Jungle Mama Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 I am looking for a writing program for my 16 year old Aspie son. We tried IEW but he got overwhelmed by it. We have a year to get him ready for an apprenticeship and he needs to know how to write reports and essays. I am not sure that he will ever be interested in fiction writing so don't want to waste effort on it. He can write good sentences, when he is pushed, but a lot of the time he prefers to write short answers to questions on work sheets. I have taught him to reword the question to form part of the answer but that only works for short answers. With him doing a trade course I am sure he will need to be able to express his learning in more than a few words. :-( If you could suggest some writing programs to look at I would really appreciate it. He doesn't like a lot of fluff and we also need very clear defined assignments or I will spend a lot of time arguing with him over what is required as he will want to do the least amount of work necessary. Thanks Jen in Oz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 How much reading has he been exposed to? How is his handwriting? Grammar? Spelling? If he has deficits in these areas then trying to pull it altogether to write may be incredibly challenging no matter what program you use. Does he have any other diagnoses? Dyslexia? Dysgraphia? You might look at software to help with output, alongside whatever writing program you find. Something like Inspiration coupled with Dragon Naturally Speaking and Ginger might help. I am certain someone can recommend good writing programs and you might look on some of the great writing threads that have occurred on this subforum recently. I can't really recommend anything at the moment. We are going to be starting IEW coupled with the new Fix-It Grammar in a couple of months but right now I have just dabbled with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 Can you get in touch with someone involved in the course he will do and find out what he needs to be able to write instead of guessing? Then you could target that, and also perhaps things like writing a resume, letter to editor, personal letter, consumer letter, and so on. The old Warriner's English grammar and composition books cover pretty much the broad spectrum of writing from essays to resumes as I recall, and also had study skills sections included. Or maybe an intro level writing class at a Community College would fit the level of what he may need in his upcoming program. Or maybe for an apprenticeship he won't actually need to write essays anymore than he will need to be able to write fiction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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