WWE brings DS to tears (and new dysgraphia diagnosis)

[Cake and Pi]

Now in week 20 of WWE2, and my newly-8yo is crying nearly every day we do writing!  He is very smart, but he has SPD and a fine motor delay and was recently diagnosed with dysgraphia (still wrapping my brain around that).  He can copy a sentence or two, with pretty bad handwriting, and does great with the narrations and answering questions after the passages.  But the dictations!  They are becoming longer and more frequent and he's just not able to do them without a lot of time and incredible distress.  Today he was supposed to write "'Your words are bold,' the king said to Alexander, 'but are you bold enough to mount the horse yourself?'"  There was no way that was going to happen, so I only actually dictated "'Your words are bold,' the king said to Alexander," and it still ended in tears and a page of barely-legible words written in the wrong order and he never finished.

 

I'm not sure what to do.  Back track and then move more slowly?  Continue in WWE2 but do copy work instead of the dictations?  Ditch WWE for him alltogether and find something else for writing?  (Like what??)  He is a strong reader (school psych said 8th grade reading and comprehension level), speaks fluidly and can narrate and summarize very very well.  But his thoughts have a hard time coming out of his hand.  The dictations in WWE2 are beyond his present abilities.

[Susan Wise Bauer]

If it were me, I might do copywork and then otherwise do the composition part of writing orally for now. He could dictate to you, while you type or write for him. I expect he likely has a lot of things to say, if he doesn't have to worry about how to get them down on paper. I'd have him start learning to type now as well, if he isn't already. 

 

This is great advice. Ditch the dictation COMPLETELY. Start the typing lessons. Let him compose orally and write the compositions for him while he watches. Don't make him cry! 

 

Once he's typing and he's past the automatic tears every time you pull out the writing book, you might have a look at Wordsmith Apprentice. In my experience, the "You're a newspaper reporter" format gives good scaffolding for dysgraphic kids. You could also consider the one year Sentence Composing for Elementary School (Don and Jenny Kilgallon) followed by a very slow progression through the Writing & Rhetoric series published by Classical Academic Press. I would NOT recommend Writing With Skill (the follow-up series to WWE) for a student with this particular combination of factors.

 

SWB

[Cake and Pi]

This is great advice. Ditch the dictation COMPLETELY. Start the typing lessons. Let him compose orally and write the compositions for him while he watches. Don't make him cry! 

 

Once he's typing and he's past the automatic tears every time you pull out the writing book, you might have a look at Wordsmith Apprentice. In my experience, the "You're a newspaper reporter" format gives good scaffolding for dysgraphic kids. You could also consider the one year Sentence Composing for Elementary School (Don and Jenny Kilgallon) followed by a very slow progression through the Writing & Rhetoric series published by Classical Academic Press. I would NOT recommend Writing With Skill (the follow-up series to WWE) for a student with this particular combination of factors.

 

SWB

 

Thank you so much!!

 

For now I will replace the dictations with copywork that he can handle while I look into the other writing curricula you suggested.  

 

What a relief to have a plan.