Kay (PHD) on Diagnosis and Intervention Strategies for Disorders of
Written Language
Like many of the articles read during the last couple weeks,
this one has caused me to reflect on my practice in the classroom. I know that
I certainly did not have a firm grip on all elements and complexities of
writing disorders that students may or may not have exhibited in my classes.
While diagnoses revealed important information about the profile of students
with disorders and I adapted/programmed accordingly, it is the other students
without diagnoses that I probably dismissed alternate programming, adaptations,
or assistive technology for them as they had developed their own strategies
during their young academic careers allowing them to be moderately successful. The analogy of the squeaky wheel gets the grease is probably
appropriate in this situation.
Kay provides a very accurate analysis of the writing process
and the complexities that evoke frustration or obstacles for many students, particularly
those with diagnoses. The interventions suggested have many parallels with the
assistive technologies we have examined during the past few weeks.
Kay’s perspective on writing mechanics is very interesting.
She mentions that mechanics are not going to take care of themselves- I agree.
When I taught ELA mechanics, grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. was a sizable
component of my yearly plan and something that I spent a measurable amount of
time explicitly teaching (text message/twitter invented, or abbreviated language drives me crazy!). I
made every attempt to keep this part of class light and engaging; often using
high interest text for students to breakdown and correct mechanical errors. Interestingly,
other middle level ELA teachers took a rather holistic approach to mechanics
and spelling- not directly teaching, but assuming that students will develop
skills during the writing process. Certainly two very different approaches-
which one is better? Who knows, but I was confident majority of students were
not developing specific skills elsewhere.
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