Struggling Writers: How to Improve Their Writing
From Reading & Other Learning Disabilities
A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis
Very often, writing is taught to struggling writers in very haphazard and unscientific ways. Such instruction produces very little progress and often promotes student beliefs that for them writing is too difficult and will always be a struggle.
Fortunately, however, writing can be taught in systematic and scientifically-supported ways that promote progress and student beliefs that they can succeed. One such systematic and scientifically-supported method is Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD). SRSD removes the mystery of how to write. It shows students the steps they need to practice to succeed. Read more...
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From Reading and Other Learning Disabilities
A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan & Dr. Howard Margolis
Parents of struggling writers worry about their children’s struggle. They want to know, “How can I help my child?”
If your child struggles with writing, this post might help you and your child’s school identify the type of writing instruction your child needs. It will do this by first discussing critical but often ignored areas of diagnosis, then discussing a typical but inadequate diagnostic process that can do more harm than good, and finally suggesting actions you can take. A follow-up post will outline one effective, well-researched method for helping struggling writers improve their writing: Self-Regulated Strategy Development. Read more...
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From Reading & Other Learning Disabilities
A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis
What’s wrong with him? In most cases, nothing. Lots of struggling readers resist reading. After years of failure, they expect to fail; they’ve given up, they’re protecting themselves from more failure and embarrassment. From their perspective, resistance is rational. Here’s Dr. Sebastian Wren’s explanation: Read more...
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From Reading & Other Learning Disabilities
A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis
Reading materials alone can’t ensure high quality reading instruction. Such instruction requires teachers to consistently use sound instructional practices. To assess this, you might discuss your child’s program with his teachers, observe his classes, or have a private reading specialist do both as part of a reading evaluation.
For the moment, let’s assume you hire a reading specialist. Before the specialist discusses your child’s program with his teachers, the two of you should agree on the questions you want answered. Dozens of such questions are listed in Reading Disabilities: Beating the Odds. Here are a few: Read more...
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No. Think of how you’d feel if day in and day out you were frustrated. How do you act when stress is relentless, when you always feel overwhelmed, when all you expect is failure? How will this affect your mood, your optimism, your willingness to try? Chances are you’d get angry, get depressed, try to escape. Children are the same.
Morally, schools should help children, not harm them. But requiring children with reading disabilities to read lots of materials they can’t read, they can’t understand, they can’t escape from, and demanding that they succeed with these materials, harms them. It stigmatizes them. It tells them they’re failures. It creates emotional and motivational problems. It impedes progress. It creates animosity. Here’s what Lauren Leslie and Joanne Caldwell, two renowned literacy scholars, warned about frustration level materials: Avoid them. Read more...
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A recent blog posting said that writing difficulties may be more common than reading difficulties (http://tln.typepad.com/middleweb/2009/05/writtenlanguage-disorder.html#comments). I agree. Here is my response. Read more...
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Children who struggle with reading typically struggle with writing. Even if their reading improves, their writing often doesn’t.
A common reason for their continued difficulty is the failure of their schools to adequately diagnose their writing problems. Instead, their schools limit diagnosis to grade equivalents from standardized tests — “Sawyer’s grade equivalent for writing was 2.9; he’s three years behind.” This statement fails to identify the current causes of Sawyer’s problems. It fails to tell his teachers and parents what he isn’t doing or can’t do that’s causing his writing problems. In all likelihood, instruction that’s built on an inadequate understanding of Sawyer’s problems will be inadequate. It will likely ignore or give short shrift to those parts of the writing process that should be stressed for Sawyer. Read more...
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It’s critical that your son get daily instruction in how to write. As Leif Fearn and Nancy Farnan said, struggling writers write better when they know more about how.
For struggling writers to become good writers requires instruction that the writers view as important, enjoyable, and practical. They need teachers who focus on the writers’ progress and show them exactly how they can improve their sentences, paragraphs, and the overall structure of their writing, all without overwhelming them. These teachers need to take the mystery out of writing by showing them that good writing is a structured, step-by-step process, like building a house.
Read more...
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Can you count on test results? No.
Although the results may accurately reflect your child’s current abilities, you can’t be absolutely sure. No test, even the kind matched to your question (see previous postings), is perfect. Every score inevitably contains error. Moreover, even a test designed to answer your question might be a poor test.
How then should you deal with this uncertainty? I suggest three things. Read more...
- Read the Mental Measurements Yearbook to assess the strengths and weaknesses of whatever standardized tests your child takes. Often, its in-depth test reviews are highly informative. Most large libraries carry the Yearbooks.
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Assessing small improvements in word recognition and fluency requires weekly assessments. One quick and valid way for teachers to assess progress in word recognition and fluency is to ask the child with reading disabilities to read aloud, once weekly, for 60-seconds, from material at or slightly below his instructional level. As he reads, his teacher (or an aide) counts the number of words correctly pronounced. This figure is charted.
If, for several weeks, the number of words read correctly on these 60-second oral reading probes continues to increase, your child is probably making progress; if, however, it remains flat or decreases, he’s probably having difficulty. This requires school personnel to investigate the problem, collect and analyze relevant data, and probably modify his program. Read more...
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