Early and comprehensive intervention is key for children at risk of writing failure. Children who are ‘at-risk’ often have difficulties with both transcription (encoding, spelling, letter formation, handwriting) and text generation (translating their ideas into words). Interventions should therefore target both these areas.
Here are some practices that we recommend for helping children who are at risk of writing failure:
- Intensive intervention: At-risk pupils may need intensive intervention (through Writing Club) to help them catch up to their peers. Our Writing Club Intervention involves one-on-one support and small group instruction that targets children’s needs. Children should be attending Writing Club to address their very specific identified needs. For example, students with low fluency will benefit from focused instruction at the sentence-level, while those struggling with cohesion might need more support in how writers plan and organise their ideas.
- Handwriting and spelling intervention: At-risk pupils may benefit from additional instruction and practice in handwriting and spelling. For older pupils, this may need to include explicitly modelling encoding strategies [LINK].
- An evidence-based approach to whole-class teaching: Given the broad writing difficulties often exhibited by at-risk pupils, an evidence-based approach to unit planning and writing instruction is recommended. Class writing projects should include instruction in all the components of the writing process, including: reading as writers, generating ideas, planning, translating ideas into words, developing sentences, paragraphs and texts. This invariably involves explicitly modelling and teaching students how to generate ideas, plan, draft, revise, and proof-read their writing [LINK].
- Executive function skills: Support children’s self-regulation, planning, and organisation of the writing process by providing them with a more developmentally appropriate writing process – for example Picturebook And Chapter Book Making.
- Transcription skills: Schools should have a clear policy and instructional routine for teaching spelling and handwriting. For more guidance, see our Handwriting & Spelling Provision Checklist.
Put simply, we can’t emphasise enough (1) the importance of evidence-based writing teaching being delivered across the school and (2) early identification and intervention for children who are at risk of writing failure. If disparities in writing proficiency are already present in Reception and Year One, they are likely to persist without effective intervention and the use of evidence-based practices. Addressing these issues early on can help children develop the necessary skills to be successful and happy writers.
***
For more, download our publication: Supporting Children With SEND To Be Great Writers [LINK]. Our publications are free for our members. To become a member, click here.