1. Writing Tips for Students with Disabilities
Information adapted from an article by Regina G. Richards, reproduced with permission

2. Issues students may run into with writing
Working memory - challenges with multi-tasking
Story Size - in writing a story, trying to hold an idea in your mind while elaborating on it
Sloppiness - unable to both write neatly and think about the content of your words
Understanding - students are able to perform better if they have an understanding of the issues and their parents and teachers understand them

3. What to do about these issues
Writing is a juggling act. You must keep all of the strategies in your mind while you are writing. Switch your attention between the ideas, elaborations, descriptions, sentence structure, spelling, capitalizations, punctuation, and more.

4. Strategy of Writing - Chunking
Break the information or task into smaller parts
We store smaller bits of information easier
Everything begins with a small step that leads to a larger accomplishment

5. POWER
Mnemonic device - each letter stands for a step the student needs to perform, easy for the students to remember
P for PLAN. The student plans the focus of the task, whether it is the format of the paper or type of writing.
O for ORGANIZE. Identify and organize the parts of the task.

6. POWER
W is for WRITE. Write your story or paper, can include pictures if it is easier.
E is for EDIT. Proofread the paper many times, concentrating on every single word. This step is difficult because it is hard to edit what you wrote.
R is for REVISE. Make whatever changes needed to improve the paper.

7. Obstacles
Vocabulary - have the student make a list of new vocabulary words he/she wants to use and refer to it while writing
Spelling - work on sounding out the words as they spell. Also keep and study a list of key words to work on.

8. Strategies for students who are stuck
Frame format - think within the context of three parts - beginning, middle, and end
Go step by step - identify a writing topic, then go from the beginning to the end, using one strategy at a time