Writing Accommodations
There are many different ways that kids who have learning differences can receive support in school. Many schools have software, hardware, organizers and resources to provide support to children for various accommodations.
What is an accommodation anyway? With an accommodation, the student is still learning the same material as everyone else, just the WAY that they are learning it may be a bit different.
During the pandemic, many children across the globe are being schooled from home. Without the guidance of teachers or the support of supplies from school, how can you support your child with accommodations? Well, not to fear, we are sharing some strategies that you can use for accommodations at home (for these days of homeschooling or for regular old homework!).
Today we are going to focus on a very common set of accommodations - writing accommodations.
Students often receive writing accommodations so that they are able to focus on the content of their writing assignments instead of the mechanics. Children need to be able to get their ideas out of their heads, let their imaginations run wild and share what they have percolating up in their beautiful minds. Oftentimes students with learning differences can become “blocked” by an assignment, not because they do not understand the content or don’t have great ideas, but because their cognitive load is affected by all of the tasks related to the actual writing process itself.
So, what are some accommodations that you can use at home to help your child with a writing accommodation?
Use video: Ask your child to record their story or ideas onto video. This allows their ideas to flow, or for them to share their knowledge without being inhibited by the mechanics of writing.
Use a simple graphic organizer: Graphic organizers can help children to move their ideas around, and put their thoughts down in a more methodical or chunked manner.
Scribe their ideas: Help your child see how all their ideas can move from video or graphic organizer to a paragraph or page. This will help to not only model, but to give them pride of seeing their completed project in print.
Use voice to text: There are fancy programs that your child can use with a headset, but even in free word processing programs, you can dictate text. This can be done for single words, lists or for whole writing assignments.
Use word prediction: Help your child type with less keyboarding demands. Even regular word processing programs will help you fill in the words or sentences that you are intending to type.
Use a word bank: A word bank can be digital or a simple word card set up in a box in alphabetical order. It provides another way to relieve the cognitive load or writer's block that they may be encountering.
We must all remember when working with our children that our goal for them is to learn and to have the opportunity for success. Using writing accommodations can increase writing output, allow ideas and thoughts to get onto paper, increase pace of learning, improve retention, and to organize ideas.
These same accommodations can also decrease frustration, increase confidence, and improve the joy in learning (and aren’t these goals some of the most important ones?).
Using writing accommodations for those students who could benefit can make a huge difference in ensuring opportunities for success. Remember that accommodations are not changing the “what” of learning, it is just the “how”, and this can make all the difference.
“Fairness does not mean treating everyone the same.
Fairness means giving everyone what he/she needs to succeed.”
Susan + Jill