Teach Writing to Students with Autism
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) affects individuals differently, influencing a range of skills from fine motor control and language to social interaction and focus.
Writing tasks can be particularly challenging for students with ASD. Yet, with the appropriate support and planning, students with autism are able to become fluent and successful writers. In order to help ASD students become confident writers, teachers need to ensure they use the most effective strategies available to help motivate and support students with autism throughout all the stages of the writing process.
Preparing to write
Providing plenty of time to brainstorm ideas and plan for writing is essential for students with autism. It can be especially effective to allow students to plan their ideas in a visual format, such as through pictures. Another useful strategy is to use word banks to help prompt ideas and use a traditional outline or story template to support the student’s sequencing
or structure. Rather than brainstorming ideas with full sentences, teachers should encourage students to use single words instead to outline their ideas.
Supporting the act of writing . Teachers should have a range of scaffolds in place to support students with their writing, such as using word banks to stimulate writing, as well as providing concrete writing examples for students to refer to. Providing sentence starters can also help students
overcome potential writer’s block.
Providing opportunities for students to write content about their Special Interest Areas (SIAs) has also been found to help them be more motivated and engaged when writing. As a result, their vocabulary, word order, and syntax are often much improved.
Strategies to support the drafting proces .
The very act of writing can be extremely physically challenging for students with autism, resulting in
shorter pieces and often illegible handwriting. Teachers can support pupils to overcome these physical challenges by using technology. In this way, students are able to focus on the content of their writing, rather than the physical challenges of writing itself. There are a range of technologies available to support students with autism. For example, tape recording, using a Dictaphone and a scribe, keyboarding, and using speech recognition software are all viable alternatives.
Strategies to promote editing
To help motivate and encourage students to edit and rewrite their work, each writing task should be given a clear purpose and shared with the students when finished. Reducing the length of the writing task so
students can complete and produce work that can be shared is particularly important. Providing students with clear checklists can be extremely helpful when editing, as is the act of editing with a partner. Make
sure the completed work is then shared publicly. For example, it can be hung on display in the classroom, included in a class book, published on the website, or even submitted for publication.
Supporting low-functioning students
For students on the low-functioning end of the autistic spectrum, writing tasks can be even more stressful and may lead to more aggressive and socially unacceptable forms of behavior. Adapt writing activities so they
are more accessible and in line with each pupil’s Individualized Education Plan. Aim to use communication boards, where students can point to the relevant visual to communicate their thoughts. Give them writing tasks that are based on real-world skills and activities, such as matching food items to labels, creating shopping lists, or listing ingredients needed for a meal.
