s/o Writing Program for Dyslexics

[Heathermomster]

Here's an unedited example of a history summary that DS wrote last week.  He's near the end of his second year with IEW, and the paragraph was written off an Inspiration map we created as he read aloud from three sources.  As you can see, we don't use all of the IEW dress-ups and he needs more work with grammar, spelling, and verb usage.

 

 

Seljuk Turks

     The Seljuk Turks were nomads from Central Asia that converted to Islam. They were hired as mercenaries to defend the dwindling Abbasid and Fatimid Empire. The Seljuk Turks moved into Iran and Armenia. They latter captured Bagdad and establish a Sultan in 1055. In 1071 most of the Anatolian Peninsula fell to the Seljuk Empire. Over time they were weakened by the Mongol armies of Genghis Khan as well as the liberating Crusaders, but met the end in 1200 when the Ottomans Turks overpowered them.

 

 

 

Here's another summary with some editing...Goodness, I can see corrections as I copy and paste.

 

 

Defensive Strategies after the Treaty of Wedmore

            After the Treaty of Wedmore, Alfred took many defensive and strategic precautions to defend his kingdom against the Vikings. He ordered a strong navy built to battle the Vikings at sea. The temporary militia armies were upgraded to full-time fighting forces. As well as increasing the numbers of his soldiers, Alfred began paying his soldiers year round. The country side became dotted with burhs, defensive forts with earth walls and manned by standing armies. Lastly, Alfred recaptured and restored London. Alfred’s defensive strategies strengthen the Anglo-Saxons against the Danish invaders. 

 

 

[Heathermomster]

The madness that is IEW from September 2013.

T.S. Charlemagne, reformer
1. neglectà, religion, education
2. kingdom, prosperous, w/ reforms
3. subjects, went à, church
4. monks, copied, scriptures
5. built, roads, bridges
6. est., schools, empire
7. palace, school, trained
Clincher: Charlemagne, reformer, strengthened

Charlemagne is famous for the many reforms that he implemented. He was worried about his kingdom because his subjects were disregarding religion and education. Believing his realm would thrive with new reforms to safeguard education and religion, Charlemagne (v)(voc) ordered his subjects to attend his local churches. Monks were paid to duplicate hundreds of biblical scriptures. To assist in trade and the travel of monks, he ordered roads and bridges to be built that would safely link towns and villages. All over the kingdom and the royal palace, (ly) schools were created and the clergy were trained. Without a doubt, Charlemagne’s religious and educational (adj) restructurings strengthened his empire.

[FairProspects]

This is ds's work from a couple of weeks ago. He is using Writing Trails with Men of Science(among other things), which is IEW tweaked a bit to add vocabulary and minimize the stylistic elements. He is 9 and dyslexic/dysgraphic.

 

 

Leonardo  Da  Vinci’s  life

 

                Leonardo  da  Vinci  was  born  in  1452  and  died  in  1519.  He  was  a  founder  of  modern  science.  He  was  also  an  experimental  scientist.  He  designed  structures  for  the  public.  In  his  notebooks  he  wrote  information  on  his  science.  God  enlightened  Leonardo  da  Vinci’s  mind  so  he  could  do  advanced  math.

[OneStepAtATime]

Do both of you scribe? It would take forever and with lots of tears for DS to write that out by hand.  But he IS getting better at writing for more extended periods...

[Heathermomster]

DS types his work, so I've never scribed IEW assignments.  I've sat with him many a time and guided him through sentence construction and adding dress-ups though.  This school year, I was hands off with his assignments until writing based upon a picture and story critiques, which are really book reports, were introduced.  I'm generally present to go over the check-off sheet and ensure everything is indicated properly in the margins.  The indicating of dress-ups and bolding words is a.total.PAIN and is too much for my DS.

 

 

[FairProspects]

Ds types everything. I sometimes help him scribe the key word outlines for longer paragraphs, but he usually does at least half of the sentences himself by hand. The drafts are all typed by him and then we edit together. Does your ds type or has he been through a typing program?

[OneStepAtATime]

DS and DD are doing Type to Learn 4.  But DD has sequencing issues so she is still tripping up at times.  Still trying to develop muscle memory so she doesn't have to think it through on every letter.  But her typing is improving and she can type about 10 words per minute relatively accurately now.

