However, before drawing any conclusions, practitioners need to monitor their observations of the oral communication throughout the assessment process to identify common areas of difficulty and consistent patterns of errors.

Assessing expressive writing

The steps learners go through before they write such as the planning and organizing of ideas should be assessed, along with the actual product. Practitioners should watch for any obstacles that learners may face when trying to get things down on paper: how the learners attempt to spell things they don't know, do they read what they wrote, do they talk about or share their work, what changes or editing do they do? Most adults with learning disabilities are reluctant to proof read. They often do not see the errors and if they do, they don't correct them consistently.

One way to assess the process that learners go through is by using the POWER model- plan, organize, write, edit and revise. This involves asking learners questions on how they go through each of the five steps. Learners' self-assessment of writing is helpful because it helps them observe and reflect on their own approach, drawing attention to steps they may have overlooked, and helps them internalize a strategy and mentally rehearse the strategy steps. This process can help learners take ownership of their writing and begin to internalize strategies. (See Appendix B for more details on the POWER model.)

Many adults with learning disabilities that impact their reading also have difficulty with writing, since both areas are language-based (receptive and expressive). Difficulties with writing affect learners' achievements in virtually every content area.

The product can be evaluated on five factors:

• Fluency
• Content
• Conventions (phonetics, spelling, morphology)
• Syntax
• Vocabulary³⁶