I was just informed that my DS7 would be bumped up into the GT LA program at his school. They decided that his reluctance to write would not be a problem. They think the program would be a better fit than standard 3rd grade LA because of his placement scores. DS7 does not 'like' to write so there is a lot of resistance and that is his main complaint about school. His handwriting is fine. They agreed to allow me to transcribe his assignments and he would then be expected to copy and edit. So I was just wondering at what age reluctant writers start to write and how much should I push this with him? Anyone have stories of this?

I hope someone with answers or suggestions answers. I am in the same boat with my ds7 who is in 3rd grade. Handwriting is fine but I have to remind him to be neat. He can tell you this long story that would be 3-6 pages long but when it comes to putting all those words on paper the best I could hope is about 5 sentences. If I push him, especially on an assignment that he is required to do, he has to write a page.

When my ds9 was in 2nd grade (last yr) he was not too into printing neatly and we tried to encourage him by saying this is an area you can challenge yourself to get better. Well he never got too into it until they switched to cursive and his writing went from satisfactory to outsanding. It was beautiful. Now begginning 3rd Grade he says he hates hanwriting. I say somethings in school are just hard work and not fun. With practice you will get better. My handwriting could use improvement. I tell him I wished I worked harder on it when I was in school. I'm not sure how this helps. Is there a way to make it more meaningful to him? My son's thoughts are very fast so I think it might be frustrating that the handwriting does not keepup with the brain.

I believe that is the issues right there. He has these deep thoughts that come all at once and he is unable to sort thru them and get them all down on paper. I edit for my job so I can type really fast and get them down for him. We are using a venn diagram and other such tools to begin organizing his thoughts on his own. On tests he gets extremely nervous and makes those careless mistakes so I have been working really hard on getting him to go over his tests twice, the first time to make sure he answered all the questions, the second to double check his answers. I think it is a process but I am wondering when the process "clicks".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/

I would like to know when it writing clicks too.

One suggestion- have him learn to type. the above site is fun.

We are just getting through this with DS7 now. He's grade skipped this year into yr4 and the writing pressures have definitely increased.

He has had two major writing projects so far (one research based and one creative). The research-based one caused a lot of tension in our house with deadlines looming, his anxiety about not getting it done evident and my eventual lack of patience at dragging it out of him (I knew it was in there - just very hard for him to sort through the many quickly flowing ideas and get them on the page.)

I organised him a writing tutor (not cheap but WELL worth the expense).

The tutor quickly recognised his love of drawing and used that as the starting point for whatever they were writing. The tutor had patience I didn't have and because the tutor was an 'expert' and I'm just the mum who doesn't know anything my son listened.

The tutor worked with him a lot in planning what to write.

While his second project still took a lot of time and patience, my son felt more equipped to deal with it. He handed in a fantastically creative piece of writing, on time, and mostly under his own steam. (alexfamtx it was 3 A4 notebook pages long!! Prevously he'd write as little as possible)

It was a real eye opener for me because while I suspected he could write; I finally have the evidence and he's just SO proud.
We have now cancelled the tutor as they have got us over the hump and it has served its purpose.

Might be worth a shot.

You might want to search some of the discussions on this site about dysgraphia. There are several.

I just finished watching a "webinar" called "Dyslexia and Writing Challenges in Gifted Children" put on by Drs. Brock and Fernette Eide. I have never thought my son was dyslexic - he reads non-stop, but he does have dysgraphia. Their talk made me look at both of these labels differently. These are the people who wrote "The Mislabeled Child." Personally, I think a lot of 7 year old boys would not be expected to write a lot, but if the problem persists, you might check into what they have to say.

THANKS onthegomom for the great site link....we have been trying to find a fun learning to type program...most of the ones we have found have been REALLY dry and boring. My DS6 has dyspraxia and writing has been an enormous issue with him - and his brain works faster than his fingers- like today - he wanted to sit down and "write" a book (he has written over 30 of these kinds of books) he sat with me for over an hour and told me his chapter book as I typed it for him - he came up with a pretty awesome story complete with a beginning/middle/end that was over 12 pages long- but there is NO way that his teacher would ever get to see this side of him because there is no one to sit down and scribe for him :-(

My son saw me checking out the site tonight and he wanted to know what it was...needless to say one hour later and I had to pull him away from the computer..he finished the whole first lesson section and I was in SHOCK when I saw just how well he was doing and how fast he picked it up! So thanks a ton for the great link!

