Anyone had problems with bright child that is a very slow writer?

[mumoffourandtwocats]

Hello,
If this rings any bells, please let me know! I am running out of ideas.

DS1 is a bright boy with excellent reading, ICT, science and maths skills who generally enjoys school, but has a big problem with (quote from yr 6 teacher) exceptionally slow and uninspired writing. His projected SATS results for maths and science are 5 but in English they expect a maximum of 4c (less than average) because he is unlikely to complete even half the paper in the given time, even though he tends to perform better in tests than in the day-to-day classroom. The teacher says the 4c would be purely because of the slow writing; in every other aspect of the English SAT he would score 5+.

As an example, it took him an hour to write 4 sentences of an assignment last weekend, even though I was in the room the whole time monitoring (if I go out he daydreams even more). He frequently gets frustrated and bursts into tears. I refuse to spoonfeed him with information, he has to learn to do it himself, although I will help if he gets stuck or provide pointers and lots of encouragement. What he does produce tends to be very fact-based, few adjectives, basic in terms of punctuation and structure - fine for reports but lousy for creative writing. He finds instructions/factual reports easier but still the transcribing is very very slow. Even direct copying takes hours.

This has been an issue since yr 2 and we have asked for help from each teacher to no effect even though they have complained about it! DS1 is frequently kept in at break/lunchtime to complete work the rest of the class has finished, and homework is a nightmare. Teachers seem to have no suggestions for how to improve. We suspect because DS1 is in the top 5 of his class in every other way, they consider him 'good enough' and have other priorities of less-achieving kids. However he really struggles with the written work and we are worried this will be much worse at secondary with a larger volume of work. We have tried practising writing at home, giving him an hour to write, say, a piece about Pokemon or a poem about Autumn, wide-ranging subjects and writing styles, with an incentive to do it well (e.g. extra pocket money, video rental); we have tried the opposite with punishments (e.g. gameboy ban, chores) where schoolwork persistently not finished on time. But the problem has not gone away.

We had planned to apply to private schools from yr 7 on, but have been given the impression by his teachers that it would be pointless because he wouldn't pass a timed entrance exam despite his ability in other areas. This isn't hugely disappointing (think of the money saved! ) but it does worry me that the situation isn't improving while the homework is going to drastically increase next year.

Any thoughts welcome! Thank you

[silversparkler]

I am not going to be of much help but my DS sounds just like yours. He too was level 5 in all his SATs, and is 'more able' in maths. I am gradually coming to terms with the fact that he loves his maths and science, but loathes literacy...loves reading, but is slow and untidy and careless in his writing. He has plenty of good ideas but putting pen to paper causes him angst, he believes he is no good at it, from seeing other's work, and simply finding it harder than his maths.
I guess if he finds other subjects a breeze and enjoys the challenge, then he thinks he is no good at literacy.(even though he is!)
Hope that is not too rambling.
He prob just needs consistant encouragement, and constant reminders that he is very able, and that people are better at (and prefer) some subjects than others. And try to keep the pressure off, they are still only little!

[cornsilk]

Does he have problems with his general co-ordination at all? What is his drawing like?

[cornsilk]

I know someone whose son had difficulties writing but was very bright. School said he was lazy. She referred him to OT through her gp and it was found that there was a problem with the development of the muscles/tendons in his hand which caused his difficulties. Not saying this is problem with your son, but if he is flying in all other areas I would be wondering why his writing was a problem for him if I was his teacher.

[MaureenMLove]

This is a very similar situation that my dd was in this time last year. including the projected SATs. I was very worried about her going to secondary school and being able to keep up, but it has been absolutely fine. The one thing I have learnt, moving from primary to secondary is that its not all about the writing. Now, this may be just the school that dd is at, but it would appear so far that the emphasis is more on the content of the writing and not the quality of the handwriting. My dd was always being told that she hadn't done enough writing, but at the same time the teacher was saying she didn't understand because she'd got all the ideas etc, but just couldn't get them on paper fast enough.

Since being at secondary school however, in just 8 short weeks, she's flying! She's getting the work done, the content is good and the spelling is even a lot better. The handwriting isn't upto scratch, but that'll come with time.

It seems to me, that primary put far to much pressure on this new style of writing that I assume most schools are doing and its slowing them down.

I've know idea where I was going with this at all now, but I think I kinda made some points worth thinking about!

[clapton]

My son is the same! Although he is in junior 1. He is very bright, maths and science are a doddle to him, he is very creative and good at drawing. His teacher told us and him his writing is appalling, and she really has knocked his confidence!

Really dont know what to do to help him speed up.

[mumoffourandtwocats]

Thanks you guys this is all really helpful. (Keep it coming!)

Throughout the teachers attitude has been that he's lazy or "not trying" and I was also told in front of him that his written work was appalling - is this a teaching-union approved term or something? -so it's good to know he isn't the only one.

In answer to cornsilk, his drawing is quite good, always very precise with lots of tiny detail, but it's not something he spends a lot of time on. His writing is now quite neat and also quite tiny but he tends to go over each letter repeatedly when using pencils or biros. We have tried him using fineliners instead which has helped a little but he is still very slow. The problem seems to be getting words from the brain to the hand. He can keep up easily in spelling tests, etc where he only has to think of one word at a time.

