A teacher of hearing impaired students describes an approach to oral composition in which a student's sign language telling of a story was videotaped and then students were asked to write a draft on their topic. Results demonstrated the need to focus on coherence through the use of transitions. She suggests that benefits of the video-oral drafting technique include the recognition for the student of the differences between oral and written language and the opportunity for the teacher to isolate areas which could be improved through instruction. A second approach is described in which an audiotape was used to help a cerebral palsied quadriplegic student organize her compositions. (CL)