It is so great he likes the typing class.

I wish my son would get into that. He loves creating stories but hates the too slow handwriting. I hope he will come around to getting ambishous with typing. I hoping some how he could do this for more challenge at school. It would be better than some of the unneeded review an that as an option maybe motivational. He has let me type for him and the he does edits. He also draws for his stories.

Our ds9 has similar reluctance to write, even though his handwriting and typing are getting pretty darn good. He loves to draw and this will often be the start of a story or at least a 'story line' that he'll be able to tell me about in great detail. Last night he asked me to help him with a book he wants to make, and I asked him what he meant, he said, help with the writing and maybe the drawing, the printing & binding. I helped with the writing. He's writing a book about magical creatures, and has a very large number of ideas, he was practically shaking and his hands were just very 'fiddly', moving a lot.
I reminded him about making an outline and just scratching out quick notes to capture the main points of an idea, so this helped, but still I did the writing. Maybe he is anxious about forgetting some detail before it's on paper, but I think excitement is probably a better description; he was just so happy and interested in getting this stuff out of his head and onto some paper.

Are other people seeing this sort of welling up of energy, which, while clearly the source of the cool ideas, might also be the reason it is nearly impossible to write?

Chris1234 you described my DS6 perfectly - that is exactly what is happening with our little guy. When he asked to write his chapter book the other day ..he was just giddy and super excited and was literally hopping from one foot to the other about the concept he had for his book. He started spewing out stuff left and right like a giant volcano exploding and I couldn't keep up with him. I grabbed a piece of paper and showed him how to jot down the ideas that were in his head before they got lost. There is just no way he could have gotten everything typed out if I hadn't typed for him while he told me the story.

Are other people seeing this sort of welling up of energy, which, while clearly the source of the cool ideas, might also be the reason it is nearly impossible to write?[/quote]

The hand shaking and excitement happens to my son often when he gets excited about an idea. sometimes it actually feels a unconfortable to me but I try not to show that.

I think a little tape recorder would be great or even a video recording. I haven't tried this yet but I should.

Yes - I've seen DS6 get excited and he wells up and just talks endlessly. I've had to type his ideas for him in the past. I used to get like this at school too. The minute the questions was posed - I'd have what felt like 100 ideas at once and would have to scribble everything down really fast so I wouldn't lose my best ideas. Then I'd be able to actually wirte the test essay under exam conditions - but I guess I was about 15/16 before I had really gotten this skill down. My father used to tell my mother that his hand couldn't keep up with his brain - and you could literally see it on his face when he was listening - that his mind was working over time, thinking through 5 things and he was about to blurt out the next point ...with no concern for where his audience was ...

That is wonderful! DS13 turned one corner in 3rd grade when he had to write a paragraph for every letter of the alphabet. The first letters he would try to edit/critique/rough draft all at the same time, with lots of frustration and low results. Everything looked 'too babyish' to him. But by the end of the alphabet, he finally 'saw the light' and got giddy so he would toss out any old thing. Looking for a 'Winter Subject' that started with the letter Y I remember that we were both having fits of giggles. 'Yule Logs are hard to find in Jewish homes....' something like that. I see that as a big step forward in DS overcoming his writting reluctance. The next year he learned to type and the rest is history.

I think that when your son has something that he wants to say, and an audience to hear it, he'll want to write. Maybe encourage him to compose letters to the local newspaper on his perspectives?

Best Wishes,
Grinity

Thanks for the link OTGM - I've just started thinking that we should look for something like that!

Funny you should mention that Grinity because today DS7 had his first live lesson with his teacher and fellow classmates. I couldn't keep his hands off the keyboard he was so busy chatting with the other kids. When it was over he said he might like to do online school for maybe 4 more years. (He wants to go to school when he is old enough to date.) Funniest thing to me was the fact that he almost always leaves off vowels in his spelling so for chatting online he was in 7th heaven. LOL I think we are well on our way to keyboarding and skipping writing altogether.

As far as the excitedness, my DS starts covering his ears when there is more than one question. He needs peace and quiet to ponder. He is a deep thinker.