 

DS, bless him, knows where all the letters are, but he still can only type 5 words per minute on a good day and sometimes reverses which hand to type with for certain letters.  (He also sometimes still reverses certain numbers when writing by hand).  It frustrates him no end but he hasn't given up.  He still does a lesson/typing games every day.  Things seem to be slowly improving, but he has been at it over a year...  He has left/right confusion, and has issues with both fine and gross motor skills.  Not enough that it is readily noticeable unless you watch closely, but I have to help him when he puts things in the oven or he will burn himself, and he tends to spill stuff when he is pouring, etc.

[FairProspects]

Dragonspeak? It sounds like you have some issues getting in the way of output in general. If your ds can't hand write or type, I'd at least think about Dragonspeak to get him going on written expression and continue work on the typing to get it up to speed. OhE had some good suggestions on a different keyboard layout. Maybe that would work better? There has to be a way to remove that barrier for him somehow so you can separate out the thinking part of writing and the physical act of writing and work on each skill individually.

[OneStepAtATime]

Dragonspeak? It sounds like you have some issues getting in the way of output in general. If your ds can't hand write or type, I'd at least think about Dragonspeak to get him going on written expression and continue work on the typing to get it up to speed. OhE had some good suggestions on a different keyboard layout. Maybe that would work better? There has to be a way to remove that barrier for him somehow so you can separate out the thinking part of writing and the physical act of writing and work on each skill individually.

I agree.  Still working on ways to help with that.  We are planning on trying out Dragonspeak and Inspiration this next fall. I will work this summer on getting them familiar with the programs (both kids).  I do wonder if Dragonspeak will work with DS, though.  He is very articulate and started speaking words at somewhere at or before 9 months.  He was speaking complex sentences around or before 18 months.  But he glitches on certain blended sounds.  I am hoping it won't be an issue but it may take quite a bit of time for the software to know what he is saying....at least I assume it will.  I haven't ever used it.

[Timberly]

.

[Pen]

"Steamy and thick the air of the room blew past me as I walked, sweat dripping down my face."  age 12, last week, a Discovering Voice single sentence.

 

-------------------

 

 

An excerpt from age 10 done with Bravewriter.  More at:  http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/453417-if-you-had-to-do-a-formal-composition-program/?hl= longships  and

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/475356-dyslexia-and-writing/?hl=+longships#entry5001511

 

 

 

Viking Longships

The Viking longships were light weight and the bottom design and square sails allowed them to skim the wave surface. Vikinglongships had flat bottoms so they could go in shallow water (why we call them longships is because longboat like it says in most books came long after the Viking time). They did have a little bit of a keel, which is a stabilizer on the bottom. 

A 118 foot long Viking longship was found by Danish archaeologists in Denmark in 2006. This one is the biggest that they have found so far, but there are some big ones like one was 98 feet long!

Some were a lot shorter, the shortest that were used in rivers were only 10-20 feet long! The longer and larger ships were used in large bodies of water such as the ocean. 

The Vikings made the longships out of wood and iron. The nails, rivets, and keel were iron. The best wood was huge old oak trees because it was strong. They would nail huge spikes of wood in the end of the tree to split the trunk in two, and then one tree made two boards. They ran out of good oak because they only made 2 boards out of one tree, so, for example, 30 boards would take 15 trees.

They also ran out of good oak longships because when a chief died they would put their chief inside of the longship in a tent with all of his belongings and burn it. Or sometimes when he died, they would put the chief in a tent on the longship with all of his belongings and push the longship out in the water and burn it. And also in storms or battles they sunk.

They ran out of the oak because their forests got thin, so they had to make the longships out of pine, which wasn’t as strong or durable as oak was. The pine didn’t last as long so the pine longships broke down easily. 

The Vikings had pigs, sheep, goats, and horses. And they brought their animals with them when they went places to settle (not when raiding), and the animals were very destructive because the horses grazed and the sheep and goats grazed in their own patterns and the pigs rooted up small trees. 

