Writing intervention program-update at the bottom

[exercise_guru]

I could use some input on a writing curriculum for a 11 year old boy for the next step. He had some pretty serious challenges with Auditory processing and fine motor dysgraphia. He has had intensive therapy for both and is doing well. He was able to get A's this semester and his teacher feels she can read the legibility of his writing work. In conversations with her I have determined that the school system is teaching a very free thinking writing curriculum and I think my son would benefit from a more structured form of writing that helps him fill in blanks and determine how to build paragraphs. She feels he still really struggles with getting his thoughts on paper.  The next step for us is to find a writing program that is more structured to practice writing over the summer. I need something very interesting for a young boy.  He hates workbooks so I have to think of how to make things more interesting. 

I was thinking of 

Time4Writing.com elementary program but I know nothing about it. It has to be structured because he needs to know how to build paragraphs. His report card stated that he needs improvement in

"uses knowledge of language and its conventions when writing,speaking,reading, or listening"

I need something that would be considered remediation in getting ones thoughts on papers. He would do a combination of dictation, typing and handwriting. He is a good speller and reads at a high level. 

 

For background he is a great reader ( well above grade level Lexile 1000 grade level 7.4) with good comprehension and remembering. He scored very high on the end of year tests for language and math. Its his writing and expression that we need to build up. We have used Getty and Dubay to improve fluid legible writing and his teacher is fine with that. His writing is legible but he has a hard time keeping his thoughts in his head long enough to get them on paper ( we work on auditory memory and working memory for that) but he needs to learn to make good topic sentences, fill in details and finish with a conclusion. He needs the fundamentals in a clear way without too much froo froo. He is going into 5th grade. 

Edited December 5, 2018 by exercise_guru

[PeterPan]

Look through the MindWings stuff then call and talk with MaryEllen, the lady behind it. She'll set you right up. It also sounds like he needs to be typing or using dictation software, because he's having trouble getting his thoughts down. Given that the actual act of getting it down is a disability, you're going to need to step up the accommodations to get the more complex work going. 

Does he have an IEP? This is a private or ps?

Mindwings just improved their magnets set, so now even the small set has both the narrative and expository magnets. It's only like $7. So you want that, Thememaker, just some simple things. Moreau's stuff was developed while she was working in a dyslexia school. They have a bunch of youtube videos where she explains everything. Especially focus on her expository videos.

[2Peanuts]

I'm a big fan of IEW's Writing with Style & Structure. It's their flagship product. The writing instruction is VERY scaffolded. Students first learn to use keyword outlines to help them remember what a sentence is about and then they rewrite a short paragraph (maybe 5 sentences) using the keyword outlines.

There are 9 (?) units, each covering a different kind of writing. I believe Unit 3 would be helpful for your situation - it's where students retell a narrative (like an Aesop fable). Using variations of the keyword outline, they learn to pick apart the story & put it back together into an organized retelling. Another unit covers how to put together nonfiction reports from single & multiple sources.

Along with each unit, they cover stylistic ways to improve/enhance writing, such as varying sentence openers and avoiding overused words, like "like." ? I'd say each lesson gives about 50/50 attention to the structure (how to organize the info) and style (how to spiffy up a sentence).

The instruction is gradual and I've used it with great success with both my ASD 9yo and my neurotypical 13yo. You could probably go with a Student Writing Intensive product, which comes with a DVD that has all the instruction on it (as in, you watch Andrew Pudewa teach a class on that day's lesson) and then students practice the lessons on their own. They offer 3 levels - A, B, & C. My middle schooler took Level B this year.

The main drawbacks might be that (a) you probably won't be able to get it all done over the summer unless you go at a brisk pace or cut some lessons (because it's intended as a full-year course) and (b) it may be on the pricier side. But I've really enjoyed watching both of my kids grow in their ability to write using this system.

Another idea - if you want to outsource, I believe Open Tent Academy is offering some summer writing intensive courses. The writing teacher, Eva, is an IEW-approved instructor, and I've heard nothing but rave reviews of her teaching. She's very approachable, too. (I had several questions about which course would be a good fit for my 13yo and Eva walked me through all my options and even let me sit in on some classes or watch class recordings to get a better feel for what they do.)

