Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS is using Lucy Calkins this year. I can see how it's good for creative writing but not so much for students who need explicit instruction and visual organizers. Any recommendation on program/curriculum that I can use to supplement at home?

I'm OP and our school has used Lucy Calkins too whenever they do teach writing which isn't often. It's terrible for special-ed students like mine.

This is an awful program, particularly for any kid who struggles in writing. It is the opposite of a structured programm.

Anonymous wrote:Does using a talk to text app help when you eliminate the actual writing?

We haven't tried this. Is it possible to do this in school or just at home? I've heard of Dragon speaking naturally. Is this what you used?

Yes, we've tried a tutor. Several tutors. Not getting anywhere.

Anonymous wrote:MCPS is using Lucy Calkins this year. I can see how it's good for creative writing but not so much for students who need explicit instruction and visual organizers. Any recommendation on program/curriculum that I can use to supplement at home?

I'm OP and our school has used Lucy Calkins too whenever they do teach writing which isn't often. It's terrible for special-ed students like mine.

MCPS is using Lucy Calkins this year. I can see how it's good for creative writing but not so much for students who need explicit instruction and visual organizers. Any recommendation on program/curriculum that I can use to supplement at home?

" My son's writing improved dramatically in sixth grade. I had gotten to the point where I believed it might never happen and then overnight, it seemed, he became a real writer.

Some key components to this were: typing practice for YEARS so that the handwriting component was totally eliminated and editing was made much easier; years of being an avid reader so that suddenly sentence structures and style elements seemed natural and ingrained (but why that suddenly made a difference in sixth grade and not before I can't really explain); an excellent, rigorous but step-by-step writing/grammar program; maturity (?).

If my son can do it, I truly believe that anyone can."

Our DC probably has less ADHD, not zero, and more learning disability but we saw a similar change in 11th grade. All of the things mentioned were tried across MS and 9 and 10th grade and made little difference.

Somehow during 11th grade things started to work out. Our guess is that DC didn't really learn to read until the 4th grade so it took 6 or 7 years just like someone learning to read in K would figure writing out in MS.

Senior year has been better and DC's college essay, for us, is just short of a miracle.

We have a neighbor whose DC "got it" as a freshman a couple years before our DS and their success kept us hopeful.

Good luck and keep working at it.

Anonymous wrote:My son's writing improved dramatically in sixth grade. I had gotten to the point where I believed it might never happen and then overnight, it seemed, he became a real writer.

Some key components to this were: typing practice for YEARS so that the handwriting component was totally eliminated and editing was made much easier; years of being an avid reader so that suddenly sentence structures and style elements seemed natural and ingrained (but why that suddenly made a difference in sixth grade and not before I can't really explain); an excellent, rigorous but step-by-step writing/grammar program; maturity (?).

If my son can do it, I truly believe that anyone can.

Not OP but thanks for hope given. I have been teaching my son to type this year (2nd grade) using a program and the teachers have said it has already made a big difference in his desire to try. We still need much more production. This summer I’ll keep the typing up so he doesn’t lose his skills and hope that it will click at some point. He is already an avid reader with great imagination, we just need it to get onto paper.

MY DS has ADHD and dysgraphia. His writing has only improved when he has gotten specific, explicit and repetitive instruction appropriate to his deficits. Step Up to Writing system has helped in elementary as well as explicit instruction in spelling and grammar.

Unfortunately, the instruction provided in MCPS in writing is virtually worthless, even for "typical" students and moreso for SN students. DS has only made progress in writing when we have paid for private instruction.

Anonymous wrote:My son's writing improved dramatically in sixth grade. I had gotten to the point where I believed it might never happen and then overnight, it seemed, he became a real writer.

Some key components to this were: typing practice for YEARS so that the handwriting component was totally eliminated and editing was made much easier; years of being an avid reader so that suddenly sentence structures and style elements seemed natural and ingrained (but why that suddenly made a difference in sixth grade and not before I can't really explain); an excellent, rigorous but step-by-step writing/grammar program; maturity (?).

If my son can do it, I truly believe that anyone can.

NP here - was the writing program you mention above the school's regular program or something specific for ADHD kids?

My 9th grade ADHD DS was told that he is the best writer his English teacher (at a highly competitive DMV private) had seen come through the school in at least five years. When DS focuses on something he likes doing -- like writing -- he'll stay up until 3am to get it done. And now that his teacher praised him, including to other teachers, he has tried to take it to the next level.

Now if he would only take an interest in science and math ...

My son's writing improved dramatically in sixth grade. I had gotten to the point where I believed it might never happen and then overnight, it seemed, he became a real writer.

Some key components to this were: typing practice for YEARS so that the handwriting component was totally eliminated and editing was made much easier; years of being an avid reader so that suddenly sentence structures and style elements seemed natural and ingrained (but why that suddenly made a difference in sixth grade and not before I can't really explain); an excellent, rigorous but step-by-step writing/grammar program; maturity (?).

If my son can do it, I truly believe that anyone can.

Writing only improved when my son:

1. Was medicated at the right dose;

2. Was coached on using visual organizers, typed his work instead of handwriting it, and was given lots of extra time.
He has an IEP and one of the goals is writing, and has a resource class instead of one elective so that he can finish his work.

Does using a talk to text app help when you eliminate the actual writing?

Have you considered getting a tutor? I wouldn't attempt to manage it myself.

Try to keep distractions to a minimum, work one-on-one with your child in a quiet, secluded room. Try to avoid computers as they are an easy temptation to play games. Supervise.

And most of all, be patient.

As a kid with ADHD, I found it nearly impossible to focus in a classroom of 20. Most of the time, I was outside the classroom instead of actually in it, because the teachers didn't want to bother with it.

Our middle school child has had so many lessons on writing. Rarely do any of them stick. We still often see minimal writing, writing that is hard to understand, and writing that doesn't stay on topic. We've been working on these skills for years. Is writing just something that some ADHD kids can't get? Just too many things to keep in your head?