Teaching Students With Dysgraphia How to Expand Sentences — Explicitly and Effectively

For many students with dysgraphia and specific learning disability in written expression, writing even one sentence can feel overwhelming. Juggling ideas, spelling, handwriting or typing, and organization places heavy demands on working memory. As a result, students often write very short or incomplete sentences — not because they lack ideas, but because the process itself is exhausting.

That’s where explicit instruction in sentence expansion makes a powerful difference.

Explicit instruction is a clear, structured, and highly supportive way of teaching. Skills are broken into manageable steps, teachers model exactly what to do, students practice with guidance, and feedback is immediate. This approach for teaching how to expand sentences reduces cognitive load, builds confidence, and creates predictable success for struggling writers.

Why Teaching How to Expand Sentences Helps

When sentence expansion is taught intentionally, students learn how to:

• Build sentences in an organized way

• Add meaningful details without feeling overwhelmed

• Strengthen language and vocabulary

• Improve clarity and confidence in writing

• Experience success instead of frustration

Rather than telling a student to “write more” or “make it better,” we show them exactly how to grow a sentence.

A Simple, Structured Progression

Sentence expansion works best when skills are taught gradually and systematically. A common progression looks like this:

• [Article] Noun + Verb: The dog ran.

• Add Where: The dog ran across the yard.

• Add Describing Word: The large dog ran across the yard.

• Add When: The large dog ran across the yard when the cat meowed.

  
  

Students master one layer before moving to the next, keeping the task manageable and achievable.

Vocabulary can grow alongside sentence building by adding simple descriptors like color, size, number, and details related to the five senses (touch, feel, sight, taste, smell).

Building Vocabulary at the Same Time

Sentence expansion naturally supports vocabulary growth. Vocabulary can grow alongside sentence building by adding simple descriptors like color, size, shape, number, and details related to the five senses (touch, sight, hearing, taste, smell).

• Adding a Color: The large black dog ran across the yard when the cat meowed.

• Adding a Sense (Hearing):  The large black dog ran across the yard when the cat meowed loudly.

We used fairly simple vocabulary for our example but a student in older grades can use the same progression while including more challenging vocabulary:

• The ferocious black dog ran aggressively down the driveway when our vehicle approached the house.

This structured vocabulary expansion gives students concrete tools for adding detail instead of relying on vague language.

What It Looks Like in Practice

Effective instruction includes:

• Modeling: Adults think aloud and show how a sentence grows step by step.

• Guided Practice: Students expand sentences with visual supports or sentence frames.

• Frequent Feedback: Immediate encouragement and corrections keep learning on track.

• Ongoing Practice: Skills are revisited regularly so they stick.

As students gain confidence, sentence combining can introduce more complex ideas in a structured way.

Tips for Parents and Educators

• Keep lessons short and focused. Small doses practiced often are more effective than long writing sessions.

• Use visuals and sentence frames. These reduce memory load and increase independence.

• Celebrate growth, not perfection. Even small expansions are meaningful progress.

• Allow assistive technology when needed. Dictation or typing can help students focus on language rather than mechanics.

• Reinforce orally. Practice expanding sentences aloud before writing them.

• Stay consistent. Predictable routines build confidence and reduce anxiety.

With explicit instruction and supportive practice, students with dysgraphia can move beyond minimal writing and develop clearer, more confident communication — one sentence at a time.