The front and back of the longships were the same so they could go forwards and backwards. So if they were coming to a rocky area, instead of having to crash, they could just turn around, use the oars and just go backward.

Their main power was the wind. They used sails when it was windy and when it was no wind they used the oars. And they used oars for going down rivers.

And they could tack!

Tacking means to turn so you are heading up into the wind, so the wind is first coming from one side of the boat and then the other side. so when they are tacking they zig-zag into the wind. Tacking allowed the Vikings to go toward the wind unlike Columbus's square sales that couldn’t tack, but Columbus’s ships had triangular sails that could tack.

The Vikings also probably entertained themselves on the long voyages on the longships. They could have sung, told stories and told myths. These all could have been entertainment while they were at sea. Such a story follows in the next section.

 

 

 

Written with IEW, SWI-A, also age 10 or maybe 9, but anyway, earlier than the above piece:

 

 

sea snakes

 

The most poisonous snake in the world is the sea snake. Sea snakes do not always inject when they bite. Scientists estimate that the venom of the sea snake is fifty times as powerful as the king cobra's venom.  The sea snake has a smoothe bottom and can not move well on land, but it has a paddle-like tail that is flat like an eel, with which it can swim well. The venom which leads to death in 25% of the sea snake's victims is slow to take effect. Victims are most often fishermen if they handle the snake carelessly. 

 

 

more at: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/339306-iewswi-a-1st-draft-questions/?hl=sea+snakes&do=findComment&comment=3508836

 

 

[Pen]

PS sorry about the red and highlighting and weird stuff above, I found it with a search of the word "longships" on these forums, so the word got highlighted.

 

The IEW assignment was the first one, and it was okay at that point, especially for about the first thing he had ever done. But since he hated it, it went down hill from there.

 

The Bravewriter piece by contrast has all the ! points showing his excitement about the subject and he was also happier with the writing process.

[PeterPan]

Pen--Congratulations on your success with Bravewriter!  I hadn't seen samples of writing coming out of it, so that's interesting!  Not only is there enthusiasm, but his voice and analysis are coming through.  (this was best, this because of this, etc.)  You may have a budding writer on your hands!  There are professional writers who are dyslexic, so this is NOT so crazy.  Their interconnected thought processes give them more connections, more analysis, more connection-making.  You must be very happy to see this coming out in his writing.  And the varied sentence construction and verb use, awesome!   :thumbup:

[Heathermomster]

OneStep, WIn machines are loaded with voice recognition software.  It's fairly easy to set up, so maybe have a look at that first.  My son used Win's voice recognition and thought it better than Dragon.   I don't share his view; however, DS made it work.

[PeterPan]

DS and DD are doing Type to Learn 4.  But DD has sequencing issues so she is still tripping up at times.  Still trying to develop muscle memory so she doesn't have to think it through on every letter.  But her typing is improving and she can type about 10 words per minute relatively accurately now.

 

DS, bless him, knows where all the letters are, but he still can only type 5 words per minute on a good day and sometimes reverses which hand to type with for certain letters.  (He also sometimes still reverses certain numbers when writing by hand).  It frustrates him no end but he hasn't given up.  He still does a lesson/typing games every day.  Things seem to be slowly improving, but he has been at it over a year...  He has left/right confusion, and has issues with both fine and gross motor skills.  Not enough that it is readily noticeable unless you watch closely, but I have to help him when he puts things in the oven or he will burn himself, and he tends to spill stuff when he is pouring, etc.

OneStep, have we talked Dvorak?  That's where my dd was, and Dvorak fixed it for us.  The change was fast too, like we went from 6-8 wpm to 35-40wpm in three months.  That was after years of working on QWERTY with multiple programs.  

 

-print out a google image of the Dvorak keyboard

-figure out how you set the language input to Dvorak on your computer.  On a mac it's an easy toggle.

-set up a user account on the computer so only his account loads using Dvorak.

-occasionally freak him out by changing the language input to Armenian.  Oh, skip that step.  :D

-lock admin privileges with a password so he can't change the keyboard input back

-give him something SO AWESOME he'll want to use it, like permission to create some account he has always wanted or his own private email or something

-walk away

 

You can also add bribes (rewards) for progress and use typing instruction software you find online (pc) or Mavis Beacon with Dvorak (mac).  That's what worked for us, those steps.  The armenian I spoofed her with later, but it was really funny, hehe.  

