Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional ISO 1 semester writing course for 8th grader

I'm back after a long hiatus.

My 8th grader cannot participate in his school's language arts curriculum for a number of bizarre reasons. DS is verbally gifted, with dyslexia, dysgraphia, and an on-again, off-again dx of social pragmatic communication disorder.

For 8th grade language arts, the district is trying to set him up with an online writing course + in person tutor (90 min/week). The plan appears to be that he do the course and work from Writing Matters as a supplement. The writing course they have suggested looks less-than-ideal (e.g., the writing course final exam is an exam of 75 multiple choice questions).

DS can construct a sentence and paragraph at a reasonable level comparable to a typical 8th grader, but struggles with perspective taking for his reader, analysis, and proof reading. However, he is now at a developmental stage where I know that given lots of incremental instruction and rehearsal, he will make rapid progress - his executive functioning is finally clicking into place, and we're seeing a huge jump in maturity (finally!). It really feels as though the right approach next semester will break through many of his remaining barriers in writing.

Our last round of IEP testing showed his spelling and sentence construction have barely budged relative to peers in the last 4 years of IEP services, while he continues to extend the gap relative to peers in vocabulary and reading comprehension (difference in scores now 3-4 sigma).

Any feedback on Writing Matters?
Any suggestions for a 1-semester course (probably needs to be accredited) that includes a lot of writing rehearsal and would be appropriate for this kid? The district seems fixated on it being high school credit. I don't see the need, personally.

Thanks for the ideas, Portia! I suspect my question was a little too specialized!

I've been talking to the director of intervention services, and I think we have the starts of a plan. The principal relaxed on the high school credit approach for an 8th grader (whew!), and the director of intervention services has identified testing that will get to DS's writing needs in a more nuanced way than TOWL can. A particularly talented 10th grade, honors English teacher will then construct the assignments, provide a rubric for the targets, and the tutor will work through the assignments + Writing Matters to support it all.

There are 14 school days until this has to start, though, and I'm anxious about not having things more firmly in place! None of the testing or specific plans seem to have actually happened yet.

What's the testing look like? Struggling with writing stuff here too.

DeeDee