Read Aloud What You Write

Once your child has written something have them read it aloud. If they have difficulty with the reading it is alright to help them sound out the words. Do not let your child struggle with sounding out words, thou, this is not a time for practice with phonetics. Read the passage that your child had written and then discuss it. It is a great idea to give your child feedback on what has been written. The child needs to know specifically about what they have written. It is not necessary to be overly critical, give informative feedback. Give your child information that can be used to improve writing but that will not make them feel like what they have written is worthless.

Writing Daily

Everyone should practice journaling daily. Even if it means talking into a voice recognition device such as a recorder. Take a few moments out of your day to record the highlights of your day, then read what you have written.

Parents who read what their kids are writing daily can learn about what is happening in school. Writing a short paragraph does not have to be a "bad" homework experience. Make it fun! Set up a cozy little corner in a family room with beanbags or pillows. Have a snack ready the journal together.

If your child has trouble with writing focus on the content first, rather than the mechanics of the sentence. Encourage your child to just write and that you are not doing this to make him work. Sometimes children just need to feel that they are accepted for who they are. They need to know that as their parent you want to read whatever they write and will not judge them.

Try taking a little time out, journal with your child!
Have fun and Write!!!

A Surprising Day!

This morning I was surprised with a phone call from a school I had sent my resume to two weeks ago. I had practically given up on the job, figuring that someone else had been hired before the principal had even received my resume. The secretary seemed very anxious to have me come in as soon as possible. I agreed to meet with the principal at 10:00 this morning. I met with her and two special education teachers who are at the school already. The meeting went very well, I enjoyed speaking with them and sharing ideas. If given the job, I believe I could work with these two teachers sharing ideas and collaborating with them to ensure that the students were making progress throughout the school year.

I have also gotten myself set up to begin writing the novel. November is National novel writing month and there is a challenge to write a novel within the thirty days of November. I think this challenge will give me the necessary deadline that will at least get me started to write the first draft, that is the one goal of the challenge. There is a site for me to refer to throughout the month that will help with pep talks and keep a word count. The end word count to complete the novel needs to be 50,000 words. After I complete the 50,000 word novel first draft I will begin revisions if it is good enough, only the novel will tell.

Technology for Writing

Dysgraphia is a type of learning disability that affects an individual's ability to recognize forms in letters, to write letters and words on paper and to understand the relationship between sounds, spoken language and written letters (Logsdon, 2009). Individuals with dysgraphia may have difficulty with fine motor skills in writing such as motor memory, muscle coordination and movement as well as have trouble with language and visual perception. Individuals with dysgraphia can have significant problems in the area of written language and face difficulties such as reversals of letters and numbers, spelling errors and illegible handwriting. There are two types of voice recognition software systems, discrete and continuous. Discrete voice recognition systems require the individual to pause between words when they are dictating while the words appear on the screen output device. If the word is not correct then the individual is able to choose the correct word from a menu utilizing the editing options. Continuous voice recognition systems allow the individual with disabilities to dictate what they want to write without pausing between words. Dragon Naturally Speaking is a system that gives the individual support with the Internet, email and letterwriting. A device that is also very effective for note-taking is a tape-recorder. For individuals with difficulties writing recording the notes allows the individual to focus on the speaker and the content rather than focusing on listening and attempting to identify what needs to be written down and writing it all down.

Logsdon, Ann. (2009). Understanding Dysgraphia-Learn about Dysgraphia Writing Disorder.
About.com: Learning Disabilities. Retrieved October 4, 2009 from http://learningdisabilities.about.com/od/learningdisabilitybasics/p/dysgraphia.htm