Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Regions Need feedback on Portland public schools

I tend to agree with puffin that it's a school problem.

The ability to write develops in stages: first you have to recognize letters, then form them (e.g. write a line of as and a line of bs). Then words/short sentences (e.g. Write "My name is Val" on each line of the paper). This is all K-1 stuff, and part of the goal is coordination of movement and learning how to hold the pencil. I remember how writing made our hands sore in first grade. Loosening up on the pencil and a better grip helped, but I suspect that part of the process was strengthening hand muscles.

Second graders can write a few sentences on their favorite holiday/color/etc. or stories. This lets them develop their imaginations and doesn't try to force organizational and other skills that an "essay" on, say, Martin Luther King or George Washington requires.

So IMO, asking kids to write paragraphs or essay in first grade is also asking too much. Again, this isn't just because of cognitive stuff, but because of neuromuscular stuff and general development. I also think that kids need to be allowed time to focus on straightforward tasks at that age, rather than pushing them too quickly into complex ones like essays. Some skills need to be built up in ordered stages, and writing (like maths) is high on that list. So is learning how to concentrate on stuff that isn't immediately fascinating to you: you have to take it one step at a time. You can't learn long division until you know addition, multiplication and subtraction. Ditto for essays. You can't do it until you've learned a lot of other skills that are part and parcel of them.

Unfortunately, this kind of assignment is trendy in private schools and competitive public schools (I've told the story about the kindergartner we knew who had to do homework, including essays, in the hospital after surgery while hooked up to an IV during Thanksgiving break). I believe this is due to our hypercompetitive society giving rise to getting kids "ahead" or "challenging them." Again, this is only my opinion, but I don't think this kind of thing benefits kids --- you can't skip some stuff. Okay, some kids who are globally HG+ will move more quickly through certain stages of writing (meaning, IQ AND fine motor/other skills are way ahead of the curve), but those stages still have to be covered. And that will be 1-2 kids per class, but unlikely in every grade.

This idea of essay writing in K-4, as a matter of course, impinges on other areas that are just as important as academics. Imagination, building stuff with clay, telling stories: these things are all very important.

As for your son, does his hand hurt when he writes? Does he have overall fine motor disabilities, problems with low muscle tone, or does the Tourette's interfere? Or is it just a case of "I don't really want to do this," which could be ... normal behavior for a seven-year-old?