Good luck with your search!

[Lecka]

If you haven’t already done typing, and it is in reach right now, I would focus on typing and see if that helps with getting his thoughts on paper.  It has helped my son.  

I don’t know about a writing program.  I think he is young enough to have time, to be honest, to some extent.  

If he is still having some problems getting his thoughts on paper, then as good as his handwriting is, and it’s good he can use it in many circumstances, but it doesn’t sound like it is totally functional for him and it may need to be typing or another alternative as he gets older.

For my 7th grader he does hand write a lot and it’s fine, but it’s obvious typing works much better for him for anything on the longer side, and it gets a lot more routine to be able to type assignments (especially anything longer) even in middle school.

I don’t know about writing programs.

[PeterPan]

There are samples of IEW's stuff on their website and they have a strong, total moneyback guarantee if you buy from them. That would be a can't lose kind of situation. It sounds like the teacher is wanting him to work on editing and recognizing errors. Now that's really hard when he's got dysgraphia and trying to work on structure and content and getting it out. If you find an editing workbook you like, then he could do a dab of that. Definitely definitely get going with either typing or text.

I tell this story, but QWERTY didn't work for my dd. I moved her over to Dvorak and paid her handsomely. She was right around that age, and really it only took a few months. I paid her $1 per wpm any month she increased by at least 5. Now I'd probably pay $2 a minute, with inflation and all, lol. Getting either that going or dictation would probably make a SIGNIFICANT difference. The output is going to get too long for him to be doing all this by hand.

[kbutton]

I am reading this as probably not needing something overly therapeutic (as in from a speech therapy place) at this point, though I have nothing against that (as I wait for my Mindwings order to arrive, lol!). But I would also recommend this product, which is inexpensive, hands-on, interesting, and well-scaffolded:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Interactive-Research-Papers-Essays-for-Common-Core-Writing-Grades-4-6-1038982

Our tutor found this resource, and it's been really, really good for my son, even though he has issues that are going to go beyond what this addresses. Don't let research paper in the title mess with you--it's paragraphs and five-paragraph essays, but they are research-based (which we find is helpful here--it gives the kids something to say if they don't feel particularly inclined to just dump thoughts on paper). They do not do in-text citations, but they have a bibliography list. We used an online source to do our bibliography cards--I think we used easybib. I will say that you should read through and try the argumentative paragraph and paper on your own first. We found the longer essay worked better than the short one, and that both papers were a bit of a jump in skill level from the other formats. Anyway, you can use and re-use the paper formats over and over. The author has the student do a "backwards" paper of each type first--starting with the finished product, they use the tools for writing a paper to disassemble the example paper. Then, they can rewrite the example paper and write a new paper of their own with the tools. It would be easy to type portions fo the lesson or scribe since they don't involve huge amounts of writing in each step. 

My kids did not do their own cutting and pasting for this. I did most of it. But the act of manipulating the pieces, color-coding samples, having a guide to the organization structure, etc. were super, super valuable.

I don't have this product, but I suspect it's a great supplement, and it's from the same teacher:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Writing-Interactive-Notebooks-Writing-Activities-for-Common-Core-3-8-878678

It appears to be more about how to finesse things once you get the basics on paper--it has more mini-lesson sorts of things.

[exercise_guru]

I appreciate the feedback I left out a few details that would probably be helpful in figuring out where to focus. We started typing and dictation software this past year. My son had some pronunciation issues so it took me awhile to find one that worked. I like the IPAD for that. We also combine it with myscript stylus and notes plus and a keyboard. It allows him to switch between dictation, handwriting, and typing.  His typing is improving but it still needs time to mature as does his handwriting and dictation. Likely I will have him dictate these sentences to me and then print them and have him edit them. I can understand him well and this has worked in the past. I taught classical homeschool for my older kids but this child does better in a small neighborhood school rather than home with me. He has had good teachers that motivate him and he has a 504 that allows him to sit on the front row, have extra time for tests, gives ability to wear headphones if he needs to concentrate, the teacher checks in if he misses auditory instructions and provides visual feedback, they also allow him to type his final drafts, 

