Using Frames and Response Prompting to Teach Students with Intellectual Disability to Write About Text

Writing is difficult for many students across a range of support needs, as it requires that a writer execute several complex skills simultaneously in response to ever changing demands and audiences. Students with intellectual disability (ID) may face even greater barriers to writing. These students may have difficulties in several areas of reading which may impact their ability to spell words, read and comprehend their own writing, and generate writing in response to texts. Further, these students may have difficulty recalling words, organizing their thoughts, and producing legible handwriting. Finally, as a result of these challenges some students may find writing to be unpleasant and may engage in off-task behaviors to avoid writing tasks. In this session, the presenters will describe an evaluation of a writing package comprised of response prompting, sentence frames, and selection-based technology for teaching students with intellectual disability to write about texts they read. The presenters implemented a single case multiple probe design across three elementary school students with ID. Data indicated that all three participants improved their writing performance and that two maintained improved performance after the termination of intervention. The presenters will discuss implications of their findings for both practitioners and researchers.