Written Expression:

Instruction & Intervention

Lara Freeman & Sarah Lipman
California State University, Chico

Difficulty in Written Expression

Correlation between reading and writing difficulties.

Approximately students with writing difficulties have comorbid pervasive reading difficulties (Flanagan & Alfonso, 2010)

In writing, students with LD often demonstrate underdeveloped

handwriting, spelling errors, and difficulties planning, writing and
revising (Graham & Perin, 2007)
Writing is often brief, poorly organized and contains grammatical errors
Difficulties in writing are consistent among students with LD in all grades
and result in low achievement across subjects

Skills in Written Expression

Generating Ideas
Constructing meaningful sentences
Sequencing words and ideas
Organizing words and sentences into meaningful
paragraphs
Appropriate use of grammar
Handwriting
Spelling

(Intervention Central)

Intervention Research

Reviews of experimental group design studies documented the importance

of strategically teaching students strategies to become independent writers
through self-regulation and self-monitoring (Graham & Rogers, 2008)
Effective writing treatments were those that involved strategy
instruction for planning, drafting, goal setting, strategy instruction for
editing, writing with a word processor, prewriting activities, sentence
construction skills, strategy instruction for paragraph writing and
reinforcing specific writing outcomes.

Gillespie & Graham (2014) conducted a meta-analysis for students with

LD in grades 1 through 12. Students writing quality was found to improve
following intervention. Strategy instruction, dictation, goal setting, and
process writing had significant effects.

Elements of Effective Writing Instruction

Multi-step writing process
Collaborative writing
Timely feedback about quality of their writing
Set writing goals
Word processors to write
Write about what they have read
Students engage in pre-writing activities
Produce more writing
Familiarize themselves with writing models

(Intervention Central, 2009)

Tier 1: Core Instructional Strategies

Model writing skills
Provide opportunities for writing
Set clear and specific goals
Peer collaboration
Provide frequent and specific feedback
Provide opportunities for revision

(Intervention Central)

Tier 1: Differentiated Instruction

Handwriting
Practice tracing, copying, and writing letter from memory
Correct or rewrite poorly formed letters
Place emphasis on teaching of difficult letters

Spelling
Sound-symbol relationships, word patterns and memorizing highfrequency, irregularly spelled words
Class wide peer tutoring procedures to practice spelling

Sentence/paragraph
Sentence expansion, sentence combining techniques
Graphic organizers
Examples and non-examples of new skills, genres, etc.

Tier 2 Instruction

Explicit teaching in weak areas, as well as the application of

writing strategies involving planning, organizing, revising and
cumulative review
Identify and target academic and nonacademic roadblocks

Time should be devoted to both the mechanics and the process of

writing, adhering to a basic framework of planning, writing and
revision

Incorporation of motivators

Continuous progress-monitoring
(Intervention Central)

Tier 2 Instruction
Small group size with group members being at the
same instructional level
Approximately 20-30 minute a day at least 2-3 days a
week either in small groups or individually in addition
to core instruction

(Intervention Central)

Tier 3 Instruction/Intervention

Program Options
Continue program implemented in Tier 2 with greater frequency
Continue with Tier 2 intervention and add another evidence-based
intervention
Discontinue Tier 2 intervention and select a more intensive intervention
strategy/program

Recommended at least 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week for a

minimum of 8-12 weeks in addition to core instruction
(Intervention Central)

Progress Monitoring

Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM)

Used to monitor student progress throughout the entire school
year.
Probes given at regular intervals to help establish short-term and
long-term goals

Written Expression Curriculum-Based Measurement

(WE-CBM)
Probes: Begins with a story starter and students write sentences
and paragraphs for a set amount of time (3-7 minutes)
Can be scored by: number of words written, number of words
spelled correctly or number of word sequences
(CBM Written Expression Manual)

Interventions
Integrated Writing Instruction
Sentence Combining
Repeated Review
Self-Correction with Verbal Cues
Performance Feedback Writing Intervention
Writing Readiness Intervention
Copy-Cover-Compare

Intervention Videos

Cover-Copy-Compare
(http://www.teachertube.com/video/copy-covercompare-160250)

Sentence Combining
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSmjhRbipGw)
Peer Review
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBuq4qgRhCc)

References
Flanagan, D.P, & Alfonso, D.C., (2010) Essentials of a specific learning
disability. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley Publishers.
Graham, S., & Perin, D., (2007) A meta-analysis of writing instruction
for adolescent students. Journal of Educational Psychology, 99, 445476.
Gillespie, A., & Graham, S. (2014) A meta-analysis of writing
interventions for students with learning disabilities. Exceptional
Children, 80, 454-473.
Response to Intervention: RTI-Resources. Retrieved from:
http://www.interventioncentral.org/
Rogers, L.A., & Graham, S., (2008) A meta-analysis of single subject
design writing intervention research. Journal of Educational
Psychology, 100, 879-906.

Questions or Comments?