 Since kindergarten I have been providing 30 minutes to 45 minutes of teaching in the morning or after school that focuses on the weakness he has with auditory issues. I consider it home therapy more than homeschooling. We first did saxon phonics and all about reading. Then when reading took off we focused on retained reflexes and integrated listening system for sensory and auditory issues. After this we worked intensely on Getty and Dubay along with Vision Therapy. This got us to legible handwriting. Then we still tested low on auditory processing so we did Fast Forword and Hearbuilder along with articulation therapy. Now he can pronounce R's and can hear the nuances of sound much better.  He follows conversations much easier. He can remember and learn song lyrics. His guitar has improved and he listens and follows the teacher much easier. Now I want to turn my attention to interactive metronome( it helps with temporal processing and auditory rhythm in speach) and build forward to forming our thoughts with writing skills and expressive skills. The disability converges in remembering what he hears and interpreting nuances in conversation. It also piles up where the dysgraphia hits. He has a hard enough time forming the thoughts, and holding them in his mind, then he needs to get them on paper somehow. He also takes a long time to respond to questions and form the thoughts to say them out loud. Not in normal conversation but in making a summary for say a book or a science project.  He made a lot of growth this year but if he got a little boost over the summer with some writing solid sentences and even expressing some solid sentences that would help a lot. My goal would be to have him write or edit 5-10 sentences a day for 45 minutes in the morning. Then move on to maybe bringing details together to form a solid paragraph. I meet with his teacher tomorrow to get an update on his growth in 4th grade and to lay out a plan to help him improve his writing over the summer. 

I too lack skill in this area so I need a program. Even if we don't get through the entire set in summer we can finish it the following summer or continue when school starts.  We will keep up some fun typing games beyond that to strengthen his typing speed. 

 

Also we have done intensive testing on this kiddo so I know where his strengths are and where the board is squeaky. I know how to motivate him and how to keep things interesting. What I don't know is how to teach writing. 

[kbutton]

P.S. My kiddo with auditory processing issues needed us to keep stopping to be sure he was on the same page, but with all the color-coding and manipulatives, he could also stop and check where he was in the process. It was good for him to externalize that structure when it's already hard enough to listen and sequence. Also, our tutor is super familiar with APD and an expert at speaking slowly without it sounding weird, so that helps. She slows her speech to 75% of normal for him, which research shows to be a pretty effective accommodation. 

[kbutton]

4 minutes ago, exercise_guru said:

The disability converges in remembering what he hears and interpreting nuances in conversation. It also piles up where the dysgraphia hits. He has a hard enough time forming the thoughts, and holding them in his mind, then he needs to get them on paper somehow.

He also takes a long time to respond to questions and form the thoughts to say them out loud. Not in normal conversation but in making a summary for say a book or a science project.  He made a lot of growth this year but if he got a little boost over the summer with some writing solid sentences and even expressing some solid sentences that would help a lot.

My goal would be to have him write or edit 5-10 sentences a day for 45 minutes in the morning. Then move on to maybe bringing details together to form a solid paragraph. I meet with his teacher tomorrow to get an update on his growth in 4th grade and to lay out a plan to help him improve his writing over the summer. 

 

I separated some of your details. In regard to the first piece of information, my son has worked with a speech therapist on being able to hold onto longer and longer pieces of spoken language and transition that into making little notes so that he can spit back a summary (leading into the second clump of information). He can use this with written information now as well. It's like how IEW does keyword outlines (kind of), but it's been put in a context that works on my son's particular issues with listening to spoken language. It's been transferring to non-spoken stuff super well, but my son is quite good at getting original thoughts out already (and terrible at spelling, lol!). The big issue for my son is just processing something coming at him without melting down. And he still needs breaks--if he's having a bad day, he will literally start to hear some kind of uncomfortable noise in his head when people are talking, and if he's already there, additional input can lead him to have what seems to be basically a panic attack, except it's coming directly from the auditory environment.

