Journal Article

Improving the Paragraph Text-Writing Skills of Students with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: A Single-Case Design Study

Rodgers, Derek B., Datchuk, Shawn M.

2020

Overview

Research suggests that students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) struggle to develop writing skills. Paragraph text writing is a component of written expression and refers to the composition of connected text into multiple, related sentences of appropriate semantics, spelling, syntax, and usage (e.g., capitalization and punctuation). In the present study, we investigated the effects of a multicomponent intervention of explicit instruction and fluency practice on the paragraph text-writing skills of four secondary-aged individuals with IDD. We used a multiple-probe across participants design and measured paragraph text-writing with correct and incorrect writing sequences. Visual analysis and effect sizes revealed mixed results: Three participants showed improvement in the accuracy and/or speed of their paragraph text-writing, but one participant showed no improvement. We discuss the results of the study within the context of the writing intervention literature and instructional procedures for developing writing fluency.

• Publisher: Springer International Publishing,Springer,West Virginia University Press, University of West Virginia
• Subject: Accuracy / Adolescents / Analysis / Behavioral Science and Psychology / Child and School Psychology / Child development deviations / Clinical Psychology / Cognition & reasoning / Cognitive ability / Developmental Disabilities / Developmental Psychology / Direct Instruction / Disability / Disabled students / Educational materials / Error correction & detection / Individualized Education Programs / Individualized Instruction / Instructional Effectiveness / Intellectual Disability / Intervention / Memory / Original Article / Paragraph Composition / Psychology / Semantics / Spelling / Student writing / Students with Disabilities / Syntax / Teachers / Teaching Methods / Teenagers / Thinking Skills / Writing Improvement / Writing Instruction / Writing Skills