
  to accomplish the complex and demanding task of
  developing children's literacy using read-alouds.
  The ultimate goal of a Text Talk lesson is
  twofold 1.) Getting children to talk about the
  text, considering ideas using decontextualized
  language to improve comprehension, and 2.) the
  acquisition of vocabulary
• http//utah.ptfs.com/awweb/awarchive?typefileite
  m28840
• Link provides a full example
• Teach morphology
• i.e. identify the root word

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Intervention Techniques

• Ga (Flanagan Alfonso, 2011)
• Provide guided notes
• Clarification Time at the end of the lesson for
  student to ask questions for items he missed
• Written instruction over oral instruction
• Shortened instruction time with minimal
  background noise

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Intervention Techniques

• Glr (Flanagan Alfonso, 2011)
• Utilize lists to prompt recall
• Expand vocab
• Extended time
• Prime student with background information before
  presenting a question for a writing task

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Intervention Techniques

• Gv (Flanagan Alfonso, 2011)
• Highlight margins
• Provide direct hand writing practice
• Graph paper for letter alignment
• Gsm
• Highlight important information to include in the
  essay
• Graphic organizers

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Case Study Johnny

• Johnny is a 5th grade student, in a co-teaching,
  collaborative setting, whom has always struggled
  with his writing. He has poor handwriting that
  often he cannot read and will often write very
  short responses to questions that require lengthy
  responses.
• His parents say that it is a constant struggle to
  get him to write at home and when it comes to
  writing an essay he will often put up a fight to
  the point that his parents will just write down
  what he says for the essay.
• Johnny had an awkward pencil grip that was
  corrected with the cotton ball technique in the
  2nd grade. He has poor/awkward spacing between
  words and sentences. He sometimes still struggles
  with forming letters and is inconsistent with
  using proper capitalization. His sentences will
  also often go off of the lines and margins of his
  paper. His Math problems also tend to go all over
  his paper and he now has been doing his problems
  on graph paper inside of large boxes on the page.

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Johnny

• Johnny became a Classified student in the 4th
  grade under OHI, due to his diagnosis of ADHD.
• In the recent weeks Johnny has been seen by his
  psychologist and other professionals and after
  assessments, has also been diagnosed with
  Dysgraphia.
• Dysgraphia is a deficiency in the ability to
  write, primarily in terms of handwriting, but
  also in terms of coherence. Dysgraphia is a
  transcription disability, meaning that it is a
  writing disorder associated with impaired
  handwriting, orthographic coding, and finger
  sequencing (the movement of muscles required to
  write). It often overlaps with other learning
  disabilities such as Speech impairment, attention
  deficit disorder, or developmental coordination
• Wikipedia.com, 2013

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What to do?

• Due to Johnnys recent diagnosis, his parents
  requested a return to committee to add it to his
  IEP, and possibly receive some related services,
  such as Physical Therapy.
• The classroom teachers have spoken with the
  Physical Therapist and have began an Intervention
  Plan. It includes a number of techniques and a
  reward system that is being used within the
  classroom to begin to help John

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Intervention Plan

• According to Crouch and Jakubecy (2007) There
  are two different approaches to address
  dysgraphia. The first is using systematic
  techniques that improve functioning this is
  referred to as remedial treatment. Remedial
  treatments are those that seek to correct
  handwriting either through direct instruction of
  handwriting or a fine-motor program. The second
  strategy is using by-pass strategies, such as
  technology, to find a way around the hand writing
  difficulties.
• The classroom teachers are using two remedial
  techniques in the classroom. The first one is
  known as Drill and Practice.
• Also using fine-motor exercises and techniques to
  help build the muscles to help him write.

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Intervention Plan

• Some dysgraphic students have great difficulty
  with spelling, especially if sequencing is a
  major issue for them. Additionally, many
  dysgraphic students experience dyslexia, a
  sequential processing problem that affects
  reading and spelling. These students need very
  specific remedial assistance in learning to spell
  phonetically.

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Intervention Plan

• It is critical that they are able to represent
  unknown words using good phonetic equivalences.
  If they are able to spell logically and
  phonetically, they will be able to use a
  phonetically-based spell checker.

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Intervention Plan

• These handheld devices recognize words using
  phonetic logic rather than relying on the
  orthographic sequence, as do most spell checkers
  on a computer word processing program.

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Example

• Eye halve a spelling chequer It came with my pea
  sea It plainly marques four my revue Miss steaks
  eye kin knot sea.Eye strike a key and type a word
  And weight four it two say Weather eye am wrong
  oar write It shows me strait a weigh.As soon as a
  mist ache is maid It nose bee fore two long And
  eye can put the error rite Its rare lea ever
  wrong.?Eye have run this poem threw it I am shore
  your pleased two no Its letter perfect awl the
  weigh My chequer tolled me sew.

