Expanding sentences

Due to the complex needs of the students I work with, mastering a skill takes longer than other neuro typical students. We have been working on forming simple sentences for most of the year. It is great to see that the students are finally beginning to achieve this.
This student is able to form simple sentence and I am now working on expanding his sentence by adding adjectives . This is some of the work he produced. He felt very proud of his work.

Using Visual supports for writing

Last Friday we held a workshop here at Sommerville and invited SENCO's teacher's and teacher aides to participate.  My colleague Donna and I presented on teaching reading and writing to Children with Special Educational needs. This was well received by all who attended.

As part of my presentation I reiterated to importance of using visuals with our students.  I also demonstrated  how to use Colourful Semantics and showed the progress students have made using this programme. In my previous blog posts, I shared more information on Colourful Semantics, so please have a look.

In this post, I would like to share a WOW moment we had with one of my students who would not engage in writing. We have been using 'Who, doing what , where". Here are some visuals that we used.

This student , who has very complex needs, was not engaging is any form of writing, but after many attempts at using 'Draw and talk', as explained in my previous blogs and engaging the student with real experiences, the students attempted to write ' I want to go to the beach hotel". This was a huge moment for the student and celebrated by all.

He had gone on holiday and we used the 'real life experience' to encourage him to write about his holiday. He was not motivated to write independently, so we used the photos from his holiday and asked him what was happening in each photo. We also used , 'Who, doing what" This is what he said. I added it to clicker sentences and the student was able to put the sentence in the correct order. He felt really proud of his work and wanted to share it with his teachers and family.

Draw and talk

Draw and Talk

Uses drawing to ‘Sketching’ enhances the meaning as children draw.

Drawing is a complex sensory motor action requiring the selection, organisation and communication of visual material.

Drawing establishes a relationship between the child and the world.

‘My drawing is about______, because______’

This student has Down Syndrome and significant language delays. He is at the drawing stage, sometimes he attempts to write individual letters. Currently he is not motivated to use a device. 

He has some amazing ideas and even though his language is very delayed, he uses a combination of NZ sign language  and speech to convey his message. in the pictures below, the class was asked to create an invention. He decided to invent a self cleaning food bowl for his cat. He wanted to call it 'Doolalee machine'. He did all the designing and I recorded what he said. Due to the complexities of writing, this student wouldn't attempt it. He has the ideas.....by using draw and talk, the adult is able to record what he say.

Thereafter he made his invention. He often requires lots of motivation to get started with his writing, but because this was of interest, he got started immediately with the drawing. I wrote what he said. he was able to then make the invention. He was so excited to show everyone what he drew and made.

Real reasons for writing

Student's work

This student is also more motivated to write when he has had an experience. He needs to know why he is writing, in this case it is to share his holiday experience. 

During the holidays he visited the sky tower. Using visual supports this is what he wrote.

After explicit teaching of sentence construction, he is able to form a simple sentence. He is also adding more information to his writing.
More importantly, he is wants to share his writing with others at school and his whanau.
Beginning a task and staying focused is an ongoing issue. He requires lots of support and motivation to get started. He has a reward system in place to help him stay focused. 

Even though he responds well to this system most times, we had a few incidents regarding this students behavior. He finds it difficult to manage himself. We have used a range of social scripts to help him make good choices. Recently he hurt another student, We used this opportunity to write a letter to the people involved also showing him real reasons for writing.

Evidence Sharing

Students writing sample.

In my previous blogs post , I began testing my hypothesis around writing for authentic/real reasons. I found that some students were more motivated to write and stayed on task for longer periods if they had an experience to write about. They could relate to their experience. I got the whanau involved and they are sharing photos. As student are not always able to give the details of what took place, whanau are providing the details. 

This student is usually not motivated to write. She will take a long time before getting started and would need lots of motivation. 

She went to Fiji for the school holidays. she really enjoyed the trip with her family and was very exited to write about it. Even though her sentences are not grammatically correct, I am able to get the gist of what took place. I have then modeled the sentence back to her.

Even though we have done explicit teaching using Who, doing what, this student still has difficulties in constructing a sentence. 

She is very excited to share her story with her class mates and whanau and wants to use this for her speech as well. 