 

I can't guarantee it will work for everyone, but it worked for us.  It's better than sticking to QWERTY and being non-functional.  As long as my dd stays in Dvorak, she can type like an actual normal typist, with fingers on the keys.  Because of the bilateral issues and motor control and whatever, she pecks QWERTY.  Oh, I did hawk and force her to use the correct fingering for the Mavis Beacon lessons when we switched over to Dvorak.  Dh thought I was the biggest Witch this side (and the other) of Oz when I made the change and dd didn't exactly appreciate it either, but I was VINDICATED.  

 

Be mean, make the change.  With handwriting motor control not automatic and typing not working, we were really in a pickle.  Dvorak solved that.  

[PeterPan]

OneStep, WIn machines are loaded with voice recognition software.  It's fairly easy to set up, so maybe have a look at that first.  My son used Win's voice recognition and thought it better than Dragon.   I don't share his view; however, DS made it work.

My dh likes the voice software on the mac, so I definitely agree with using technology.  The one part that really bit him in the butt though was needing to type for his essay-driven tests for these classes he's taking.  He didn't want to ask for the accommodation of a separate room, so he couldn't use the voice dictation. He did finish the work typing it himself, but it was a challenge. So when you have a non-functional typist who also can't write, you've got to figure out your game plan.  If the dc bucks accommodations (which I've been told many SN kids do), that could put the dc in a pickle.

[Heathermomster]

I see the voice-to-text software as a stop gap measure until alternatives for typing instruction are figured out.   :)

 

 

[OneStepAtATime]

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone.  I will look at Dvorak.  We have stuck with Type to Learn 4 because DS loves the interface and being a secret agent that saves info.  He gets excited and has to shout out the info that he saved.  Neither child complains about the typing exercises, they just hop on and do them daily.   And DD hates change, so even though being a secret agent holds no interest for her, it is a familiar program so she knows what is expected.  But they each have issues that are causing difficulties so progress is really sloooowwww....I was certain that by this time output would be much faster.

 

I know we really do need to change our game plan.  I had thought about trying Dragonspeak and other items right now.   Dvorak definitely looks like a possibility.  I am having extreme fatigue issues, though, so trying to put in the mental and physical energy to add things, change things, etc. is rather challenging right now.  I am having to force myself out of bed each day and feel like I'm kind of operating in a fog a lot of the time.  Right now we are just trying to maintain (although DS did start VP Self-paced yesterday at his request).  Hopefully, I can get over this fatigue issue and get more active on implementation, not just researching.  These suggestions are invaluable to me.  Getting items in place gives me motivation to keep moving forward.  Thanks.

[PeterPan]

OneStep, you can switch the language input and still use your typing lessons.  That's what I'm doing with ds.  Works just fine, because the signal the computer gets is the same letter.  All that changes is what you're pecking.  Also, I think you know this, but for the 15 minutes or whatever he sits down to work, sit down beside him with a ruler and rap his fingers if he takes them off the keys to peck.  No, don't really hit him, but you do need to supervise and force him not to peck when you make the change.  He likely has some bad habits from ineffective practice.

 

Sorry you're so mentally tired.  You may be like me.  Sometimes, once I get too much on my mind, the whole thing bogs down.  Can you have a spring break and watch movies or something?  Go to the park?  Drop something you thought was important?

[OneStepAtATime]

OneStep, you can switch the language input and still use your typing lessons.  That's what I'm doing with ds.  Works just fine, because the signal the computer gets is the same letter.  All that changes is what you're pecking.  Also, I think you know this, but for the 15 minutes or whatever he sits down to work, sit down beside him with a ruler and rap his fingers if he takes them off the keys to peck.  No, don't really hit him, but you do need to supervise and force him not to peck when you make the change.  He likely has some bad habits from ineffective practice.

 

Sorry you're so mentally tired.  You may be like me.  Sometimes, once I get too much on my mind, the whole thing bogs down.  Can you have a spring break and watch movies or something?  Go to the park?  Drop something you thought was important?