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Written Expression Helping students to improve
their writing performance is a complex and
challenging task because of the multiple skills
required for proficient writing, including
strategies for regulating the writing process,
text-production skills, and knowledge of writing
types (De La Paz Graham, 2002 Graham
Harris, 2002). In the past two decades,
research on the cognitive processes underlying
writing has led to a shift in writing instruction
from an emphasis on product (e.g., internal
dialoguing, developing a sense of audience, and
incorporating feedback from others.) As a result,
writing interventions increasingly target skills
related to process-oriented aspects of writing,
including planning, content generation, and
revising. (Gersten Baker, 2001).
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Written Expression Intervention PLAN and
WRITE Poor writers, especially students with
learning disabilities, typically plan minimally
or not at all during the composition process (De
La Paz, 1999 De La Paz, Owen, Harris Graham,
2000) In PLAN and WRITE Self-Regulated
Strategy Development for Essay Writing, students
learn a strategy for planning and writing
expository essays that is embedded in a set of
self-regulatory procedures. Two mnemonics are
incorporated to remind students of the planning
steps that occur before and during the writing
process. The PLAN and WRITE strategy has been
validated as an effective intervention for middle
school students with and regular classrooms (De
La Paz Graham, 1997, 2002) and middle school
students with and without disabilities in
inclusive classrooms (De La Paz, 1999).
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PLAN and WRITE Method Writing essays is a
frequent requirement in school curriculum and,
increasingly, on high-stake assessments. In this
intervention, students learn to plan and write
expository essays using the Self-Regulated
Strategy Development (SRSD) model of instruction.
Six instructional stages provide a framework for
strategy development and can be combined,
reordered, repeated, or modified, depending on
teacher preference and student needs. Purpose
To teach students a strategy for planning,
writing, and revising expository essays, as well
as a set of strategies for regulating their own
writing behavior. (Rathvon, 2008
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• Intervention Implementation for Written
  Expression
• Administer an essay prompt to a group of target
  students or the entire class.
• Rate each essay on a holistic scale from 1 to 7
  based on the quality of ideas, development and
  organization, coherence, mechanics, and the
  quality of vocabulary as follows
• 1unacceptable, 2poor, 3fair, 4average,
  5good, 6very good, 7outstanding

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6 Stages to Success Stage 1. Overview of the
Purpose- explain to the student the purpose of
Intervention and how it will help their writing
needs Stage 2. Activating Background Knowledge-
Display a sample essay, identify intro, body and
conclusionIs there a decent Thesis Statement?
Identify Transition Words. Search for different
sentence types (ex. form function) and Look for
words they can improve on in the Essay. Stage 3.
Review of Students Initial Writing Abilities-
Explain rubrics or standards, Conduct student
conferences to discuss their current writing
abilities, Encourage student to identify 1 or 2
writing goals to address their current weakness
(s). Stages Continued ?
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6 Stages to SuccessContinued Stage 4- Modeling
the Planning Strategy- Model the PLAN and Write
method by thinking aloud through the planning and
writing process, record and organize ideas, write
thesis statement and decide whether it will go at
the beginning or end of the essay, remind
students what each paragraph should include,
revise sentences and vocabulary in each
paragraph. Stage 5- Collaborative Practice-
Compose an essay on a class-wide basis using the
PLAN and Write strategy, divide students into
groups to beginning writing essays (help each
other for ideas), after students begin their
essays have a class discussion on different
strategies used, have students work together
again for revision. Stage 6- Independent
Practice- Explain the importance of their goals
and how to apply it to their writing skills,
beginning writing essay independently, conduct a
second set of student conferences to discuss
progression of their essay, have student submit
the finished product of their essay.
Evaluation Compare the number of functional
elements in two or three essays written by
the entire class before and after Implementation.
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• The Expository Planning Strategy Nine Steps to
  Success
• Planning Strategy PLAN
• Pay Attention to the Prompt
• List the Main Ideas
• Add Supporting Details
• Number your Ideas
• Keep Planning while Composing you Essay WRITE
• Work from your plan to develop your thesis
  statement
• Remember your goals
• Include transition word for each paragraph
• Try to use different kinds of sentences
• Use exciting, interesting words in your essay!
• (De La Paz, Owen, Harris, and Graham, 2000)

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References

• Crouch, A. L., Jakubecy, J. J. (2007).
  Dysgraphia How It Affects a Student's
  Performance and What Can Be Done about
  it. TEACHING Exceptional Children Plus, 3(3),
  Retrieved from http//www.ldonline.org/article/5
  890/
• De La Paz, S. (1999). Self-regulated strategy
  instruction in regular
• education settings Improving outcomes for
  students with and without disabilities.
  Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 14,
  92-106.
• De La Paz, S., Graham, S. (1997). Strategy
  instruction in planning
• Effects on the writing performance and behavior
  of students with learning difficulties.
  Exceptional Children, 63, 167-181.
• De La Paz, S., Graham, S. (2002). Explicitly
  teaching strategies,
• skills, and knowledge Writing instruction in
  the classroom. Journal of Educational
  Psychology, 94, 687-698.

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Reference De La Paz, S., Owen, B., Harris, K.R.,
Graham, S. (2000). Riding Elvis motorcycle
Using self-regulated strategy development to
PLAN and WRITE for a state writing exam.
Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 15,
101-109. Flanagan, D. Alfonso, V. (2011).
Essentials of specific learning disability
identification. Hoboken, NJ John Wiley Sons
Inc. Gersten, R., Baker, S. (2001). Teaching
expressive writing to students with learning
disabilities. Elementary School Journal, 101,
251-272. Graham, S., Harris, K.R. (2002). The
road less traveled Prevention and intervention
in written language. In K.G. Butler E.R.
Sillman (Eds.), Speaking, reading, and writing
in children with language learning disabilities
New paradigms in research and practice (pp.
199-217) Mahwah, NJ Erlbaum.
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Reference Rathvon, N., (2008). Effective School
Interventions (2nd Ed.). New York, NY The
Guilford Press Utah Reading First Educators.
(2005). Text Talk Lessons. Retrieved from
http//utah.ptfs.com/awweb/ awarchive?typefilei
tem28840 WGBG Educational Foundation. (2002).
Misunderstood minds Difficulty with writing.
Retrieved from http//www.pbs.org/wgbh/misunders
toodminds/writingdiffs.ht ml