Monitoring change

Achievement Challenge 5	Theory of action/ chain of events	Implementation of change	Monitoring the effects
Improve the achievement of students with additional needs in the learning areas of English/key competency using language symbols and texts	If students are able to manage themselves, will this help them improve their writing outcomes? The areas of focus has been: Will students be motivated to write and manage themselves if They are asked to write for real/authentic reasons and if They have the correct writing tool.	After looking at the research by Dr Sally Clendon, I encouraged whanau to be involved. Each week they sent in a range of photos from the weekend. These are the events that the student can relate to, they have had the experience and are more eager to share some information.  It is authentic and students are more motivated.  Photos are also used from daily school activities. I also used the research that Jane farrall did on finding the correct writing tool. I investigated  a range of alternative writing tools and trialled it with students. Once they had a tool that they were successful using, students were more motivated to write.  Daily opportunities to write and explicit teaching had to occur.	I have noticed improved attitudes in students. Students have a better understanding of what writing means. They are more motivated to write. Students are working on a task for longer periods and not giving up. They are wanting to share their work both at school and at home. They feel more confident in attempting writing. The evidence is in the writing sample.

Inclusive Education

Inclusive teaching and learning

On Thursday and Friday last week my colleague Donna and I attended the Inclusive Education symposium at Kohia. We took away a few gems from the day and I would like to share some of that learning.

Vonnie Jones from MoE shared  information about the Inclusive education website and here are some of her key messages.

• Our schools and classrooms are places where we have rich diversity and sometimes complex challenges.
• Teachers don't always feel confident they have the skills and knowledge to respond to the unique strengths and needs of all learners in their classrooms.
• Sometimes teachers worry that in order to meet all the learning and well-being needs of learners they will need to plan many separate programmes. 
• The Inclusive education website has information and strategies that will help teachers plan for and meet the needs of all learners and what works for some, can work for all.

Here is the link to the website- https://www.inclusive.tki.org.nz/

Investigating writing tools

Using clicker sentences as 'A' writing tool 

“Students can start exploring and experimenting with alternate pencils/ writing tools 
BEFORE they know letter names or sounds,and well before they have control of 
the choice making required to choose specific letters.
Over time, you begin to see evidence that students are learning letters.”
–The Center for Literacy and Disability Studies

What is an alternative pencil/writing tool?
In order to develop literacy skills, all students need a way to write using the full alphabet no
 matter what level of understanding they appear to have about print.
(In my previous blog posts, I discussed a range of alternative writing tools).
Developed by Hanser (2009) at the Centre for Literacy and Disability Studies (CLDS), 
an alternative pencil is defined as anything that provides a student with access to all 
26 letters of the alphabet.

How can students benefit from using an alternative pencil/writing tool?

Writing is an essential component of literacy instruction for students without disabilities and a part of their daily instruction. In order for students with significant disabilities to develop as readers and writers, daily writing is equally, if not, more important. However, this becomes a challenge when most students with significant disabilities are unable to hold a pencil.

Which students would benefit from using an alternative pencil/writing tool?

For students with physical, cognitive or linguistic challenges, an alternative pencil can offer a way to write and/or explore the alphabet while focusing the majority of their cognitive energy on text production.

Alternative “pencils” /writing tools were created for students unable to hold a traditional pencil or physically manipulate a standard keyboard. As well, if a student can hold a pen or a pencil but struggles to form letters with it, especially if they have already been practicing for years, then we need to look at an alternative pencil for the majority of their writing.

Alternative pencils can be used with writers of varying abilities and ages including students who are emerging writers and those who are able to write more conventionally (Browder & Spooner, 2011).

This student is unable to form any letters independently and is at the scribbling stage.
Even though his language is limited, when something of interest happens, he does have ideas and attempts to say what is happening. Here I introduced him to clicker sentences. The student gave the sentence. I added the words and he was able to put that in a sentence. He was really exited when it read back to him. This was definitely a good motivator.

This student is able to string a few words together, she is very keen on adding her thoughts and wants to attempt spelling the words, she is still learning to use the predictive text. This is her independent work.

This student has had a few opportunities to work on clicker sentences and is able to form a simple sentence. He is very motivated to use this as his writing tool as he is successful and feels a sense of accomplishment. This student has autism and will only write for real reasons. He has to experience something to write about it.