Writing program?

[Renee in NC]

My 10yo is starting to be able to write sentences and I want to get him to grade level in writing as soon as possible. He may go back to school next fall. He will have an IEP (and his current IEP has someone doing all his writing for him.) However, he would like to move beyond that.

 

He does dictation through Barton. He can copy with no problem and he can narrate back to me. I looked at Writing with Skill and that isn't right for our goals.

 

I want him to be able to write a coherent paragraph with a topic sentence and supporting sentences. He needs to work on varying sentence structure. The writing topics and types need to vary (stories, reports, persuasion, etc.)

 

I've looked at the EPS Writing Skills books and Winning with Writing (which I bought for my 2nd grader.) Susan Barton recommends IEW after Barton Level 4, but I don't know if that would meet our goals.

 

Any other ideas?

[PrincessAriel]

http://eps.schoolspecialty.com/downloads/povs/s-paragraph_book.pdf

 

I have a child in about the same situation. I have been looking at this one but have not ordered it yet.

[Renee in NC]

http://eps.schoolspecialty.com/downloads/povs/s-paragraph_book.pdf

 

I have a child in about the same situation. I have been looking at this one but have not ordered it yet.

 

Thanks! That is one to add to my list.

[wapiti]

You might look at Diana Hanbury King's Writing Skills, Book 1

[AliR]

I am using Diana Hanbury King's Writing Skills Book A at present, as part of the Verticy Garmmar/Composition Yellow level and will move on to Book 1 next year. Given what you have said, I would start with Book A as that reviews sentences, and then goes on to develop paragraph writing skills.

[Walking-Iris]

We've been using Writing Strands with a lot of success. Your ds may be able to do it at an accelerated rate. We usually combine the 4 day lesson into 1. Also if he has trouble with the act of writing then the Handwriting Without Tears books have a lot of practice with paragraph writing.

Edited November 28, 2011 by Walking-Iris

[Renee in NC]

You might look at Diana Hanbury King's Writing Skills, Book 1

 

I am using Diana Hanbury King's Writing Skills Book A at present, as part of the Verticy Garmmar/Composition Yellow level and will move on to Book 1 next year. Given what you have said, I would start with Book A as that reviews sentences, and then goes on to develop paragraph writing skills.

 

That is the series I was thinking of when I said the EPS books. I used Book A with my now 13yo - I should try that one again.

 

Thanks!

[cjbeach]

I have a lot of freebie printables that I googled on Step Up to Writing (Auman). I keep looking on ebay trying to score a used copy reasonably priced but so far I have been unsuccessful.

It was very effective for my ASD guy. WE also use WWW but in MY mind I thought since the program is new and sequential, let me start him out at Grade 3. It's too simple for him though, and because of the simplicity, boring now. We're speeding our way through it though. So that's another option I'd suggest. I have The Paragraph Book on my wishlist too.

But Step UP to Writing is visual -- Traffic Light. Top green light means topic sentence with use of transition word. Then a Yellow light (reason/detail/fact) with a Red light (detail). Use as many yellows and reds as needed, usually 2-3 per paragraph with a transition word with each yellow light. Then end with another green light (concluding sentence with transition word, reflecting back on the other green light, topic sentence).

This traffic light visual "clicked" with my guy.

[Paisley Hedgehog]

nm

[Renee in NC]

I've been using Writing Skills with the Verticy Program as well. We finished Book A last year and started Book 1 in September. At first I was pretty cheesed off as Book 1 looked exactly the same and covered the same material as Book A. It was like, haven't we done this already ?? But as we've gotten into it, I realized that ds really does need that incremental, explicit break down of thoughts-words-sentences-paragraphs, over and over and over.

 

Rather than being a whole step up (like you mastered all the skills in Book A, now here's a bunch of new stuff in Book 1), the series seems to progress in half-steps. There's a lot, lot, lot of review. I'm not sure why you dropped the book before but this is really the only writing program that's worked with my LD ds. There's zero visual appeal in these workbooks :) but I haven't seen anything else like them. If you aren't using Verticy, I'd definitely consider buying the TM that covers the series.

 

I didn't drop the book before - I used it with an older child, not the one I am looking for now. It does make me think that I should take the 13yo through Book 1 and 2 as well.

[houseofkids&pets]

We are currently using Book A from the Diana Hanbury King series, but I am always looking for other materials since progress seems so slow (haven't found that magic bullet yet!). I recently read a recommendation on another forum for kids with learning needs. I don't know anything about it, but perhaps someone on this board may be familiar with it. It is a 4 book series by Jo Ann Piccolo called "Structures for Reading, Writing, and Thinking." Just thought I'd throw that out there in case you want to look into it.:001_smile:

[lulubelle]

I just wanted to thank you all for this thread and the ideas! Just what I was looking for!