Tips to develop expressive writing

Published: 25 Nov 2022 Tagged: expressive languageexpressive writinggrammarlearning difficultylearning disabilitylearning disordersSpeakablespellingsyntaxwriting

We still require great writing in today's age of 140-character tweets, Snapchat, and online vernacular. Writing clearly and concisely is crucial for more than just our social media presence. Expressive writing is necessary for many vocations, job applications, and academic achievement. Expressive writing, however, poses difficulties since it requires a variety of abilities. A group of abilities known as expressive writing involve both mental and mechanical tasks, such as organising words into phrases and paragraphs, as well as mental processes like idea generation and planning. There is a connection between these mechanical and mental tasks. One task's difficulty might have a negative impact on the entire process.

Due to issues including illegible handwriting, incomplete sentences, and syntax, grammar, and spelling problems, students with learning disorders are more prone than their peers to struggle with expressive writing.

Three strategies could be used to help the child minimise the effects of their learning challenges in expressive writing, explained below.

1. Make the work seem like a process. Prewriting, composing, and revising are the three fundamental components of expressive writing, and they must be clearly taught. Self-monitoring checklists may be used in a variety of ways to display writing as a process while working.
• POW+TREE: (P) Pick an idea, (O) Organise notes, (W) Write and say more + (T) Topic sentence, (R) Reason, (E) Explanation, (E) Ending.
• COPS: (C) Capitalization, (O) Overall Appearances, (P) Punctuation, (S) Spelling.
• SCOPE: (S) Spelling, (C) Capitalization, (O) Order of Words, (P) Punctuation, (E) Express a complete thought
2. Explain each stage of the procedure. Expressive writing skills for individuals with learning disabilities are improved through direct training. Task analysis, planned lectures, and choral response are examples of tactics used in the explicit educational approach.
1. Instruct students on writing and reading summary methods at each stage.
2. Encourage group writing projects.
3. Inform students about the purposes of writing.
4. Use of assistive technology should be promoted.
5. Write complicated sentences with your pupils.
6. Give educators the chance to pursue professional development.
7. To impart style, use effective writing as an example.
3. Give feedback after each step. For students with learning difficulties to succeed, they require feedback at every stage. Giving feedback through the end-of-task evaluation is insufficient. Students require active feedback at various points throughout each of the three writing steps (prewriting, composing, and revising).

If you notice your child is presenting difficulties in performing expressive writing, feel free to contact Speakable so you can have a professional assessment whether your child needs tutoring support or more complex speech and language treatment plan.