DC is unable to put his thoughts on paper

[Anonymous]

MY 9 year old DC loves to read, and is able to intelligently discuss books he read alone or together with me. The books range from Roman history to the 39 clues.
He has a very high verbal IQ, slow processing speed, sometimes complains that his thoughts are all jumbled up in his head.
He is unable to put a sentence down on paper. We took him to a psychologist for testing, and she predicted then that his written output would not match his intelligence.
I am unsure if it is poor fine motor skills or if it something else.
Anyone else in this situation? What did you do to help your DC?

Thanks !

[Anonymous]

Is it dysgraphia?


I don't have experience, but have a couple of friends whose kids have trouble. This might be helpful.

http://www.ldonline.org/article/Strategies_for_the_Reluctant_Writer/6215

[Anonymous]

My son (8) is like this as well. Dysgraphia can be tricky to diagnose but he does seem to have it--psychologist seems to think so. He definitely has ADHD.

One thing I do to help is to break the process into steps with him. If he has a question, he answers verbally to me, I write it down and then he copies what I have written. This way he gets to share his real ideas and practice fine motor/handwriting but the fine motor delays and attentional issues don't impede the development of his ideas. This is imperfect but otherwise his output was so minimal that his teachers have always agreed to this system.

Also, he is learning to use the keyboard and will be allowed to use it for work in the future.

[Anonymous]

Have him record his thoughts into a tape recorder. Then transcribe for him. Have this process approved for an IEP or something, so it's teacher approved.

[Anonymous]

We have struggled with this for years with my now 6th grader.

I have heard a variety of ideas. From getting a recorder to talk through his thoughts and then write, type since it's faster than writing, to practice, practice practice....

All summer long I made my kid do reading comprehension workbooks pages (OK didn't happen ever day).

Frequently, it is that there are too many thoughts. I make sure that he free forms ideas and then writes. But, that really sucks for some writing assignments where they just need one quick paragraph for homework.

[Anonymous]

OP here.

I was feeling at a loss really. I am very grateful for your helpful suggestions. I will definitely try the recorder, transcribing for him, and having him type as well.

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU !

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have struggled with this for years with my now 6th grader.

I have heard a variety of ideas. From getting a recorder to talk through his thoughts and then write, type since it's faster than writing, to practice, practice practice....

All summer long I made my kid do reading comprehension workbooks pages (OK didn't happen ever day).

Frequently, it is that there are too many thoughts. I make sure that he free forms ideas and then writes. But, that really sucks for some writing assignments where they just need one quick paragraph for homework.

So get him to jot down ideas, then try to organize them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son (8) is like this as well. Dysgraphia can be tricky to diagnose but he does seem to have it--psychologist seems to think so. He definitely has ADHD.

One thing I do to help is to break the process into steps with him. If he has a question, he answers verbally to me, I write it down and then he copies what I have written. This way he gets to share his real ideas and practice fine motor/handwriting but the fine motor delays and attentional issues don't impede the development of his ideas. This is imperfect but otherwise his output was so minimal that his teachers have always agreed to this system.

Also, he is learning to use the keyboard and will be allowed to use it for work in the future.

Thanks, PP. How did you get the teachers to agree to him using the keyboard instead of writing?

[Anonymous]

You can get voice to text software too, saves you the transcribing. Dragon Naturally Speaking is one. I am sure there are others.

[Anonymous]

Our son has disgraphia and ADHD. Tested very high for intelligence and reading comprehension, but in the 3rd percentile for spelling (!).

The single biggest thing that helped him was a teacher who --- to my horror --- told him to write and write and write with no concern for spelling or grammar but with lots of attention to structure. The output gave me ulcers because of the spelling and punctuation, but it worked --- his spelling is improving (still not great), and the content is wonderful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have him record his thoughts into a tape recorder. Then transcribe for him. Have this process approved for an IEP or something, so it's teacher approved.

To have this in an IEP, you have to have a diagnosis that shows educational impact. OP, have you had a neuropsych evaluation for him yet? It will help suss out any learning disabilities or possibly ADHD.

[Anonymous]

You might be able to get a 504 plan to allow the accomodation of typing.

Make sure your son learns how to write cursive. Teach him yourself if your school won't.

Regular sentence dictation helps a great deal. Don't start at his current reading level, but at his current writing level. Dictate simple sentences and have him write them down.

If that means "The fat cat sat on the mat" then that is fine. Whatever he can easily write.

For class assignments, have him dictate the answers to you. You write them down. Then take a break, and later you dictate them back to him, and he writes them down. (don't have him copy them except as a stopgap measure.)

Basically, break the components of writing down and help him improve each part. He needs to build writing stamina. ALso it is hard to think up your ideas at the same time you are writing them, if writing is hard for you. Better to brainstorm first, and dictate; then do the process of transcribing separately, until the process becomes more automatic.

ALso -- use of an erasable gel pen is highly recommended for reluctant writers!

[Anonymous]

We had similar issues from 1st to 6th grade and then things started to click and now writing is not such a struggle and is closer to DD's reading/discussion level.

Some things that worked -
- use of graphic organizers or lists to help organize thoughts ( jot things down before starting to write a paragraph/long answer)
-verbal rehearsals with- first with complete dictation, then with me writing key points in a list and then just listening and having her do the writing
-using the computer/keyboarding for some assignments
-practice, practice, practice
-high, yet reasonable expectations (in earlier years teachers didn't expect much, she didn't think she could do much, so she didn't)
-agree with PP who said focus first on ideas and writing thoughts not on spelling or punctuation.. they do follow
-continue reading at a high level
-practice, practice, practice
-help organizing space on the page, writing on every other line so there was room for corrections and adding details at a second read
-identifying some assignments that were worth extra effort, accepting that some could be done less well (ie- spelling sentences/stories that were primarily for spelling practice didn't need the detail that essays/responses did)
-in early ES we did some OT for handwriting-- DD did have low muscle tone and a nontraditional pencil grip that made writing laborious -- I don't think it was the cause of the problem, but did make things more difficult.

Good luck and believe that things will improve, especially with some hard work and commitment.

[Anonymous]

22:21 makes excellent suggestions. In particular, typing assignments when possible has worked well for my students. I used to email the graphic organizers or provide them on the HW web site so students could just type in the answers.

Depending on the outcomes of the evaluation, Dragon Speaking may be a good option for you but some of my students found it cumbersome. When using voice to text students need to be reminded to go back and revise/edit their work. The writing is not done when they stop speaking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have him record his thoughts into a tape recorder. Then transcribe for him. Have this process approved for an IEP or something, so it's teacher approved.

To have this in an IEP, you have to have a diagnosis that shows educational impact. OP, have you had a neuropsych evaluation for him yet? It will help suss out any learning disabilities or possibly ADHD.

He is a quiet child, exceedingly prone to day dreaming. I don't know if that qualifies as ADHD? He was evaluated for WISC, but the full neuropsych was not recommended. Will look into it.
Thank you, PP.