Hi. I have a 10 year old in 5th grade. He is gifted/nld,generalized anxiety disorder and depression. He had a assignment to write a report on the bottle nosed dophin. He had to do the research, write the report, make a poster display and give an oral report. He completed the reasearch independently and began an outline with his enrichment teacher. When we sat to write, he started the rough draft and then broke down in tears saying he couldn’t do it. I explained how to make paragraphs from his outline. He started again and broke down again. He complained of hating his errors and he can’t do a good job on his own. He asked to dictate which is what ended up happening. I spent a great deal of time explaining paragraph formation and how to put his thoughts into complete sentences and how to keep the main idea in each paragraph. These strategies have to be being taught in school but apparently he can not carry them over to independent work. Any suggestions on how to help him organize his thoughts and get past the anxiety produced by making errors? I have said over and over that the mistakes in the rough draft don’t matter. It is the fixing them that does. He says it will take a week for him to fix all his errors. Any ideas on strategies to make these type of assignments less stressful and anxiety producing would be greatly appreciated!
Jean
Re: Help please from Sped teachers!
He does use a computer. You hit the nail on the head with saying that it is just too hard, I am going to fail so why try. I will look into those programs. They may be helpful. Thanks for the input.
Jean
Re: Help please from Sped teachers!
The computer program suggestions previously given will work wonders. Also, ask his teachers to structure the drafting and editing stages in chunks. I usually give checklists—I create a largish one then break it down in increments for my students. For example they would write a paragraph per day based on their plan after a brief review of format. (I provide organizers for these.) This makes large projects seem manageable not overwhelming. My son also suffers from perfectionism and pessimism.
An excellent resource I have found to help him challenge his pessimistic thoughts is The Optimistic Child by Martin Seligman.
You did not mention how long he had to do this project but make sure he gets enough time and that it is broken down in chunks. Many students, including gifted ones, need to allow for time to consolidate the info. in their research notes before they start to write. Time pressures are deadly for a perfectionist and should be avoided.
Re: Help please from Sped teachers!
Where would I be able to purchase this type of software to improve written communication skills?
Re: Help please from Sped teachers!
Insiration is available at their website- www.inspiration.com
Write OutLoud and Co-writer are available from Don Johnson- they also have a website the address escapes me right now and I don’t have it bookmarked- but if you look at LD In Depth on this site under technology there is a review of the software and an address.
Robin
Re: Help please from Sped teachers!
He might benefit from using Naturally speaking for the computer. He can talk into a head set and the computer will write what he says. He could then edit and rewrite. My son had a terrible block about writing. He finally learned to cope with this but it took most of high school before he could write a decent report. I have a student now who uses naturally speaking because of an orthopedic problem. The program is very good and fairly easy to use. It is by dragon smart.
Re: Help please from Sped teachers!
Some schools are now using Inspiration, a software program to assist students with organizing their thoughts.
Jean,
Here are some ideas, based on my experience with my son, who is dysgraphic, but does not have NLD: First, get your hands on some outlining software such as Inspiration. It offers lots of different ways to organize thoughts, including some that are not too visually “busy,” which might be helpful for a kid with NLD. Second, you don’t say whether the writing was being done on a computer or by hand. If the child is not using a computer or alphasmart, I would definitely give that a try. If he is already typing, try using word prediction software such as Co:writer. Word prediction software can help kids with trouble putting their thoughts down on paper. We also found that using a program that reads back what is written (such as Write Outloud) can help by allowing the child to hear the mistake rather than requiring him to visually locate it. I found that my son experienced incremental success when he used these methods and those successes encouraged him to keep on trying. Often, the child’s perception that the task is simply too hard makes it almost impossible for him to even begin. The child believes he must be perfect but is convinced that he will fail and would rather refuse to do anything than to court failure. A series of small, consistent successes helps to convince the child that it is safe to try.
Andrea