It's my understanding that kids with APD have trouble with spitting out summaries from the information coming in because the processing part of taking in the language is using up all their WM. This was a LONG process with my son, but the cool thing is that as hard as it's been to tackle, it's turning out that he's simultaneously learning skills that will make him good at really mature forms of note-taking in the future, like Cornell notes (which the speech therapist is not at all familiar with--it's just a coincidence, lol!). So, he's behind in some cognitive skills and leaping ahead in others, but it's working. It has been HARD--some weeks when the speech therapist tries something new, it turns more into talk therapy, lol! 

Aside from making summaries, for writing and editing individual sentences (last clump of infomation) with various sentence structures, you might check out Easy Writing by the Easy Grammar author. 

[PeterPan]

47 minutes ago, exercise_guru said:

My goal would be to have him write or edit 5-10 sentences a day for 45 minutes in the morning. Then move on to maybe bringing details together to form a solid paragraph.

3 sentences a day for editing is plenty. Google editing workbooks. History Fact a Day is cute. There are a bunch of these 10 minute editing programs. Throw the pdf on your ipad, definitely. Just a dab is all you need. 

http://www.linguisystems.com/products/product/display?itemid=10413

http://www.linguisystems.com/products/product/display?itemid=10412

These are workbooks for main ideas and details via listening comprehension.

On the dictation, can he do it directly using the ipad? He's going to need some practice in whatever his best method is for fall. 

I really like the IEW suggestion. It would be the best way to hit a variety. We can tell you other things to do (argue debate prompts, begin outlining using mapping software like Inspiration), but really IEW might be revolutionary for him. 

On the Mindwings stuff, just watch the videos and hack it. It will be totally obvious to you where the glitches are for him (if there are glitches) once you watch the videos like this one and one about the critical thinking triangle. Just jump forward 30 minutes to where it gets good 

 

[exercise_guru]

K these are all really good suggestions keep em coming and post if you think of anything else.

I have a few days to research and then I got to get going. we are finishing up a therapy unit friday so something new is in the works starting next week. 

 

[PeterPan]

1 hour ago, kbutton said:

Easy Writing by the Easy Grammar author. 

Have you used this? I haven't heard of it... Is it thishttps://www.rainbowresource.com/product/sku/007561 about complex sentences, or is there also one going through narrative and expository structures?

[kbutton]

8 minutes ago, PeterPan said:

Have you used this? I haven't heard of it... Is it thishttps://www.rainbowresource.com/product/sku/007561 about complex sentences, or is there also one going through narrative and expository structures?

That is the one I'm talking about. 

It's sentence-level only and more grammar oriented, like helping them learn how to rephrase (or write from scratch) something with, say, a subordinate conjunction. It's not particularly contextualized with other language tasks. What you see in the sample page is basically like the rest of the book, but you move through additional constructions. The book is split so that you can teach the same skills at an easier level and a harder level. 

[ktgrok]

I'm thinking Killgallon sentence composing, although you'd have to figure out if he needs the Elementary or Middle school version. It is a workbook but it's kind of fun and not busy work. It uses good sentences that the kids then imitate, using the same structure. https://www.heinemann.com/products/e00223.aspx

[Heathermomster]

For recalling what was read, maybe try picture notes.  Have your DS draw little pictures in the margins of whatever he is reading and then allow him to use the notes and tell back the paragraph.  He should be prereading any comprehension questions and previewing any difficult vocabulary words.

DS used IEW and my issue with IEW is that is doesn’t teach invention.  My son can rewrite amazing paragraphs.  His problem has been taking a writing prompt and then coming up with something new to say.  Lost Tools of Writing is good about teaching invention but not great.  IEW teaches how to construct KWOs (key word outlines) based upon paragraphs and then rephrase sentences using more mature word choices and sentence constructions.  I personally hate IEW, but I am starting to wonder if son’s IEW tutor wrecked the program for me.  Looking back, I should have sat down with my DS and mindmapped paragraphs first on the iPad prior to writing the KWOs.  We also used the book forms of the dictionary and thesaurus.  Thumbing through a huge dictionary was a chore itself.  A digital version of each on the iPad would have served DS better...Anyhoo...as I stated previously, invention was son’s issue.

