6th grader - summary from HO

[AimeeM]

I'm not really sure where to go with this. Writing is the thorn in my side with my dd (11, dyslexic). We are still working on summaries and picking differentiating between important details -vs- the "fluff".

Today she read a story in her Human Odyssey (volume 1) book. This is what she sent me. I should say that she has come a LONG way, but I still don't know that she is understanding. This is what she sent (via her ipad; she types better than she manually writes)...

 

The Paper Makers Son

 

 

The boy was walking the street look into the school window he saw the teacher the teacher went back to the boys house and started talking to his parents. The teacher asked the boy do you want to become anything better than a papermaking if so then the boy shouted my father is the best person in the world.the father came out and told the teacher but he sorry for his sons words. The teacher laughs. The teacher is from the school that the boy always wanted to go he offers him a scholarship for being loyal. All the teacher asked for was paper for the students and for everybody at the school and willing students.

[Lopsided]

As a mother of two daughters, one who went through the same problem (she loves to write now. Somehow, she's always at her extremeBack before, she hated playing around with words, and I had to force her to practice. Now she wants to become an author.), I say, your dd needs more practice.

 

My eldest daugter was more mild and had always viewed english as just another subject. However, my youngest daughter disagrees.

 

I would suggest for you to read to your dd since she has dyslexia and has trouble reading herself. She will also be prone to typos, as well as spelling mistakes.

 

Try some grammar and writing improvment programs. Your daughter seems to have several run-on sentences, which is something very hard to correct.

 

I would also encourage her to read and write more. My dd says it helps to write stories based on an already published book. (So, basically, fanfiction). She says that if she is stuck she gets inspiration from the author's writing and it's helpful to have a base to lean upon. However, she also says it's hard to get your own, unique voice if you write fanfiction.

 

So it's up to you to decide.

Edited October 22, 2012 by Lopsided

[JenC3]

Have you guys ever used WWE? For an auditory learner, it's great because you can read it aloud to her. She also learns how to form sentences in her mind which is key to good writing. It also teaches summary VERY well.

[Pen]

I'm not really sure where to go with this. Writing is the thorn in my side with my dd (11, dyslexic). We are still working on summaries and picking differentiating between important details -vs- the "fluff".

Today she read a story in her Human Odyssey (volume 1) book. This is what she sent me. I should say that she has come a LONG way, but I still don't know that she is understanding. This is what she sent (via her ipad; she types better than she manually writes)...

 

The Paper Makers Son

 

 

The boy was walking the street look into the school window he saw the teacher the teacher went back to the boys house and started talking to his parents. The teacher asked the boy do you want to become anything better than a papermaking if so then the boy shouted my father is the best person in the world.the father came out and told the teacher but he sorry for his sons words. The teacher laughs. The teacher is from the school that the boy always wanted to go he offers him a scholarship for being loyal. All the teacher asked for was paper for the students and for everybody at the school and willing students.

 

 

I don't know HO, so cannot comment as far as how it relates to the original. But, I would tend to praise her for this work as a first draft since she has come a long way, and to try to be specific about what you see is good.

 

To me it reads as if she cannot type fast enough to get down her thoughts, and thus has holes left. If so, that could be more clear if you get her to dictate such an assignment to you, and see if it is more whole than when she tries to type herself.

 

It also seems to me that she probably has done exactly what you asked her to do, namely to pick out the important details rather than the fluff. If that was the assignment, then IMO, she has succeeded.

 

Perhaps you want to now make a second assignment which could be to make it more clear and to flow better. And perhaps a 3rd assignment which would be to get it into proper sentences.

 

I would suggest having her read it to you, and to work with her to try to start getting it improved. I think the basic gist is probably there--I picture a boy who does not go to school looking longingly in the school window, and then eventually getting to go to the school in this little vignette. It is just that there are some parts that need to be fleshed out and clarified.

 

Possibly by reading aloud she would herself find what is needed. Or, as someone else mentioned, you might read it to her, but that might be more upsetting than if she reads it to you as she meant it to sound.