Actually, he is really trying to keep his fingers on the keys in the correct location.  He doesn't tend to hunt and peck.  But he reverses.  Like he needs to type an "h" and knows it is an "h" but he types the "g" instead.  Drives him nuts.  Blindfolding him while he worked on kata moves in karate helped him with how his body feels as he moves.  Maybe blindfolding him while he types, then me gently touching his fingers as I call out letters might help him internalize?  Guess I could try.

 

As for the fatigue, I thought it was mental at first, just kind of on overload, but I feel so physically run down.  Like every muscle in my body is worn out.  And I have a really hard time concentrating.  I read and re-read before something sticks.  I love reading.  But it just seems to take a lot of effort right now.  Typing is kind of an issue at the moment, too.  Even when my eyes are wiggy, I can type without needing to really "see".  And usually I type really quickly with very few typos or punctuation errors.  Now, though, I find myself typing much more slowly than usual and I am making a lot of typos I have to correct.  Like my fingers are too heavy and kind of clutzy.  I guess I need to go in to see the doctor, but I just had a physical with my primary care and my cancer doctor last month.  I hate going to doctors...

[PeterPan]

Did they check your iron?  

 

Has he had an OT eval for sensory?

[OneStepAtATime]

Did they check your iron?  

 

Has he had an OT eval for sensory?

Well, they ran a CBC, among other things.  Everything was normal a month ago...

 

And DS does need an OT eval but haven't found anyone I trust where we live and DH is balking at additional evals.  He feels DS should just suck it up and accept that he needs to be extra careful with everything he does so he won't make mistakes in typing, or spill things or drop things, etc.   :glare:

 

Haven't given up though.  We may be in another city for a bit this summer and fall so maybe then...

[FairProspects]

Yes, I agree that you need an OT eval. Ds had many of those same issues a few years ago and they are MUCH better post-OT. If you can't get to an OT, could you do martial arts, swimming, or piano? Those are other activities that really helped ds make some of the sensory improvements.

[OneStepAtATime]

Yes, I agree that you need an OT eval. Ds had many of those same issues a few years ago and they are MUCH better post-OT. If you can't get to an OT, could you do martial arts, swimming, or piano? Those are other activities that really helped ds make some of the sensory improvements.

He has been doing karate for the past year and a half and you are right, it really has helped.  He had an awesome couple of instructors at first.  One had worked with kids with left/right confusion before and had some very helpful techniques.  He did a lot of private lessons where they would blindfold DS so he would work on how the movements felt instead of getting confused by visual cues.  He did great.  But that instructor left :(. DS and I miss him terribly.

 

 The other instructor that works well with DS is young and  hasn't had as much time lately and doesn't seem to have the energy and the enthusiasm that he was showing DS before. There is another instructor, but he is rather gruff and erratic and changes rules, expectations, belt requirements, etc. all the time.  He runs the place.  Without the other instructors to balance him out things are very erratic right now and DS feels insecure.  Also, the other instructor scares DS.  Not intentionally, but he does.  DS is actually thinking of quitting.

 

But an even bigger issue is that DH tends to ride DS pretty hard about karate techiniques, practiciing, etc. (I am actively working on this since it really affects DS's self-esteem).  DH is a glass half empty type person, though, especially with DS, and focuses on the negative first.  

 

DS also started having breathing issues (exercise induced brochio spasms) so we put him on an inhaler but it caused him to stop eating or sleeping.  He has lost a lot of weight.  We pulled him off the inhaler but he still wasn't eating much and now sleeps 12 hours straight, or longer (making up for days and days of just cat napping a bit?).  His system is so messed up now he ended up collapsing in class on Monday (probably a combination of breathing issues and lack of food).  He recovered fairly quickly once I got him home and resting but it scared me.  And the pediatrician hasn't been terribly helpful.

 

DS asked me to talk some things out with him yesterday and he thinks he may want to step away from karate for a while.  If I could get him into OT then maybe we could more directly address these issues and DH would realize that "suck it up buttercup" is probably not the most effective approach.  Well, I will dig further and try to find a decent OT...

 

Thanks for the suggestions.  Best wishes.