For copia type exercises, Kilgallon is interesting, but I felt like DS would have understood it better if he was solid with his parts of speech first.  I sat Kilgallon aside and we never returned to it.  Vocabulary is my son’s super power and his sentence contruction is amazing.

Dr. Charles Haynes of the Landmark School gave a helpful webinar about teaching dyslexics to write.  Unfortunately, you cannot see the webinar unless you are a premium member of the Dyslexic Advantage blog.  It’s been awhile, but Haynes recommends teaching writing from sentences up.  He suggests that the first writing assignment should be a 1st person retelling of an event.  The event should be written about in sequential order.  You should also scribe everything.  Totally eliminate the act of writing from the process and focus on teaching the steps to conjuring up ideas, arrangement, and editing.

For editing sentences, Editor in Chief or IEW’s Fixit Grammar might be something to consider.  My MIL is a retired reading specialist that swears by a multisensory writing program called Step Up to Writing.  The Teachers Pay Teachers website sells several supplements to support that program.   An example follows:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Step-up-to-Writing-Writing-a-Personal-Narrative-ELA-Bundle-220914

Let us know what you decide.

[PeterPan]

Cusimano's auditory memory in context workbook works on paraphrasing and Carson-Dellosa has the Spotlight series for summarizing.

7 minutes ago, Heathermomster said:

He suggests that the first writing assignment should be a 1st person retelling of an event.

That's what SGM (Story Grammar Marker) is saying to do and what SWB/WTM says to do too. You tell a narrative, and you build from there. SGM started with the dyslexia community btw.

I really like the Editor in Chief workbooks btw. I don't know whether they'll work for ds at some point, but they were terrific for dd years ago. Wasn't a fan of FixIt.

Now to go look at Step Up to Writing.

[Heathermomster]

We own the first two books of Fixit, but we were never a fan either because of the way they alluded to certain parts of speech.  DS finished the first book, and I feel like he could have started with the last one.  It wasn’t a good fit for us.

Step Up to Writing is a public school program that seems to emphasize basic paragraph structure first.  I mentIon Step Up since the OP’s child is in a traditional school.  

[PeterPan]

Yeah, ps intervention stuff is kind of interesting to me. I like looking at it, but usually it's kind of almost and not quite. But still it's interesting to look.

[exercise_guru]

I thought I would post a little update from my meeting with my son's teacher. I might have to rethink what our plan is going forward. The news was just awesome. She did not know that we were doing the fast forward program at home but mentioned that she was wildly impressed with the incredible growth my son had shown in his verbal expression. She said he's listening paying attention hearing her better. And then she got out his reading scores and he had gone from grade level at grade 4 to a lexile of 1350 which is 11th grade. It's like the capd was holding him back and doing all of the listening therapy with hearbuilder and fastforword helped him to overcome that weakness. He will have some follow-up testing with the audiologist soon so it will be interesting to see where she thinks we should go after this or if his listening and auditory processing skills have at least come up to low normal.

She agreed the area my son could benefit the most from is in written expression. Her thoughts are that anything to increase automaticity would be of benefit. She encouraged me to really keep the typing going this summer. She also strongly encouraged me to work on editing and adding punctuation Capitol and spacing to his writing. One positive feedback I received from her was that letter formation was fine she could read what he was writing it just took him a long time and often he loses his thoughts before he can get them on paper.

I asked her if she felt he was actually putting the correct words in the correct place for sentences. She was confident that the growth in his  verbal expression would transfer over to his writing if he could get a faster way to express himself.  I am going to push for the opportunity for him to use an iPad for transcription and has 504  this fall.

He did tell me that using getty and dubay along with shoulder riding have made his arm far less tired at school. So I definitely need to think of a fun way to help him get that going even faster and smoother.

I also need to look up some typing games and get his typing accurate and fast because that will significantly help him as well.

The teacher agreed that doing some editing of other kids work would be beneficial because he wouldn't be critical of himself.

