Writing+Sentence+Fluency+with+Students+with+Communication+Disorders

__I. What are communication disorders?__ “The term communication disorders refers to difficulties with the transfer of knowledge, ideas, opinions, and feelings (Oyer et al, 1987). Communication is thought to be disordered when it deviates from the community standards enough to interfere with the transmission of messages, stands out as being unusually different, or produces negative feelings within the communicator.” (Vaughn, Bos, and Schumm 2003)

If a lesson is constructed primarily around listening and speaking, students with communication disorders will have difficulty meeting the objective.

Communication Disorders are divided into two broad areas: speech disorders and language disorders.

• Speech disorders cause difficulty for students in the production of language (articulation of specific sounds, correct flow and rhythm, and quality and pitch of voice.)

• Language disorders cause difficulty for students in the understanding of language. Students with language disorders have trouble following directions and understanding concepts, multiple meanings, and compound and complex sentences.

__II. What is sentence fluency?__ As one of the Six Traits of writing, sentence fluency ensures sentences flow smoothly to follow the writer’s ideas. This trait especially emphasizes varied sentence length. When good sentence fluency is properly exercised, a reader moves seamlessly through the text, barely conscious of transitions between new ideas.

For more information on the Six Traits of Writing, see: MPS Six Traits Presentation

__III. Strategies for teaching students with communication disorders__

Broadly speaking, when teaching writing students with communication disorders benefit from a more transparent writing process and thinking metacogntively about it. A “Scaffolded Narrative” method (Montgomery and Kahn 2003), adapted from self-regulatory strategy development, which uses questioning to build students’ comprehension of the process, could be employed. At an early stage of the process, the instructor “sets up a series of questions to scaffold the students’ thinking process about the stories they want to write…scaffold[ing] the inquiry process so that the students make the decisions.”
 * Teach comprehension – stop to talk about what we’re learning, ask questions, discuss.**

Students with communication disorders benefit from having new concepts framed within a familiar context, comparing and contrasting unfamiliar material and asking questions about it. Phrases such as “it’s like,” “you can compare it to,” and “opposite of” are helpful. When first introducing sentence fluency, an instructor might draw comparisons to the other 5 traits of writing, explaining how its commonalities and differences from organization, for example.
 * Help students see the connections or relationships between concepts**

Students with communication disorders may struggle with a sort of rote call and response method when introducing an idea like sentence fluency. They might benefit from breaking into smaller discussion groups to hold planned conversations around a KWL chart at various points throughout the lesson. These would serve as further checks for understanding throughout the lesson. Also, groups could be employed when editing writing projects for sentence fluency.
 * Use conversation rather than questions and drill and practice.**

When asking questions during any lesson, it is especially important for students with communication disorders to have ample time to process and consider the question before taking an answer. Without adequate spacing between questions and answers, student comprehension will be greatly diminished. In teaching sentence fluency, this would not only be important when introducing the concept, but also when editing a piece of writing for this trait – instructors should ensure students have enough time to read an excerpt and consider for themselves what changes may need to be made before a suggestion is taken.
 * Utilize “wait time,” giving students enough time to process questions and respond**

Beneficial to all students, those with communication disorders particularly need segmented lessons, scaffolded at each stage, with checks for understanding built-in throughout. Rather than throwing a paragraph up on the board and editing it for our new trait called “sentence fluency,” an instructor would want to first build up to an introduction of the trait itself, drawing comparisons to other traits of writing and providing good examples from familiar text. When actually checking for sentence fluency in writing, the instructor would edit the first examples himself and work together with the group before gradually releasing students to work independently.
 * Pace adjustment and chunking information**

Modelling instruction, demonstrating explicitly how to perform a particular skill or use a new idea, is especially helpful for students with communication disorders who struggle with simply listening to directions or hearing verbal explanations. To teach sentence fluency, an instructor could put a sample paragraph on the board and demonstrate what changes he would make to improve sentence fluency.
 * Use modeling**

This strategy goes hand-in-hand with teaching comprehension. Students with communication disorders benefit from instructors narrating their actions as they model a new concept and explaining their underlying rationale. As a teacher edited a sample paragraph for sentence fluency, he could talk about what he was looking for – what clues told him that an edit should be made – and how he was thinking about what sentences to change.
 * Use “self-talk” to explain what you are doing or thinking**

__IV. Works Cited__

Vaughn, Sharon, Bos, Candace S. and Schumm, Jeanne Shay. “Teaching Exceptional, Diverse, and At-Risk Students in the General Education Classroom.” Third Edition. Allyn and Bacon.

“You Are Going To Be an Author: Adolescent Narratives as Intervention.” Montgomery, Judy K. Kahn, Nancy L. Communication Disorders Quarterly. v24 n3 p143-52 Spr 2003.

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