Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional DS tried to avoid writing

This problem bothers me for years. Since DS8 was in kindergarten, he always have trouble on writing task both in school and home. It always takes a long time for him to start first sentence. He rarely finished journal writing at school, even I helped him to go through all the details before he went to bed. His reading level is at mid school. He is a great speller. No problem on grammar too. I don't know why it is so hard for him just writing something he did yesterday. For specific topic that teacher gave the class, sometimes he could finish at school (he usually is the last one to finish), sometimes he had to take home to finish. His teacher rated his writing on average 2nd grade, the only concern is time management.

I talked to DS why he needed so much time to finish writing. He said he could not organized his thought, before he could put his thinking on paper, he was distracted by something else. He also told me his attention span cannot last long. I know he only can focus on his interests but not something he needs to do. I found out his writing jumping different ideas between the sentences, like most sentences are independent. Sometimes his thinking is falling into very details like specific names, places and time. If he could not remember or spell out the names, it stuck his mind too.

Last week I talked to our pediatrician, she suggested we can have him practice more on writing. If practicing doesn't do the work, maybe we need to consider to have him evaluated by specialist to address the problem. Maybe he has attention problem or some kind of output problem of his brain. I am not good writer too and English is not my native language. I don't know how to teach him on writing. Should I hire a tutor? I have read about gifted children's thinking is faster than handwriting, plus writing is not his interest so he cannot focus on it. How can I help him to improve? Is any possible LD would contribute this? (I know dyspraxia is not fit him) Any sharing will be appreciate.

I am not sure what to do in this case but I wanted to tell you my experience has been. I am a currently a scientist and have hated writing since I can remember. I mean hated writing to the point that it would make me sick. Even as an adult I hate writing. Recently, I applied to a university to get a masters degree in computer science. To complete my application I had to write a personal statement. I waited until the last day to do and had an upset stomach the entire time. I almost broke down in tears. On the other hand math and science has always been easy for me. How is your DS in math and science?

Boo,
Is it better if he can pick the subject matter? My daughter has similar issues. Her teacher and i have noticed she will write more for a "free write" than an assigned topic. From your post it sounds like his mind might be racing ahead of his hand, rather than actual difficulties writing. Either way, you are not alone.
Chrys

Thank you Lisa. I was an engineer too and I know what you are saying. Yes, my son loves math and science. He won't miss any episode of Mythbuster. He can draw his video game ideas for hours. He can read few books in a row. But he can not sit still writing three sentences without wondering around. At school, it happens few times that he just staying on seat for 40-50 min. without putting down one word. When he took his undone work home, I had to spend 1 or 2 hours to supervise him or force him to finish. Both of us are frustrated. I don't expect him to be a good writer. I just hope he can done his work easier.

Does he have issues with the physical act of writing? does his hand hurt? have a weird pencil grip? OR does it seem more like a processing issue? have they tried to let him gather his ideas non-sequentially, i.e. through a bubble chart?
I would consider having him evaluated to figure out what is going on. He's already had plenty of opportunity to "practice" at school. IMO, telling him to practice more of what is not working will just make him more frustrated and may create self-esteem issues. It sounds like he needs to try something new. An evaluation may help you figure out the best approach.

Just some ideas:

What if he typed?
- What if in one window he typed out the distracting thoughts, and then in another window he typed out what he is suppose to type?
- Or create a draft that includes the other "clutter" that can be edited out

What if he wrote, have 2 pieces of paper in front of him. On the 2nd piece of paper, learn to write short notes/thoughts out on that one, and on the 1st piece of paper continue with the original assignment?

What if he spoke and someone else typed it out for him?

What if he had a recorder that could record his distracting thoughts and he could put those aside knowing they are recorded?

These aren't actual solutions but may help to at least figure out if these might help.

The act of writing, putting thoughts to print is not easy. Esp. if the brain is busy thinking about 100 other things.

One other thought is that, does he have issues with perfectionism also. That can really prevent one from starting. What should the first sentence be? What words should I use? What about these words? That doesn't sound right, etc etc... In this scenario, would need practice not working on grammer and spelling and just practicing dumping thoughts out. Perhaps because the act of writing slows it down and he can wind up assessing his own work. Perhaps start with audio recording first to practice mind-dumping. Then try using mind maps to organize thoughts, etc etc.

I hope I'm at least a little bit helpful. If not, that's ok.

Best wishes

Thank for all the responses. I feel I am not alone when facing parenting obstacle. That's why I love this place.

DS did work faster and was happier when using computer to write. Editing is much easier and he usually got frustrated to erase/rewrite sentences. Topic is another issue. He preferred to write some facts than his experience/opinion. His writing is more like a user manual or a notetaking but not a journal. I will start trying to guide him to practice more. I don't think he got enough instruction at school. Teacher only wanted the 30 students get the job done. If anybody knows some good books for me to read or for my son to practice, that will be very helpful.

About the evaluation, it's a time and money consuming process. I will do it if no way to help. I wonder full evaluation is necessary or the test is based on the problems you have.

BooBoo,
My son has and to some degree continues to have a similar attitude towards writing. We did do the whole evaluation process and found out that he is dysgraphic with 2 primary problems. First the physical act of writing quickly becomes painful. Second like you described, DS cannot keep all his ideas in his head in order and get them out in written format. The fact that he is getting things out in a bullet point form is actually good. He may benefit from using a graphic organizer of some sort and then putting together the draft. We use the computer for the bullet points and sometimes the rough drafts. It took 3 years of asking to get the school to allow him to keyboard some in the classroom so I hope you can do better.
If the act of writing is physically painful, asking him to practice writing may not help you overall. We learned that the hard way Then we let DS play around with a word processing program to tell his stories or he recorded them on a tape recorder. Even though he wasn't handwriting them, this gave him more confidence in his ability to process his ideas. Over time...A LONG time...it has improved. Also as he gets older they do more work on the keyboard in the classrooms which has helped alot.

Good luck!

My ds11 had written expression of K-4. Wrote phonetically, 6 page stories. He wrote where the letters ran together and sentences looked like rivers where he reversed letters and omitted words. His content was creative,but I need to know what test evaluates his writing on creativity. He also says his hands hurt when he writes and holds his pencil wrong. He is ds13 now. His writting has improved on spacing between words, sentences don't look like rivers,still writes phonetically but on the computer he can correct his own spelling. Speech to text is a assistive techonology option at IEP since he types at 30 WPM. He does verbal presentations on projects he designs two levels higher than his piers. He advoids writting. I read the book ONE MIND AT A TIME BY MEL LEVINE. That had helpful info. But, I still need info. on how to evaluate written expression when you edit for errors because of disability.