This was really good information because I think I'm going to look into some dictation maybe have him write down some sentences each day that I dictate not very many just one or two or three

And then have him use the iPad or dictation software to me to create a paragraph he can edit or even a sanity can edit. It sounds like he really needs some confidence but we're moving forward and we're making progress I just was so pleased.

 

[Lecka]

That sounds like great progress!!!!!! How nice the teacher is noticing it, too!  

Good luck on the dictation software ?

Editing sounds good, too.  

 

[PeterPan]

Sounds like you had a really good meeting!! And now you've got a hit list (typing, editing, experimenting with different ways to get his thoughts out faster so he doesn't lose them). Is your Hearbuilder done? That's amazing how well it did for you.

Just my two cents, but you might want to do typing AND dictation. That way he can practice using dictation to have it as a tool. When my dd was at that age/stage, she had access to ALL the options. She could hand write or type or use dictation. So she was able to choose whatever was working best that day. And for dictation, she did a sort of modified chicken scratch first, just to get her thoughts out and hold them, and then she dictated it. So if he practices it, he might find his own strategies that he likes. And then he has tools and options. It seems sensible to continue with the brief amount of dictation, but definitely get the other methods (typing and dictation) up too, so he has choices. The teacher is saying more will come out with tech, which means it's time. 

https://www.amazon.com/Daily-Paragraph-Editing-Grade-4/dp/1557999589  Have you seen something like this daily paragraph editing? Might save you some hassle. For actual composition and expository writing work, you might like to outline sources using mindmapping software. That will let him see the structure and discuss without getting bogged down.

Well congrats on such a good meeting!

[kbutton]

Critical Thinking Company has some editing books--I think the series is Editor in Chief. I have not used them, just to be clear, but I thought I'd mention them.

If you haven't done so, I would teach him official editing marks and leave lots of white space around words so he can still read things after he marks them up. When we do typed drafts, we space at 1.5 lines, print, and then mark it up. Then we make the changes on the computer and mark off each change on the marked up copy with a highlighter to show that it's been fixed. 

[exercise_guru]

Yes that's a good idea to teach him the proper editing marks. Up until now it's all I could do to get him to write a sentence I was quite shocked at the meeting. As a parent I have poured so much energy into helping him all the therapy sessions and everything I've done at home it was incredibly validating to see him make this progress I'm so grateful. Now I need to research the thread above and figure out what the best course of action is for the summer.

Peter Pan I give most of the credit to fast forward my son has a very specific kind of auditory processing it was found through a neuropsych eval where she sent him to an audiologist. Fast forward has a really interesting program where it helps you see and improve different frequencies so that you can understand the leading sounds and speech. They brag all the time about how it improves reading but I was really doing it to try to help him hear the teacher better and understand the coach on the soccer field because he has such a hard time with that. His verbal expression did take off after he finished level 1 of fast forward. The first time we tried hearBuilder before fast forward he cried and cried. We came back to it after doing fast forward and he seems to be doing very well and he's sorting right through it it has about for 5 days left and he'll be done with both programs. I was expecting Improvement but I have to admit I was beyond surprised when she showed me his test results also his language abilities the standardized test results were very impressive he was at one of the highest levels in language and that's from a little boy who definitely was at the very low of his curve at the beginning of the year.

[PeterPan]

That totally makes sense that improving language input would bump output! That's awesome!

What you might do is look at the Spotlight series from Linguisystems and see if there's anything there that would help him. I don't know, based on what you're saying. Writing is the outflow of oral expression, and for us the Spotlight series (and some other things there) have been helping. You could just look at it and go with your gut, like yeah that would be challenging and useful or no he'd breeze through that. For instance, they have a sequence of listening comprehension books that includes books for main ideas, books details. Like a whole book on just recognizing what the main idea is. So if the teacher is saying his paragraph doesn't seem to reflect what a main idea is or have supports, that would be a way therapeutically to get in there and help it click. The books aren't too expensive and you can throw them on an ipad. 

[exercise_guru]

I am going to look at that thank you. I could also read this series to him and let him listen to the ideas ( keep building that auditory processing) then have him read them to fill in the holes of what he heard ( evidently from the testing he is good at remembering what he reads) Then build on it with some little writing exercises. I do like Linguisystems I haven't used them at home but his SLP has a lot of their materials. 

