I am continually struck by the challenges struggling children face when it comes to their writing. At a very basic level, they have little to no idea what goes into the writing of a sentence, no less a paragraph or a typical three-paragraph essay.
For children who are on the Dyslexic/LD spectrum, their writing problems are considerable, and we need to find alternatives to help them improve.
Just having struggling kids do more writing without direct instruction does not move them forward. It’s like handing a kid a tennis racket and telling them to just play the game without showing them how to grip the racket or how to hit a forehand.
Fundamentals need to be taught directly, practiced over time, in order to be internalized. (This include things like having kids understand the purpose of a capital letter and a period at the end of a sentence, things often lacking in the writing samples I receive.)
To address writing problems, schools often recommend occupational therapy (OT). While OT serves certain purposes, for the vast majority of children with writing issues the remediation given by OT typically centers upon the motor-aspects of writing and does not address the more challenging aspects of the writing process (i.e., writing coherent sentences).
With the structured approaches the children start at the very basic simple sentence level, practicing it until they have it mastered as a concept.
The remedial process then is highly sequential and based in skill-mastery and incremental steps over time.
The approach is clearly in contrast to the more popular, open-ended approach (e.g., “Write about your weekend.”) that is the common in schools.
These sequential, direct approaches are often criticized as depriving the child of creativity and imaginative processes.
However, when the child is unable to understand the components of writing a basic sentence, this stifles any any potential creativity, leaving the child frustrated and despising the writing process.
Takeaway Point
Bottom up and sequential is the way to go for children who struggle with writing.