Aligning an Editing and Revising Writing Strategy to Technology Supports for Students With Learning Disabilities

Abstract

Editing and revising is a necessary, yet complex, stage of the writing process that is challenging for students with and without disabilities. One solution to improve overall writing outcomes is with strategy instruction, such as the Strategic Instruction Model for writing. More specifically, strategies such as the Error Monitoring Strategy, that support editing and revising. Additionally, with the increase in access to devices, and the continued development of tools that support writing, these strategies should be aligned to technologies to further support students with learning disabilities and other struggling writers. Simply providing teaching strategies to students and providing them with devices is not enough to improve writing outcomes. Rather, explicit instruction in the strategy and the tool, along with how to use them together, is necessary.The purpose of this article is to offer an example of how educators can combine effective writing strategy instruction with readily and easily available technology tools to support the needs of students who struggle with writing.