Simple ways to assess the writing skills of students with learning disabilities

Figure 2. Rating a child's early attempts at writing (Clay, 1993)

Language Level

Record the highest level of linguistic organization used by the child: 1. Alphabetical 2. Word (any recognizable word) 3. Word group (any two-word phrase) 4. Sentence (any simple sentence) 5. Punctuated story (of two or more sentences) 6. Paragraphed story (two themes)

Message Quality

Record the number for the best description on the child's sample: 1. He has a concept of signs (uses letters, invents letters, used punctuation 2. He has a concept that a message is conveyed 3. A message is copied 4. Repetitive use of sentence patterns such as "Here is a…" 5. Attempts to record own ideas 6. Successful composition

Directional Principles

Record the number of the highest rating for which there is no error in the sample of the child's writing: 1. No evidence of directional knowledge 2. Part of the directional pattern is known: start top left, move left to right, or return down left 3. Reversal of the directional pattern (right to left and return down right) 4. Correct directional pattern 5. Correct directional pattern and spaces between words 6. Extensive text without any difficulties of arrangement and spacing of text

A simple curriculum-based measure of fluency is total number of words written during a short writing assignment. When fluency is the focus, misspellings, poor word choice, and faulty punctuation are not considered. Attention is only directed to the student's facility in translating thoughts into words. A baseline of at least three writing samples should be collected and the total number of words counted for each. For the purpose of evaluation, this total can be compared with those of proficient writers of the same age or grade level. However, total words may be used best in monitoring the student's progress, comparing performance with his or her own previous fluency.
A resulting IEP objective might be written like this: After a group prewriting discussion with the teacher, Daniel will write original narrative compositions of [40] words or more. A rough guideline for setting the criterion can be established from research reported by Deno, Mirkin, and Wesson (1984) and Parker and Tindal (1989):

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  If the total number of words is less than 20, aim for doubling it by the end of the school year.
  
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  If the number of words is between 25 and 30, aim for a 50% increase.
  
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  If the number of words is between 35 and 45, aim for a 25% increase.
  
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  If the number of words is greater than 50, choose another objective.