Using assistive technology with SRSD to support students on the autism spectrum with persuasive writing

Abstract

Children on the autism spectrum (AS) often struggle with writing tasks at school. They commonly experience difficulty with two key aspects of writing: the skills required for handwriting (fine motor and perceptual) and the conceptual and language skills required for written composition. Specialist intervention to assist with written expression is, therefore, often needed for students on the AS to succeed academically. This research evaluated the impact of using self‐regulated strategy development (SRSD) in combination with assistive technology on the quality and length of written compositions of students on the AS. It also investigated how students felt about using the SRSD writing strategy. Eight primary school students on the AS between the ages of 9 and 12 participated in this single‐subject study. An ABAC study design was used to evaluate student writing performance across three conditions. Baseline handwriting measurements were collected during condition A. During condition B students used assistive technology alone; in condition C, students applied their understanding of SRSD while using assistive technology. Results from this study show that, in many cases, the quality and/or length of written compositions and feelings of self‐efficacy towards persuasive writing of students on the AS improved when they received physical and/or conceptual writing supports. This paper presents the research design, methods and results from this single‐subject study followed by a discussion of the results and final thoughts and areas for future research. What is already known about this topic? There is limited research about how the persuasive writing of students on the autism spectrum (AS) can be supported in a socially inclusive way. Research has shown that the use of assistive technologies like keyboards and writing‐support software can improve the writing outcomes of students on the AS. Research has shown that the use of self‐regulated strategy development (SRSD) writing strategies can improve the persuasive writing outcomes of diverse students. What this paper adds? A single‐subject study using an ABAC study design showed that persuasive writing outcomes improved in quality or length for some students when they used an app that combined the two strategies. Implications for policy and practice SRSD combined with writing‐support software appeared to improve the writing outcomes of some students on the AS. It can, therefore, be used as a tool to support teachers in developing strategies for inclusive classrooms.

An Alternative Way to Improve the Writing Skills of Secondary School Students: The Social Cognitive Model of Sequential Skill Acquisition (SCM Intervention)

“…Graham and Perin (2007), in their meta-analysis study on adolescents, determined that this model is very effective in developing the writing skills of different target audiences (students with learning disability, child with typical development etc.). Similarly, in studies supported by SRSD and SRSD applied in the dates after this meta-analysis study, it has been revealed that this model is also effective on different target groups (e.g., Festas et al 2015;Ozdowska, Wyeth, Carrington, & Ashburner 2021;Palermo and Thomson 2018;Rosário et al 2019;Traga Philippakos, & MacArthur). However, the SRSD model is a strategy teaching model (Garcia-Sanchez & Raquel Fidalgo-Redondo, 2006;Uyar, 2015).…”

Did the Covid-19 Pandemic Affect the Junior Primary Learners’ Fine Motor Skills? A Literature Review

“…This was obtained by testing fine motor skills whereby learners WHO were finding out remotely were tasked to repeat shapes and drawings of the person and rate their mastery of fine motor skills. a special study by conducted in Australia by Ozdowska, Wyeth, Carrington, and Ashburner (2021) exploitation helpful technology with SRSD to support students on the syndrome spectrum with persuasive writing with eight school students on the syndrome Spectrum between the ages of nine and twelve participated during this single-subject study shows that in several cases the standard and/or length of written compositions and feelings of self-efficacy towards persuasive writing of scholars on the AS improved after they received physical and/or abstract writing supports. In light-weight of those results, one could infer that fine motor skills are necessary for children's development because it helps them to jot down quality papers.…”

Exploring and Implementing Available Writing Educational Technology for Students with Disabilities and Their Peers

“…The use of these tools for SWDs is federally mandated under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA; Rowland, 2020) and students without disabilities may also benefit from them (Dawson et al, 2019). Numerous studies support the use of these technologies for students with and without disabilities (i.e., Jozwik et al, 2020;Ozdowska et al, 2018;Ozdowska et al, 2021;Park et al, 2017). Specifically, students with physical disabilities, learning disabilities, and those that struggle with spelling and vocabulary have been shown to benefit from the use of word prediction (Evmenova & Regan, 2019) and high schoolers with SLD improved their writing quality when using speech-to-text rather than handwriting (Evmenova & Regan, 2019).…”