Special needs children with limited language skills are typically given plain, decontexualized worksheets containing single words or phrases, which are matched with pictures. However, many of these children exhibit frustration with these inherently boring worksheets that they perceive as meaningless and irrelevant (see Problem Behaviors – Improve Behavior Problems with the Right Curriculum). How then can teachers/parents provide these children with interesting writing worksheets that can engage them, while taking into account the latter’s language deficits?
The solution is: writing templates with creative scaffolding that can provide the necessary support for these children to work in sentences within a story context. The story context enhances the interest, meaningfulness and relevance of the task. At the same time, the in-built scaffolding enables them to perform the task without being overwhelmed.
Create an Interesting Story Context
To create an interesting story context, you will find your inspiration in the children’s routines, along with favorite activities, places and life experiences. Because they are able to identify with the story context, they no longer perceive the writing task to be meaningless and abstract.
They are aided by the following scaffolding to accomplish this task relatively independently:
Word Prompts
Within the story template, there are sentences containing incompletely-spelled words, with the correct number of missing blanks to prompt their spelling:
eg. cake = ca_ _
These missing blanks break down the word into smaller alphabet units that allows for students to work on single words and even single letters. The clue to the missing word does not come from the word alone; it also depends on the other words within the surrounding context.
Eg. The_ _ ar_ 5 cand_ _ _ o_ t_ _ birth_ _ _ca_ _ .
The provision of a text with missing letters allows for students who cannot speak in sentences to operate at the sentence and textual levels, instead of single words or disconnected phrases. These word prompts should also be used with the following types of scaffolding.
Pictorial Prompts
Pictorial prompts are images (drawings, photographs, brochures, etc.) that help the learner to identify the missing letters or word. They can be inserted directly into the worksheet to be colored and/or cut and then pasted. The presence of a picture can be used to substitute the word prompt, thus challenging the learner to spell out the entire word.
Moreover, by interspersing the writing task with pictures, pictorial prompts allow learners to take a break from the monotony of writing with coloring, or cutting and pasting. The opportunity for the students to use different implements and perform multiple tasks in this writing activity can transform their work into a dynamic, multi-sensory experience. This appeals to the visual, tactile and kinesthetic learning styles of many children with special needs (see Learning Style), thus further enhancing their interest in the task.
Clue/Instructional prompts
With clue/instructional prompts, special needs children are challenged to work with higher-level clues that can teach them about grammar such as verb tenses and pronouns.
eg. _______ = “ate” (eat: verb – past)
In this instance, the child can associate “ate” with the “past tense” of the word “eat”. He is now aware of the existence of an abstract concept called “past tense”. Through repeated exposure over time, he can develop his awareness of grammatical components of language.
By providing special needs children with writing templates that comprise scaffolding within a meaningful story context, caregivers will be better able to engage them in higher-level writing tasks. As these writing templates can be customized by modifying the scaffolding, they can continuously challenge special needs children to engage in higher-level learning.
Kah Ying Choo - Formerly an academic researcher in the U.S. for eight years, I am a writer/educator and a homeschooler of Sebastien, my 12-year-old ...