[Hassled]

I would ask (via your GP?) for a referral to Occupational Therapy who can have alook at pencil grip/differently shaped pencil/the angle at which he's sitting etc. etc. I have a Dyspraxic 9 year old DS2 who is very bright but slowed up continuously by the speed of his writing - it's very laborious and painfully slow. Because of the Dyspraxia diagnosis he a) uses a computer at school for a lot of literacy work and b) was given a scribe for his recent SATs - and did really well as a result. Without a formal diagnosis of anything specific it will be harder/impossible to get those things, but an OT referral might help.

[LIZS]

Does he find the effort of writing tiring and laboured ? He might have an issue over applying appropriate pressure in which case using a sloping , softer surface may help. ds(Yr5) has motor skill issues and sequencing problems which affects his ability to put things down on paper as he loses his train of thought in not being able to write at the speed he thinks and he becomes frustrated not being able to spell by recall so avoids more inventive language. He has had some help with pressure and posture from an OT. If needs be we can argue for extra exam time or being able to use a computer(he is learning touch typing) in exams so an OT assessment might prove worthwhile to either suggest ways of resolving the problem and or adding weight to such an argument.

[coppertop]

I agree with Hassled. You need to ask for an OT referral, even if only to rule out any problems.

Even the wrong posture can make a big difference. My ds has a sloping board that he uses to lean on. In the past he's also had hand exercises to strengthen the muscles, and various grips and pencils. His writing is still a little slow but he's made a lot of progress.

[skibump]

If it's the effort of writing that is the problem, have you tried getting him t type and see if he can get his ideas down better that way?

In case it helps, I was very much like this when I was at school - to the extent that I was moved up a year to give me extra challenge, then punished because I didn't finish the written work in time (I'm not bitter ) One of the things that helped it improve is that in secondary for the majority of subjects the focus is much more about facts that creative writing, he may well find that suits him better. Good luck to you both

[drosophila]

You describe my DS when you describe your own. Streange isn't it how similar people can be. Anyway I had done a lot of research and decided that this described DS to a tee - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysgraphia

I have parents eve tomorrow and am dreading it. He is in Yr 3 and like your ds loves maths, science etc. So much seems to rely on writing though. I printed off a load of stuff from the net on Dysgraphia and gave it to his teacher andd tomorrow is the first time we will discuss it. It is knocking his confidence too.

[saffycat]

You might find the dypraxiafoundation.org.uk a useful website, I've been reading everything i can find since discussing my sons (age 8)writing problems (he is bright and achieving well in all other areas too) with his teacher and SENCO. We think he may be dyspraxic and he is going to be assessed for dyspraxia at school. Dyspraxia inhibits the flow of thoughts to physical movement.

[TooTicky]

My ds1 is a v. slow writer but bright. I have asked him about it and he says he doesn't find it hard, just very time-consuming.

[3madboys]

god you could be talking about my ds1, we are having this exact problem at the moment, despite having a reading ability at least 4 years ahead of his age and being top in his class for maths etc, he really struggles with writing, he has a fantastic vocaularly and if you ask him to tell you the answer or tell you a story he is fine but writing it down is a nightmare and he often ends up in tears

we were hoping it would just get better themore he practises, and he has made some progress but it is painfully slow and he gets so wound up and upset its awful

i will have a look at links and suggestions on this thread. my ds1 is just 8 btw and in yr4, the youngest in his class.

[callmemadam]

Hi Mumoffour... my nephew aged 9 has just been diagnosed with dyspraxia at long last - and had exactly the same symptom as your ds -apparantly it is more common in boys, shows a lot at this sort of age, are often very bright academically and they may only be affected in one way. My sister and I googled the UK Dyspraxia site for info before she got him a referral to a specialist who dxed him. Hope this helps. It is very very frustrating for the dc, so worth trying to get it sorted quickly.

[drosophila]

Dysgraphia is more specifically about writing and differs to dyspraxia. Wish me luck in parents eve tomorrow.

What I hate is I am sure he is being judged by his teachers because he is slow to write. Like others here DS is top in maths and science and has a reading age of 11 (was 7 at the time) but to some this is insignificant if they are reluctant to write.

[christywhisty]

MY son's Sats results this year were exactly as yours son's predicted ones. 5a for science , 5b for reading , 5 for maths (never found out his actually score) and just narrowly scraped a 4c for Writing. His problem is more spelling and grammar, but he does have excellent vocabulary and writes well.

Now he is in secondary school he does all his homework on the pc, which doesn't eliminate all his spelling mistakes, but he does seem far more comfortable working on that and he seems much faster than if he was writing it down.

[christywhisty]

Meant to say thankfully DS teachers have recognised that he has a specific learning disability and given him a lot of extra help.

[PopsP]

You could be describing my son as well. All through Primary school every teacher said his handwriting was poor & very slow. He did get a bit neater in Yr6 but was still very slow.
I too was worried about High school (he has just started) but so far seems to be keeping up. One thing which really helps, is they are allowed to type rather than hand write a lot of their homework, especially literacy. He seems to be a lot quicker typing than handwriting. Although I must admit I did type one story for him as he told it to me. It was amazing how creative & descriptive his vocabulary was, when he did not have to worry about writing it himself.

[jamila169]

My DS1 (8) has the same problem - very good at everything but writing, he does find it physically draining and painful to write more than a couple of lines without a rest. I was exactly the same and was even given permission at secondary school to scratch everything down as best I could in my own shorthand and then write it up later if need be. I have hypermobility and mechanical dysgraphia is a part of that, I'm pretty sure all my kids are also hypermobile to some extent though DS1 is only very bendy in his upper limbs. i've just bought him a stabilo move easy pen which seems to be less tiring to write with