Text Writing within Simple Sentences: A Writing Fluency Intervention for Students with High‐Incidence Disabilities

Abstract

Good sentence construction, the act of writing multiple words into sentence types that make semantic and syntactic sense, is needed for clear and meaningful written expression. The present study investigated the effects of a multi‐component writing intervention, sentence instruction and frequency building to a performance criterion, on the simple sentence construction of intermediate‐grade level students with high‐incidence disabilities. Four special education teachers delivered intervention to small groups of two students, a total of eight students, and assessed for retention. Overall results were positive but inconsistent across the small groups. Three of the four small groups improved their text writing within simple sentences during and following intervention, and moderate to large Tau‐U values for correct word sequences and for incorrect word sequences, respectively, were found. Results suggest that postinstruction writing fluency practice can be an effective part of writing intervention for intermediate‐grade level students with high‐incidence disabilities.

Level and Trend of Writing Sequences: A Review and Meta-Analysis of Writing Interventions for Students With Disabilities

“…The majority of the 18 studies used either direct instruction or SRSD. A total of 10 studies, or 56% of the included studies, used direct instruction (Bishop, Sawyer, Alber- Morgan, & Boggs, 2015;Datchuk, 2016Datchuk et al, 2015;Datchuk & Dembek, 2018;Datchuk & Kubina, 2017;Datchuk & Rodgers, 2018;Viel-Ruma, 2008;Walker, Shippen, Alberto, Houchins, & Cihak, 2005;Walker, Shippen, Houchins, & Cihak, 2007). Across the 10 studies, an instructional framework of model-leadtest was used: Instructors modeled new skills and content, led students through guided practice, and tested for independence.…”

“…The rest of the direct-instruction studies used a similar approach to teach simple-sentence text writing (Datchuk, 2016Datchuk et al, 2015;Datchuk & Dembek, 2018;Datchuk & Kubina, 2017;Datchuk & Rodgers, 2018). These studies paired direct instruction with timed practice constructing simple sentences to picture-word prompts.…”

“…Writing sequences were typically measured at the discourse level and across four types of writing tasks: narrative stories (Lavik, 2014;Lewandowski, 2011;Schneider et al, 2013;Stotz et al, 2008;Walker et al, 2005Walker et al, , 2007, persuasive essays (Bishop et al, 2015, Ennis & Jolivette, 2014Straub, 2012), descriptive paragraphs (Viel-Ruma, 2008), and goal paragraphs for individualized education programs (Konrad, 2005). The remaining studies measured writing sequences at the sentence level using picture-word CBM (D. Parker et al, 2012) and sentence construction probes (Datchuk, 2016Datchuk et al, 2015;Datchuk & Dembek, 2018;Datchuk & Kubina, 2017;Datchuk & Rodgers, 2018).…”

“…One study did not specify the time allotted for writing persuasive essays (Straub, 2012), and in one study, 10 min was given for the composition of goal paragraphs (Konrad, 2005). The time allotted for writing at the sentence level was 3 min for pictureword CBM (D. Parker et al, 2012) and 1 min for sentence construction probes (Datchuk, 2016Datchuk et al, 2015;Datchuk & Dembek, 2018;Datchuk & Kubina, 2017;Datchuk & Rodgers, 2018).…”

Effects of Computerized Instruction on Mastery and Generalized Use of Commas Strategies by Students With LD

“…Numerous research studies have focused on the instruction of sentence-writing skills with the LD population. For example, Datchuk and colleagues (e.g., Datchuk, 2016, 2017; Datchuk & Kubina, 2017; Datchuk, Kubina, & Mason, 2015; Datchuk & Rodgers, 2018) have provided picture-word prompts and used the model–lead–test method (Archer & Hughes, 2011) with students with disabilities to increase their rates of complete simple sentences. Saddler and colleagues (e.g., Saddler, Asaro, & Behforooz, 2008; Saddler, Behforooz, & Asaro, 2008; Saddler & Graham, 2005) have provided simple sentences and taught students how to combine these simple sentences by using an adjective, adverb, phrase, or connecting word.…”