My 13 year old daughter has ADHD, seizure disorder, a LD in written expression and possible Bipolar. She is special ed qualified with an IEP in place. I am haggling with the school about what services they should provide to help her with writing. They work with her with a graphic organizer occasionally but I want them to do something more effective. Her English teacher, the general ed teacher on the IEP team, keeps saying she can write. She says this because my daughter can write sometimes. Her writing is usually the bare minimum, disorganized, off topic etc, but sometimes she writes something coherent. Her teacher thinks that because she done some decent writing this proves that she can write so remediation is not needed. Her writing was better in the third and fourth grade than it is now. It seems that her writing is getting worse as time passes. Do children have good days and bad days with an LD? Because she can sometimes write does this mean she does not need remediation?
Thanks for your insights,
Shelly
Re: Writing ability comes and goes
Hi my son some days can also write really well and others it’s unreadable.But at one time it was all unreadable.He is in a special needs class and I certainly would’nt think moving him out of that class would better him.He works better with one to one.I found that getting funny things {jokes}for practice at home written down is very encouraging.Also a lot of self esteem boosting works well with him.Good Luck I hope this helps.As I live in England and I know the schools work differently.
Re: Writing ability comes and goes
Yes, children with LD can have some good days and bad days. If my husband is sick, tired, hungry, stressed then he can’t read/write as well (he’s dyslexic) Some do better in the morning. Sometimes they are just feeling good and the idea is a novel one. If they were up late the night before, are worried or upset about something-forget it.
However, teacher’s shouldn’t then penalize them because they had a good day, or they won’t even want to try to write when they do.
(By the way, my son has an output disorder and we go through the same thing)
reading ability comes and goes
Hi all on this thread
i too am from the UK. But this sounds like a dyslexia, which can be caused by a visual procesing disoder ( see the Irlen web site mentioned above), or an auditory processing disorder.
See APDUK’s “Uk professionals and Institutions interested in APD” web page at http://www.apduk.org.uk (You may neeed an acrobat reader for some of the University articles)
And these disorders or disabilities are not curable, but are manged by the use of coping strategies. The processing failure hapens randomly, and so we have good and bad days. And some of the new coping strategies we created may bypass some of our existing strategies, hence we can do thoings one day but not the next. We have to keep re assessing our strategies, on a daily or regular basis.
hope this helps
Re: Writing ability comes and goes
Hello Shelly,
At age 13 a lot is going on, to say nothing of still being in the mix of various diagnosis! From a previous heart felt post, getting to age 13 has been a roller-coaster, not only for your daughter but, for your family &school search as well.
Am I correct to assume that when you say writing you mean composition, not the physical activity of the handwriting process itself?
I’m apt to agree that the good days -bad days are bound to come into play. So the next question might be, what do we do inbetween?
I’ve some humorous stories of how the need for analytic writing skills hit me like a bucket of ice-water when I finally decided I needed to go to a “regular” school to pursue certain post grad etc., itches that needed scratching but, that’s not directly on track. I can say, that while in that between mix I recognized that I had immersed myself in media (film, music, and art) that did not hold a specific beginning middle and end formats (as Kurt Vonnegut noted re. one of his books, Breakfast of Champions (paraphrased,) “those sequencing elements are there, -just not in that order.”)
More commonly, TV and films are often full of jump cuts, flashbacks, quick interchanges of story lines etc. If watching movies is somethign your daughter does, it might be usefull to sit with her and ask how she sees these stories developing, then sketch a diagrammatic (diagram and grammar) learning tree that tracks Hansel and Gretel’s trek into and out of the woods. I suggest this because I’m apt to suspect that the Wow factors of visual effects in these entertainments might/can override the step by step process of forming a paragraph or short story. Those modes are a tough act to follow (or switch gears from) when it comes down to study time.
Do you see where I’m going with this? At age 13 and on independence will want to set in, (generous self reflection will no doubt call up some of this in each of us…?) this independence will need to be integrated into any type of remediation you find. The work/studies need to be meaningful to the child (as it would be to any of us) for it to generate enough motivation for her to want to practice and set the lessons firmly into long term memory. I’m suspecting that this part of whatever exercises you find for your daughter will need to be tailored by you or, an attentive tutor (or interactive tutoring system) for your daughter to find the activity compelling. Finding this spark may entail letting her wonder a while in her writing. After a few solo sessions you all can take time to unravel it with her in a way that she can find self confidence that she created something of her own, for herself. Trusting that with training she may focus on and enjoy her newly learned manner of writing. Combining direction and independence may let her see the value of getting directly (as well as creatively) to what she want’s to say or, what needs to be transferred (so she can watch more Tv… and perhaps make films that will wow us all -remember the rewards).
Gee, now I’m beginning to wonder if I’ve reverted to wondering… Pardon this note for lacking concrete references, though, I’ll trust it may serve as pep talk.
all the best
Bill
writing issues
Your daughter is dealing with many issues and it would be impossible to say or know when those issues are wreaking havoc with her writing. Any person can have good days and bad days and when a person is challenged with ADHD, seizures and possible bipolar disease they can likely have good moments and bad moments rapidly following each other.
Teachers in schools are rather programmed to say “no remediation needed”. In this case, I’d have to say with all the issues your daughter is facing, specific remediation in writing may not have much of an impact. I’d first look long and hard at her good writing. When does that happen? Does she write better at certain times of the day or when she’s writing about certain topics perhaps? Is it a certain kind of writing that she does better? Or is it just after she takes medication perhaps?
Maybe there’s a pattern to when she writes well and if so, understanding that might help her to write better all of the time. Unlike her teacher, as a teacher myself I don’t see any student being able to ‘turn off and on’ the quality of their writing. But if she were my student, I’d study carefully her good writing and try to use it as a bridge to help her write better all of the time.
Good luck.
Have you had your daughter Irlen Screened. This is a visual perceptual piece that is often overlooked. Go to the web site www.Irlen.com. and you will find a lot of information. The right color screen or paper could make a big difference in your daughter.