Teaching writing to students with disabilities can be challenging, even more so when that

disability is autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Students with ASD can prove to be a particularly

challenging group in that they have much difficulty with self-reflection. The goal of our research is

to provide educators with resources on effective ways to teach writing to these students. We not only

found many ways to teach these students and engage them in writing but also the studies that have

implemented the strategies and found what works best. In this way our research will be a valuable

tool, especially for those teachers who lack special education certification and will have ASD

students “pushing in” with a general education population.

Barrett, C. (2018, 09). Food Truck Writing Prompt.

This source contains two writing examples from an elementary class. The two students are in

first and third grade, both high-functioning students with autism spectrum disorder. The samples are

from what the teacher described as good days for both students. It is evident which student is older

from the samples and some parts are teacher guided. This lesson went along with a lesson that the

class did about food trucks and in this way put the writing in a context of real life for the students.

Barrett, C. (2018, 10). Write a Story.

This source is a writing prompt for elementary students in an adaptive academics class. The

examples provided were lessons on writing stories and are used for students in first through third

grade. These examples are given to help students make sentences and begin story writing based on

current events at the time. This can help autistic students to understand that one can write words to

tell a story, not just verbal telling of stories. The lesson draws on things that are happening around

them, this particular lesson was about baseball and at the time the Astros were in the play-offs, thus

drawing in what they may be hearing being talked about in real life.
Berlin, K. (2012, April). Differentiated Writing Instruction for Students with Autism Spectrum

Disorders. Retrieved October 22, 2018, from https://ttac.gmu.edu/telegram/archives/spring-

2010/article-2

This source provides an overlook on how to adjust the way students with autism are taught to

write. It includes multiple ideas that can help instructors with autistic students. This is written in an

academic style and for teachers. The language is specialized and would be best understood by

people within the special education and teaching community. This paper was written almost in 2010

and some of the information may be outdated for current readers. This article would provide helpful

supplemental advice for any teacher who already understands the situation but may not be detailed

enough for those without previous knowledge.

Lucci, D. (2016, August 16). Helping Students with Asperger Profiles Avoid Writing Pitfalls – The

Asperger / Autism Network (AANE). Retrieved October 22, 2018, from

https://www.aane.org/write-describe-discuss/

This source is ideas for helping students with Asperger Syndrome become more effective

writers. It provides insight that was given through a workshop with speech/language pathologists

who specialize in the field. It is written for educators but contains language that makes it specialized

more for those in special education. Because many of the additional resources provided by this

article are older it may not have the most up to date information. Based on the language used and the

age of the info this article is a better supplementary source for those who already have background

knowledge on the subject.

Pennington, R.C., Foreman, L.H., & Gurney, B.N. (2017,06). An Evaluation of Procedures for Teaching

Students with Moderate to Severe Disabilities to Write Sentences. Remedial and Special Education,

39(1), 27-38.

Reviews several studies focused on the improvement of writing skills of students with moderate

to severe disabilities (MSD). Methods range from the beginnings of teaching spelling to using

computer software and yet other methods use modeling, story templates and self-graphing. The

article would be useful for teachers looking for suggestions on different methods to try when

teaching those with MSD. The language is simple enough and the graphics are easy to

understand. However, the studies were only conducted on a very small group of students (3) and

therefore does not represent a broad enough testing group. While it may be a good starting point for

ideas for teaching writing to students with MSD, it is not sufficient to stand on its own.

Pennington, R. & Koehler, M. (2017, 09). Effects of Modeling, Story Templates, and Self-Graphing in

the Use of Story Elements by Students with Moderate Intellectual Disability. Education and

Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilties, 52(3), 280-290.

This source investigates different strategies in teaching and improving the writing of students

with disabilities from kindergarten through high school. It includes case studies and targeted

strategies throughout the article, that can be a great help in the classroom. It also provides the

results of their trials and includes the design and procedures that were used. It contains teacher

training and baseline and intervention conditions to assist with implementation. This would be of

great help to teachers who are searching for ways to differentiate their instruction for those students

who have intellectual disabilities such as autism spectrum disorder.

Rullkoetter, L. (2015, November 12). How I Failed as the Teacher of an Autistic Student. Retrieved

October 22, 2018, from https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/11/teacher-autistic-

student-failure/414684/

The source provides a look at what it is like for a non-sped teacher to have a sped student in a

writing class and the difficulties it provides. It talks about different strategies used and the

interaction between the teacher, student, and student’s parent. It is written in narrative form,

providing a personalized view of the situation. This article is not only written for teachers but also

parents or anyone interested in how the education system works for sped students. The language is

simple and easy to understand which draws the reader in. Because this is a personal narrative it may

not be a strong source of academic information and is best used as a supplementary text.

Unique learning. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.n2y.com/unique-learning-system/

This source provides the curriculum used by CCISD for teaching students with disabilities. It is

can be personalized and offers detailed lesson plan and teaching strategies. It is also a great tool for

administrators to use to manage faculty and students, where they can assess and use it to create

reporting and see how the rest of the district is using it as well. This seems like a great tool for the

whole school and heloing to differentiate the learning for each student with learning disabilities.

Zajic, M.C., McIntyre, N., Swain-Lerro, L., Novotny, S., Oswald, T., & Mundy, P. (2016,12). Attention

and written expression in school-age, high-functioning children with autism spectrum disorders.

Autism, 22(3), 245-258.

This article studied the writing achievement of 8-16 year olds, it was done because writing is

now a part of the core components of school curriculum and requires a complex social cognitive

process. The study investigates the impact of attention on written expression and it used 2 groups of
(HFASD) students one group with ADHD and a control group, those with typical development.

This study seemed far more accurate because of the larger number of students studied and would be

good for teachers and administrators trying to observe the effects of attention problems on

writing. There were some limitations to the study that were noted as well.