Thts wndrfl nws! I'm so gld h's hvng fn.

too funny!
Grinity

That's awesome that they're letting him move up and letting you transcribe for him!!!

My son is only 5 but last year it was such a fight to get him to trace a letter and this year it's much better. I think with him his motor skills just developed a little more and it's not as much of a struggle for him.

Good luck!

Well he now knows several short cuts like ? for the actual word question, " if you are repeating something above it, #, and several others. I am trying to teach him some of the fun shortcuts so writing is a little more interesting. My son hated tracing too. He loves the emoticons on the computer and really loves LOL, ROFL, U2, etc.

FUNNY SPELL CHECK




Eye halve a spelling chequer, It came with my pea sea, It plainly marques four my revue Miss steaks eye kin knot sea. Eye strike a key and type a word And weight four it two say Weather eye am wrong oar write It shows me strait a weigh. As soon as a mist ache is maid It nose bee fore two long And eye can put the error rite Its rarely ever wrong. Eye have run this poem threw it I'm shore your pleased two no Its letter perfect in it's weigh, My chequer tolled me sew.

I thought this was fun. enjoy

MY DS9 is really not liking his cursive writing. He keeps asking why do I have to do this? Why Can't everyone in the world just print?

I explained Printing is important for forms and applications. Cursive writing, once learned well, is very fast. Everyone has to do some subjects they don't like. Please understand, they feel this is important and good for you. I'm sorry you don't like it it will get better. I'm sure it's fustrating right now because your hand is slower than your brain. Keep working at it and enjoy your progress.

I feel like these wonderful words of wisdom are not enough. Does Anybody know of a way this work can become more meaningful? less stressful? Most of his school is very easy and I think it's good he is learning to deal with something difficult. Maybe I shouldn't be trying to fix this for him - just let him deal???? This could also be some displaced feelings which makes it seem bigger than it is. I don't think of him as a kid who is afraid of a challenge or working hard. I'm sure school is hard because he is reviewing more than he needs even though the teacher has made some efforts with him inmind.
I was wanting to write a note to the teacher but I've already written 2 this year. I'm trying to not write too many notes.

Too funny.

I had to lay down the law in our house -- no use of spell-checkers for the kids. DS was using one in MS-Word a few months back -- adding all sorts of crazy character names to our dictionary -- so I just disabled it altogether.

Not a crutch I need him relying on just yet, in part because of the ensuing hilarity described by your joke!

Does he have any problems with his fine motor skills? Does he use a pen/pencil he is comfortable with? eg http://www.staedtler.co.uk/learners_fountain_pen_uk.Staedtler?ActiveID=121311

he has no motor skills problems. very skilled with legos, cutting, art, drawing, ect.

Hi onthegomom.
Thanks for the typing website.
I was wondering how to teach him.

First time here, and I am so thankful to find all of you! My son is totally reluctant and had been for going on 2yrs now! I finally feel like he will get through this! he has had teachers for 2 years now who just don't get it, and my frustration is through the roof! I can only imagine what he feels! I am so happy to have found this group of people! Hopefully you will be able to help in many areas, glad there are people who understand!

tcbysmom - Welcome. How old is your son and what grade is he in?

Another idea for the fast thinkers. There is dictation software on the market today. The kind that types as you talk. If your child is reluctant to write because they think too fast, this might help. If the child can see on paper what their story is like. It might give him/her the confidence to write on their own.

As your child reads the story they may even come up with better or more detailed ideas.

Just a theory.

My DD8 is a voracious reader, so it was a surprise to us all that she is only an average writer, only writing a few sentences in her class journal each day, and rarely coming up with any creative stories.

Finally, I gave her a mini-seminar in story structure (the kind adults who want to write movies take). I explained to her about the "hero's journey", how he/she receives the "call to adventure", takes on "mentors and allies", enters a second worlds, must confront "trials and progressive complications", confronts his/her worst enemy, and emerges back into the first world with the prize.

She IMMEDIATELY got this, and wrote a three-page story very enthusiastically. Her teacher just told me she is writing voluminously in her journal. Typical of my daughter that once she understands theory, she will proceed -- but not before. I should have taught her story structure sooner.

The book is "The Writer's Journey" by Christopher Vogler, or you can get Joseph Campbell's books about heros out of the library.

that is awesome what a great way to get things rolling