 

My son also has dyslexia problems. He does best with writing assignments where the material interests him so that he can sustain attention and willingness to work through the process. He also does well if he reads his writing aloud, since he will often then stop himself and fix something that isn't working, or add something that is missing.

[AimeeM]

Have you guys ever used WWE? For an auditory learner, it's great because you can read it aloud to her. She also learns how to form sentences in her mind which is key to good writing. It also teaches summary VERY well.

We tried it several times; it was a disaster for the dyslexic (who also happens to be a visual learner - talk about double trouble, lol). After our last attempt with it I posted on the special needs board about it and it appears pretty common that dyslexics have a hard time with WWE. We tried levels 1, 2, 3, and 4. Lol.

 

She's my math and science gal :P

Edited October 27, 2012 by AimeeM

[AimeeM]

I don't know HO, so cannot comment as far as how it relates to the original. But, I would tend to praise her for this work as a first draft since she has come a long way, and to try to be specific about what you see is good.

 

To me it reads as if she cannot type fast enough to get down her thoughts, and thus has holes left. If so, that could be more clear if you get her to dictate such an assignment to you, and see if it is more whole than when she tries to type herself. I've noticed when she reads aloud that she tends to leave out certain words (at, the, it, etc). Her last teacher (in brick and mortar, before homeschooling) said that it was because she couldn't "visualize" the word and that many times a dyslexic will leave out words that they can't quickly visualize. She appears to completely skip them when reading and writing. She doesn't do it when she speaks, but it's fairly common with her writing.

 

It also seems to me that she probably has done exactly what you asked her to do, namely to pick out the important details rather than the fluff. If that was the assignment, then IMO, she has succeeded. You're right - I need to focus on that. She did do exactly what I asked of her. Her biggest problem is picking out the important details (a reason we haven't had success outlining ON ANY LEVEL yet). We've moved over to graphic organizers for content subjects.

 

Perhaps you want to now make a second assignment which could be to make it more clear and to flow better. And perhaps a 3rd assignment which would be to get it into proper sentences. Since I posted this, dd requested that we move over to American History for a year, so we've ditched Human Odyssey - but she will have writing assignments in her new history text, so I will definitely try to break it down incrementally as you've suggested; first a broad brush (like she did here), a second draft, and then a finalized, more polished paragraph that I can help her on.

 

I would suggest having her read it to you, and to work with her to try to start getting it improved. I think the basic gist is probably there--I picture a boy who does not go to school looking longingly in the school window, and then eventually getting to go to the school in this little vignette. It is just that there are some parts that need to be fleshed out and clarified.

 

Possibly by reading aloud she would herself find what is needed. Or, as someone else mentioned, you might read it to her, but that might be more upsetting than if she reads it to you as she meant it to sound.

 

My son also has dyslexia problems. He does best with writing assignments where the material interests him so that he can sustain attention and willingness to work through the process. He also does well if he reads his writing aloud, since he will often then stop himself and fix something that isn't working, or add something that is missing.

Thanks :)

She seems to be doing oddly well with Hake's writing assignments (I thought it would be out of reach with her and only planned on using Hake's grammar portions), but if she continues at this pace, her paragraphs are getting a nice workout with the program. Lol.

[AimeeM]

Did she type this on the iPad or a real keyboard?

ipad

Although I will note that when she types on the real keyboard (and she does have a pc in her bedroom), it doesn't look any better.

[AimeeM]

Ah. I think typing on a tablet is very awkward.

 

What have you used for writing and grammar up to this point?

Last year we tried (and it only put her further behind) all of the WWE levels and FLL. Disaster. We also used the older version of VIE and while she appeared to do well with it, she retained almost nothing.

 

This year we are using Hake 6. It was an impulse buy on my end and she is actually doing great with it (for both grammar and writing). I know it's hard to see in this sample, but she's come a very long way from where she was last year and I credit that to Hake.

I should note that she has always done well with grammar in isolation (i.e. plug and chug) but it never transfers to her writing. She is working on the writing portion of Hake 3 times a week, doing grammar 4 times a week (we have co-op commitments most fridays).