This unique book focuses on how to provide effective instruction to K-12 students who find writing challenging, including English language learners and those with learning disabilities or language impairments. Prominent experts illuminate the nature of writing difficulties and offer practical suggestions for building students' skills at the word, sentence, and text levels. Topics include writing workshop instruction; strategies to support the writing process, motivation, and self-regulation; composing in the content areas; classroom technologies; spelling instruction for diverse learners; and assessment approaches. Every chapter is grounded in research and geared to the real-world needs of inservice and preservice teachers in general and special education settings.

Gary A. Troia, PhD, CCC-SLP, is Associate Professor of Special Education at Michigan State University, where he is also a Principal Investigator with the Literacy Achievement Research Center. He was a faculty member at the University of Washington in Seattle before assuming his current position at Michigan State. Prior to receiving his doctorate from the University of Maryland in 2000, he worked for 10 years in the public schools as a special educator and speech-language pathologist, and for 6 years as a university clinical supervisor. Dr. Troia is a consulting editor for several journals, including Exceptional Children, Journal of Learning Disabilities , and Learning Disability Quarterly , and is an associate editor of Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools . He has written over two dozen research papers and book chapters and has given numerous presentations about his work in the areas of phonological processing, writing assessment and instruction, and teacher professional development in literacy.

Introduction, Gary A. TroiaI. Theoretical Grounding: The Nature of Writing Problems in Struggling Writers 1. Multiple Processes That Matter in Writing Instruction and Assessment, Virginia W. Berninger, Noelia P. Garcia, and Robert D. Abbott 2. Self-Efficacy and Procrastination in the Writing of Students with Learning Disabilities, Robert M. Klassen and Christine WeltonII. Contemporary Classroom Writing Instruction and Struggling Writers 3. The Effects of Writing Workshop Instruction on the Performance and Motivation of Good and Poor Writers, Gary A. Troia, Shin-ju C. Lin, Brandon W. Monroe, and Steven Cohen 4. Connecting Reading and Writing Instruction for Struggling Learners, Timothy Shanahan 5. Informational Writing across the Curriculum, Carol Sue Englert, Cynthia M. Okolo, and Troy V. MariageIII. Teaching Composing to Struggling Writers 6. Teaching Composing to Students with Learning Disabilities: Scientifically Supported Recommendations, Steve Graham, Natalie G. Olinghouse, and Karen R. Harris 7. Written Composition Instruction and Intervention for Students with Language Impairment, Nickola W. Nelson, Froma P. Roth, and Adelia M. Van Meter 8. Teaching Written Expression to Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Learners, Anne W. Graves and Robert Rueda 9. Using Technology to Teach Composing to Struggling Writers, Charles A. MacArthurIV. Teaching Spelling to Struggling Writers 10. Teaching Spelling to Students with Language and Learning Disabilities, Louisa C. Moats 11. Spelling and English Language Learning, Pauline B. Low and Linda S. SiegelV. Assessment of Writing by Struggling Writers 12. Classroom Portfolio Assessment for Writing, Maryl Gearhart 13. Assessment of Student Writing with Curriculum-Based Measurement, Betty J. Benson and Heather M. Campbell 14. Language-Based Assessment of Written Expression, Cheryl M. Scott