Writing Skills Of Students With Adhd

With so many schools in the United States requiring students to demonstrate writing skills to graduate high school, it is crucial that educators take initiative to instill these skills for the success of their students. Strong writers possess qualities that are necessary for the writing process, such as attention, memory and self-monitoring. For a students with ADHD, it is much more difficult to acquire these abilities to become strong writers. According to Jacobson and Reid (2010), “95% of students with disabilities were at or below the basic level for writing performance” (p. 157). Educators can improve the writing skills of students with ADHD using vital instruction that uses the self- regulated strategy development (SRSD) model. Research

The SRSD model approaches the problem in a few ways. It acknowledges the issue with setting goals among students with ADHD, and the effects have been found to be instantaneous and long lasting. The SRSD model focuses mainly on goal setting by reminding the students the significance of goals, setting them, keeping them, and helping them along the way (Jacobson & Reid, 2010). The model also recognizes that completing a task is challenging for students with ADHD because without focus and determination, they have insufficient self-regulation skills. As a result, the SRSD model devotes its efforts on teaching self-regulation strategies to improve their performance (Jacobson & Reid, 2010). With better self-regulation, the students will be more aware of themselves, which can help to identify their strengths and weaknesses. Lastly, the SRSD model is committed to helping students with their working memory by implementing instruction in small steps and scaffolding. Jacobson and Reid (2010) state, “Students receive prompts and cues in the initial stages to lessen demands on working memory and when the student becomes more proficient with the strategy, these aids fade” (p.159). Ultimately, these strategies will help the students step-by-step towards gaining better organizational

The study addressed three goals: They used the same SRSD model for writing instruction, broadened the spectrum of participants to high school students with ADHD, and included the genre of persuasive writing on account of state and district expectations. The study chose to use the STOP and DARE strategies due to the successful results in preteens with learning disabilities (Jacobson & Reid, 2010). Researchers hypothesized that the students would become better planners, use more essay elements, write longer papers, and increase the quality of their writing (Jacobson & Reid,