No Red Marks

Most students with Specific Learning Disabilities in the areas of Written Expression have difficulties sharing with others their writing experiences.  This can be contributed to a number of different things such as embarrassment, not wanting to be labeled. or not having confidence.  In order for teachers to know how to differentiate instruction or assist students with Learning Differences they will need to know where to start.  Let's look at the writing sample below:

Translation: High beams one dark night a lady left the university.  She got into her van and started home.  When the lady got home she called the police because the man behind turned on his high beams again and again and again and again....

By analyzing this student's work, it appears that the student has difficulty with spelling, because the student's thought process and sentence structure seem to flow in a sequential order.   This is also a student who utilized his coping strategies by writing a story about a word that he knew how to spell which was "police".

In addition, If this student's teacher began marking all of his misspelled words with red marks, this would discourage the student to not want to continue to improve his spelling in fear of making a mistake.  Therefore, understanding the student's  learning deferences and classroom accommodations will assist the teacher in understanding how to intervene.