How can I help my son remember dictated sentences??

[Surfside Academy]

My son broke down in tears today when I dictated 2 sentences from our WWE exercise. This is VERY unusual for him to cry over school work but I can see his frustration. He does well remembering facts from the passage, can answer questions in complete sentences and does fairly well narrating back but its the dictation that just gets him.

 

I've tried breaking down the sentences into pieces or repeating it extra times but he just seems to have a block that I can't figure out. I'm wondering if its a visual vs. auditory learning issue?? He does well remembering information that he's read. Dictation though is such a large part of WWE (and other writing programs.) We're almost done with WWE 2 and I know the dictations get much more lengthy in WWE 3 so I don't know what to do.

 

Any ideas or suggestions would greatly be appreciated!

[Narrow Gate Academy]

A few of ideas:

 

1. Let him read the sentences first, and then do the dictation.

2. Read the entire sentence once. Then dictate one word at a time. Once he can do this bump it up to 2-3 words, then a short phrase etc.

3. Read the sentence and then have him repeat it back to you before writing it.

4. Do your dictation first thing in the morning when he's most alert and can concentrate the best.

 

HTH

[Night Elf]

I think you should back up to very small sentences so he can feel a success with dictation. FWIW, my dd11 is only able to remember up to 10 words or so without struggling. She was very frustrated at first, until we learned what she could. I'm starting with that and will slowly work up. It's not something she's used to doing and needs practice.

 

Are you having him repeat it back to you before he writes it down? That helps dd11.

[Night Elf]

1. Let him read the sentences first, and then do the dictation.

 

Oh I forgot that part. Definitely good advice! :)

[Surfside Academy]

Thanks for the ideas...

 

I do ask him to repeat it back to me before he begins writing. This morning, he repeated the sentences all jumbled up and that's when he broke down. I like the suggestion of having him read the sentences first. I'm just stressing because I know the dictation is going to get progressively lengthier...I might just have to shorten the dictations and hope for the best! :D

[Night Elf]

I'm just stressing because I know the dictation is going to get progressively lengthier...I might just have to shorten the dictations and hope for the best! :D

 

Don't stress out! Please remember that writing is a process and if a child is not developmentally ready, they simply won't be able to do it. And that goes for just about anything really. You didn't force your baby to walk at a certain age? speak at a certain age? It will come as you nurture it along. If you have to repeat the dictation sentences from the same book again, then do that. It's not a race to see how much you can get through. It's not a textbook that must be finished by a certain date or he fails the grade.

 

Have you had a chance to listen to SWB's Writing Without Fear talk? It's available at Peace Hill Press. The MP3 version is $3.99. The cd version is $4.99. It's definitely worth the price. I've had mine for years and I still find it valuable.

[kalanamak]

I started with punch lines to jokes he knows, or something I say often, or something about his friend, e.g. We will meet Carlos at the park.

[FairProspects]

I have littles, and we have only begun dictation with single words and not yet sentences, so take this for what it is worth, but I use the Orton-Gillingham technique of finger-tapping and sentence pounding for dictation that works great for kinethestic learners.

 

Say the dictation once, make your right hand into a fist and pound it into the palm of your left hand once for each word as you repeat it, and then have dc do the same. I know from experience as a drama teacher that putting movement to words helps the brain compute and remember the information differently. This may create a muscle memory for your dc that jogs the brain into recalling the sentence more easily. HTH!

[Kuovonne]

Here's some things I do with my daughter to help her remember dictations.

 

The first time I read the passage, I have her just listen for meaning. Then I check if she understands it. If she doesn't understand a part or is just curious about something, we discuss it. For example, if she's wondering why a character does a particular thing, that makes it hard for her to think about what the exact words are, so we get that out of the way first.

 

Then I read the dictation again and have her concentrate on remembering the exact words. Then I have her repeat back as much as she can remember. If she can remember at least a complete phrase, I have her start writing. If she can't remember at least a complete phrase, I re-read until she can, possibly reading a shorter portion of the dictation. When she can't remember what comes next, I have her re-read what she's written. Often that will jog her memory. If it doesn't, I continue the dictation where she leaves off.

 

If a dictation contains words that she can't spell, I write those on a scratch piece of paper for her to refer to when she gets to them.

 

Also, I explain to DD that the purpose of dictation is for her to pratice specific writing skills. Therefore, it is important for her to write the passage exactly as dictated, even if she wants to write a different phrasing.

[creekmom]

Don't stress out! Please remember that writing is a process and if a child is not developmentally ready, they simply won't be able to do it. And that goes for just about anything really. You didn't force your baby to walk at a certain age? speak at a certain age? It will come as you nurture it along. If you have to repeat the dictation sentences from the same book again, then do that. It's not a race to see how much you can get through. It's not a textbook that must be finished by a certain date or he fails the grade.

 

Have you had a chance to listen to SWB's Writing Without Fear talk? It's available at Peace Hill Press. The MP3 version is $3.99. The cd version is $4.99. It's definitely worth the price. I've had mine for years and I still find it valuable.

 

I was considering purchasing this, but I'm wondering if it's basically the same stuff that's in her Writing With Ease book. Do you think it's worth it if I've already read WWE?

[Rhondabee]

I have in my notes from SWB last summer for the parent to say the dictation 3 times, then have the child recite it back. If needed, parent says it again 3 more times. (as many times as needed)

 

My ds is older (6th), and he usually gets the "gist" after the first 3 times. It may take 10 times before he has it verbatim. But, he told me last week that this *is* helping him hold the words in his head. (And, it seems to really be helping his mechanics and hand-writing as well.)

 

ps - I agree with reading through the whole thing, then breaking it up into manageable parts. If ds is having a "good" day, that's the day I ask if he's ready for a challenge, and push him to remember more at one time (though I will still repeat the passsage for him any number of times until he can remember the whole thing).

 

And, the other day I even added motions (before you LOL, it was a 3-clause sentence - quite long! But, he was having a very good day, and really *wanted* to try it. Though he did roll his eyes at my motions - LOL!)

[Peela]

I have never dictated whole sentences- I only dictate what the kid can actually remember, however long or short that is. It's gets longer, but it's important to go for success.

 

I was brought up on dictation at school, (I think its normal in Australia, or at least it was), and the teacher would read the whole passage first, then break it down to phrases or short sentences, then read the whole passage again. Thats what I have always done and my reluctant writer is fine with it.

 

One thing I learned from another homeschooling mum is to do repeat dictations. So if my son made mistakes, the next day we would do exactly the same dictation again. We would do the same dictation daily until he got 100% and felt success and confidence. Then we would move onto the next one. It worked well for a while that we did it (then I felt we no longer needed to do it that way anymore).

[robsiew]

Thank you very much for asking this question and for those of you that have shared your experiences! My *almost* 9 year old is having trouble with dictation as well. These ideas have given me some good tools to use with him. Thanks!

[TrixieB]

I was considering purchasing this, but I'm wondering if it's basically the same stuff that's in her Writing With Ease book. Do you think it's worth it if I've already read WWE?

If I remember correctly, I found WWE and the CD to have a fair amount of similar content.