Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion writing issues any suggestions

Hi all,

I have a DS7 who appears to be having difficulty with creative writing, he seems to be unable to write a story with correct spelling and punctuation. Verbally telling a story can be exhausting to listen to as they go on for ages. Spelling as a whole when given a list of words is ok and of course with punctuation we know what things are and where they go, however putting it all togather seems to be a push, and falls apart drematically. Any suggestions as to why this may be happening would be greatly appreciated. Also his actual hand writing (printing) is great.

My son has similar issues-- his handwriting is pretty good, but the idea of writing creatively sends him into panic.

I think for many children, writing creatively at that age is simply not developmentally appropriate-- it might come with time, and he might even become a great writer! Can you give him time?

It is hard to write well when your imagination and brain are moving very fast! It sounds your son has a very vivid imagination and has yet to find the way to control it on paper.
I agree with bronxmom in that this ability may come with time.
In the mean time try to find fun ways for him to tell stories, making comic books, videos, and typing may help. You could also introduce fun new discriptive vocab words, and see if you guys can find everyday life things that may apply to the meaning.
MY DD6 has horrible HW, I am envious!

I think it is unrealistic to expect writing, of any kind, from a child that young unless they are specifically gifted in that area. Two or three sentences is the most I would expect from my 7 year old son. My daughter, who is gifted in language arts, didn't start putting stories together until the age of 8 and only when I allowed her to type them instead of write. She still has illogical parts in the story due to lack of experience (ie. a girl finding the guy who caused her stable to burn down and him handing her a few bucks out of his pocket to pay for the damage), but the rest is fine.

It is for this reason, that I don't even bother teaching writing, in any form, until 4th grade. Before then, we work on solidifying their knowledge of grammar, punctuation, etc.

Hey Pinklady - my Miss 7 is pretty similar. Great speller when given lists of words to memorise, great story teller but not so great at writing. It's a difficult skill to master. I suspect there are a number of issues happening which might also be relevant to you:

* translating ideas onto words on a page where there is an obvious mismatch between the speed in which she thinks and the speed in which she writes;

* translating ideas onto words that are academically presented in the correct way - issues of editing, correcting, formatting, using punctuation, etc. and all those other things that get in the way of story telling. I just don't get why 7.5 year olds are tested via NAPLAN on the correct use of commas. What does that test exactly?

* dealing with perfectionism and disappointment that her great ideas don't come out "right" and don't look good to her;

Things that might help: touch typing, using drafts, using storyboards, getting the child to draw the story first (with minimal text the first time), being realistic about timeframes (a good story might take 1-2 weeks to develop), keeping an ideas journal; providing lots and lots and lots of opportunities to write without the pressure of staring at a blank page...

Any other things anyone can think of? jojo

Thankyou guys, I should also have explained that DS7 has been accelerated and is therefore expected to write. The NAPLAN definately bought the issue to light however the concern is reaching expected targets on the reports as I am already having to supply these to high schools (can you believe that).Having looked at his writing at school previously, I thought it was fine then having the teacher state it really wasn't I am now kicking myself. Thankyou for your suggestions I will definately take them on board. Sounds like Time might be the main answer here.