The suggestions I have gotten here are so on point and helpful.  I will post with what I do next. I am pushing to have some updated testing on language expression and auditory processing. There are two more programs they wanted me to do regarding that but they are expensive, grinding, and time consuming. One is where he listens to headphones and tells me what he hears. The information switches between left ear and right ear.  It has no rewards and it is basically quizing him  45 minutes for 4 months  on something he really hates. If I do it I need to build in a lot of rewards and praise. If he re-mediated past that I am thrilled and can trust my mom gut and build on the verbal and written expression.  Its always tricky to know where to hammer the sqeaky board. I would like to  work on dictation, typing, writing expression and structure, building automatically on getting those ideas out in written form (by whatever means works best for him). I could use the suggestions above to put together a year program where we work just 30 minutes a day on the weak area.  

[PeterPan]

They should have the same skills with reading comprehension workbooks in the Spotlight series as well, if like you're saying you want to separate the listening comprehension and the other skills. That would seem very wise in his case.

I think you're right that if he needs more foundational work on his auditory processing that he should do that BEFORE he does therapy for missing skills using auditory. Totally right. And yeah, that program sounds rough, oy. Some things are worth it, but it does sound rough. Is there a way to replicate it imperfectly by enough to do some good?

Adding: would he be a good candidate for the Able Kids filter? Have you looked into that?

[exercise_guru]

Hi everyone

I am checking in again regarding my sons long pursuit to write an awesome paragraph. As background he has Auditory processing issues. He struggles to get the thoughts out of his head and into his hand. He also has Dysgraphia.

For Dysgraphia I use Getty and Dubay along with a private online handwriting coach ( Kate Gladstone)  

for CAPD we just completed the entire Fast Forword set which was a thousand steps inconsistency but we made it through an entire year with huge growth. 

I now know the areas that are weak: The squeaky boards so to speak.

These are the sections of the Fast Forword literacy to language module he struggled with:

He did well in reading comprehension and answering questions about a paragraph he read.

Building sentences: I am looking for a workbook that allows him to fill in blanks with choices for ( him , her that) kind of stuff and then continues on to Rhetoric and sentences building.  like "The boy __________, looked _____________ ( in the red hat ) ( looked sad) kind of thing and honestly we are in 5th grade but we could start at the beginning on those and work all the way through. 

We were doing an exercise in Fast Forword reading where you have a list of sentences and you need to slide those sentences into a paragraph in the order they should go. That was incredibly hard for my son. We no longer have access to the program as we finished or I would print out the sentences and have him slide them into place on a cookie sheet. I could make my own but does anyone have a workbook that has examples of building good paragraphs and ordering sentences into a paragraph?

Then there was a module where you build an essay by first building the paragraph by sliding the sentences around and then you are given 5 paragraphs and you slide those around until they are in the correct order. 

He could not build summaries, outlines, mind webs, anything where you take the information and put it into an outline using any technique. He did well-building information into a table from a paragraph. That part was fine. I am more looking for a way to do it with multiple choice so I can cut them out and have him slide them into the sentences. Because of Dysgraphia, we use our handwriting and copy work for other stuff. I just need to give him more practice thinking about words and putting them into sentences. Then putting those sentences into a paragraph, then putting the paragraphs in order and sliding them around to make an essay. I do not want to do that with his work I want to do that with a workbook or materials available. 

Also if there is a good workbook where you read others work and they are well written at grade appropriate level I could scan those in and blank out areas and I could print them out and cut them apart so he could slide them around on a cookie sheet but really I have a lot on my hands it would be cool if I could find two or three second grade workbooks and cut them up so I don't have to do more work than I have to. 

Sentence formation ( I thought scholastic had some of this but can't find it now)

paragraph formation ( thought I saw this but can't find it) stuff like "how to write a paragraph" but with tons and tons of paragraphs we could use as models.

Essay or story formation with tons and tons of examples we could cut apart and slide around. 

Then once we get through this faze I would reaccess and have him dictate them to me or write them himself. 

Edited December 5, 2018 by exercise_guru