Private Middle Schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:18:28 I am going to explain this all wrong I am sure but the way I understand written expression disorder is that DS has an issue encoding his thoughts (he is an excellent reader which is a decoding activity). The short term solution is dictating his essays into dragon software which captures some creative thinking and good vocab, even a literary device or two in a good day, but he cannot sit down a write a well-organized essay. Generally he does his thinking, writing or math, in his head rather than on paper.

Just to add on - my DS has dsygraphia, executive functioning disorder, and written expression disorder (and a couple of other issues). The written expression disorder makes it very difficult for my DS to organize his thoughts and ideas and write a well-organized essay that is factually accurate. When left to his own devices he writes brilliant satire and fiction, complete with wonderful vocab, descriptions, characters, and plot. But it is all improvised. He is also a gifted artist, and can express himself and his ideas through drawing. To help with the written expression disorder, he uses software to capture his thoughts, a livescribe pen to help with note-taking, and graphic organizers to help organize his ideas -- all of which help him transform his research and ideas into a coherent paper or essay. It is not easy, but the supports are critical in order for him to stay on topic rather than veering left into some kind of wacky fantasy story. It's an interesting disorder to me - because he is so highly verbal and creative, yet has tremendous difficulty with writing a non-fiction essay or research paper. So yes, encoding is difficult, making it tough to write an essay, but impulsively churning out hilarious fiction from his imagination is easy.

[Anonymous]

Op here and thanks! Just curious, PP does you DC attend a private school and if so, are you comfortable disclosing which one? I am a bit concerned that my DS is not developing the tools he will need to handle his issues.

[Anonymous]

uses software to capture his thoughts, a livescribe pen to help with note-taking, and graphic organizers to help organize his ideas

Where did he learn to use these?

I don't know what livescribe is - but I will Google it.

I just started teaching my son to use Dragon Dictate but I find it frustrating because I don't relly know how to us it effectively.

also is the graphic organizer called Inspiration? or is it something else? (another thing on my list I need to learn to use and teach my son)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here and thanks! Just curious, PP does you DC attend a private school and if so, are you comfortable disclosing which one? I am a bit concerned that my DS is not developing the tools he will need to handle his issues.

He did - but switched to MoCo public GT/LD program in 3rd grade. He's now in 5th grade, and will continue in public GT/LD for MS. He has had an amazing teacher for three years who implements the tech supports. He also got an iPad with a keyboard this year, which she has loaded with apps and software, including the graphic organizing tool by Inspiration and other educational software. He uses it at school and home. We had to disable Safari and put a more restrictive search engine on to prevent him from accessing inappropriate material. (we monitor his use, but we still found him surfing the web for all kinds of stuff). We found Dragon to be less useful, but the Livescribe pen is wonderful. The school provided it, and he may get to use it next year. All of this is included in his IEP as adaptive technology, and makes it much easier for him to access the curriculum. He will probably leave the iPad at home next year, but use it for homework. Depending on the school, you should be able to get this sort of assistance. I know that Lab and Sienna provide adaptive technologies, and if you go public you can get an IEP and have those included. Although that is a entire thread in and of itself!
Hope that helps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

uses software to capture his thoughts, a livescribe pen to help with note-taking, and graphic organizers to help organize his ideas

Where did he learn to use these?

I don't know what livescribe is - but I will Google it.

I just started teaching my son to use Dragon Dictate but I find it frustrating because I don't relly know how to us it effectively.

also is the graphic organizer called Inspiration? or is it something else? (another thing on my list I need to learn to use and teach my son)

DC's school gave him the software and training for the software he uses. he uses Dragon Naturally Speaking and Kurzweil mostly. In the past he used Inspiration.