Looking for suggestions to improve writing skills

[Anonymous]

My dc has processing issues and major fine motor issues. We have gotten his reading up to grade level but his writing still lags far behind b/c he can't get his thoughts onto the paper fast enough. If I scribe for him, he can string multiple sentences together. If he writes on his own, it is a simple sentence. Last year, he was in public school and had a scribe through his IEP which helped a lot. This year in private, they are encouraging him to write on his own to improve handwriting, etc. At this point, I am less concerned about the handwriting and more interested in the writing process, content etc. Any ideas, tools, computer programs would be appreciated. TIA.

[Anonymous]

Our psychologist recommended the Inspiration software (or Kidspiration depending on how old he is). Check out their website and you can dowload a 30 day trial for free to see how it works.

[Anonymous]

Handwriting without tears

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for the replies. School and private OT both use Handwriting Without Tears and it is a lot more legible. But dc is slow so and cannot get all of the thoughts onto the page so just writes a simple sentence and stops. DC had started to learn typing in public school and had an alphasmart but not anymore. And, truthfully, it seemed like the public school didn't really use the alphasmart on a regular basis anyway. DC is 8 and will check out the recommended website. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

We have the same issue. DS is in 2nd grade. For homework,
teachers are allowing me to write for him while he dictates his thoughts to me.
They suggested we try handwriting without tears, but that only helps with letter formation, not thought formation.

it is a processing, executive functioning issue - and I'm not sure how to fix that.

[Anonymous]

Focus on getting his typing up to speed. You can buy an alphasmart on line until he is ready for a laptop. My DS started keyboarding in second grade, when it became clear that all the OT in the world would not get his writing up to speed (although maturation has helped some).

[Anonymous]

OP, what grade is your child? If younger than fourth grade I would suggest working on handwriting.

When you scribe for your child, make it a two part process.

Step One: Your child dictates his ideas to you You write them down.

Break

Step Two: You dictate back what your child wrote. As slowly as necessary. Your child writes what you say.

In this way, you divorce the physical act of writing from the process of coming up with things to say.

In the beginning of this process, you can modify how much your child has to write on his own, with the eventual goal of getting up to 100%. You could, for instance, have hium write the first 3 sentences, or the first 5 lines, or the first two paragraphs, or the first page, or whatever makes sense. And gradulally up the requirement. This is a GREAT time to use incentives. This writing is possible for your child, but just not all that fun. It's hard work, and strenuous, so give some rewards for a job done well and with good effort.

After he has written whatever the current goal is, on his own, you can type the whole thing for him to turn in.

Just keep asking him to write more each time. The efffort it takes is worth it.

[Anonymous]

Not the OP, but thanks 18:53 for the suggestions. My DS also has problems in this area and your approach sounds like it may work with our DS.

[Anonymous]

You are welcome, and sorry for all the typos.

The other thing you can do, as you are doing this 2 step process, is give your child VERY specific feedback about how well he is writing. I use a checklist that can be changed as the child improves; pick about 5 or 6 to start and then add as your child improves. Something like this (remember this is a checklist of sentences written to an adult's dictation, but the sentences themselves were generated by the child)

___ I wrote each word in the sentence.

__ I started at one red margin and wrote all the way to the other red margin (but not over). (Note -- this is a big executive dysfunction issue, I think. Kids are so busy writing the words that they forget to notice that they are nearing the end of the line. So they start the last word, then after it is written, they notice that it went into the margin. Then they have to erase it and write it on the next line.... FRUSTRATING! It helps to make the process explicit, and give them a lot of feedback on how well they are doing, until it becomes automatic.)

__ Each letter sits neatly on the line.

__ There is a small space between each word, not too big -- the spaces are all the same size.

__ Letters are not too large or too small.

__ Each sentence starts with a capital letter.

__ Each sentence ends with a period (or has end punctuation).

___ I wrote at a steady/rapid pace and didn't need to stop or look around.

Give grades -- + means "I did this well on my own", check means, "I did with some reminders", and - means, "I still need to do this or didn't do this well." Give LOTS of praise and reinforcement for improving scores! All plusses means extra treats.

[Anonymous]

OP again. Awesome suggestions -- thanks so much!!!

[Anonymous]

Those are really excellent suggestions, 18:53.

I agree that the handwriting part will only improve with practice, practice, practice. Rewards like m & ms, etc, are helpful! Composing the content of writing is very difficult for kids who can't write reasonably quickly. My child tends to forget what the end of his sentence was (much less remember his larger idea!) once he starts putting pencil to paper. We have a whiteboard attached to the side end of our kitchen counter and I help him brainstorm his ideas on whatever he is to write about. Once his ideas are captured with a list of phrases (which I write), he can then sit down and create his full, complete sentences ... he glances at the notes as needed. I encourage him to make a few notes in the margin at school to help him do the same thing for himself at school, but so far he has not been able to do it without my help at home. He's 9 and in third grade and has ADD. Writing will always be a difficult skill for him, I know, so I just continue to try to teach him these types of methods to help him compensate while he gradually improves as measured against himself.

Older children can chat into a recording device to capture those fast-flowing ideas, then go back and replay as needed to get it down on paper. I think we all know how difficult writing can be when you are staring at that blank page ... anything to get a start is helpful.

[Anonymous]

Great, 22:59. Was thinking of a checklist like this.

[Anonymous]

also do a web. Help him brainstorm it-- you can write it or he can.

For a paragraph on say, horses, you put the main topic in a circle on the page. One topic sentence to introduce the paragraph, then 3 detail sentences, then a concluding sentence.

"Horses" with a circle around it. And then draw a line and brainstorm a detail about horses. You can prompt: what do they eat? what do they look like? what do they do? "eat grass" with a circle. Then another line from horses and brainstorm the next thought-- "fun to ride" and put a circle around it. One more detail... "useful on farms" and put a circle around it.

Number the circles. 1 for "horses," 2 for whichever detail goes next, then 3 and 4, and then a concluding sentence.

Unfortunately my child now ends EVERY PARAGRAPH this way: "And that is why I like horses." or "And that is why the weather is cold in winter." Alas. But the rest is much, much better organized.