Effects of Learning Strategy Training on the Writing Performance of College Students with Asperger's Syndrome.
A short writing strategy lifts essay quality for college students with Asperger’s and transfers across subjects.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Three college students with Asperger syndrome learned a step-by-step writing plan.
The instructor taught them how to pick a topic, list ideas, and order paragraphs.
Each student practiced the plan in every session until their essays got better.
What they found
All three students wrote clearer, better-organized essays after learning the plan.
The gains showed up in history papers and science reports, not just English class.
How this fits with other research
Lim et al. (2016) also boosted academic skills in students with autism, but they used direct phonics lessons for middle-schoolers with severe delays.
Boxum et al. (2018) now shows that self-guided writing plans work for higher-functioning young adults, extending the skill range upward.
Baldwin et al. (2014) warns that adults with Asperger’s still struggle to keep jobs even with degrees; teaching writing may help close that gap.
Why it matters
You can teach the same plan in one lunch-hour session. Give the learner a pocket card with four steps: goal, brainstorm, order, review. Let them use it on any course assignment. The study shows the plan sticks without extra rewards, so you spend less time prompting and more time on content.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are increasingly entering institutions of higher education. However, many are not prepared for the academic and social demands of postsecondary environments. Although studies have evaluated academic and social interventions for children and adolescents with ASD, little research exists on the college population. The current study utilized a multiple baseline across participants design to evaluate the effectiveness of a writing learning strategy on the writing performance of three college students with ASD. Results indicated that the quality of writing performance improved following strategy instruction. In addition, participants were able to generalize strategy use to content specific writing tasks.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2018 · doi:10.1007/s10803-017-3170-9