Supporting Children's Writing in Inclusive Classrooms with Arts-Based Strategies

Children with disabilities from diverse backgrounds sometimes face additional challenges with psychomotor skills (e.g., handwriting, typing), but many are linked to of lack positive experiences generating and organizing ideas (McBride, 2015). Some children do not feel they have ideas at all, and others do not think their ideas will be appreciated in a school setting. Teaching children to write requires teachers like to consider ways to engage students in writing activities that support their diverse ways of learning (CAST, 2018). One often-cited source of support is self-regulation. When learners self-regulate, they plan, perform, and then evaluate in cycles (Schunk & Zimmerman, 2007). However although self-regulation is important, it is only part of what learners need in the context of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework (CAST, 2018; Meyer et al., 2014). When attending to UDL, classroom instruction provides multiple means of representation and expression alongside attention to engagement, grounded in self-regulation. The designers of UDL advocated for the use of UDL in learning the arts (Glass et al., 2013). For them, art classes allowed learners to grapple with difficult concepts, such as symbolism and multiple media, in ways that honored autonomy and self-expression. This article examines why art-based strategies are ideal for embracing the UDL framework.