Encouraging Writing

Working with students with significant needs comes with many challenges.  Encouraging students to achieve State Learning objectives can be one of them.  Writing in particular can be extremely difficult.  Organizing thoughts for content, writing, typing and being motivated are all necessary for effective writing.  One method I found that worked through the years was publishing classroom books.  Many teachers may do this but I want to reemphasize the importance of this simple activity.  Here are the steps I took to encourage resistant writers:
1. Take photos of activities done in the classroom or of particular interest to each student.
2. Verbally describe photos as a class.
3. Have students select the activity they want to write about and allow them to organize the photos in a sequence.
4. Have students write or scribe for them for each photo.  
5. Edit by having students decide which photos could be eliminated and combine sentences together.
6. Involve them in decorating class books and completing components such as title, index and chapter/story titles.
7.  Publish by sharing with other students (younger), parents or special adults in the school setting (often the social workers are special adults). 
I found students were more willing to participate in this process and then it could be referenced back to in future writing assignments to encourage them as being effective writers.  Specifically for students on the spectrum with significant needs taking pictures of them with preferred items or peers encourages them to engage in writing.  This may begin with selecting pictures that match their photo, selecting PEC pictures that match or even selecting words or sentences that match as stepping stones to get closer to that challenging academic and functional skill of writing.