'Blank page' block / phobia

[doradoo]

I'm looking for ideas as to how I can help DS (9) overcome the problem of putting pen to paper.

Background: we're not in the U.K. And this is not his native language. He's been through several schools due to location but we're here to attend now.

He can do worksheets etc - where there is a definite answer without trouble, can craft to his hearts content in minecraft / Lego etc, is a whizz at board games and strategy. He can answer me verbally if I ask questions relating to the past, but when asked to write about 'what did you do in your holiday' he just sits and stares at the sheet of paper. Admittedly not completely blank as he's sectioned it off into the structure for the work, but there is no content and even doing it together at home it's like getting blood from a stone.

He read well and is interested in most things around him, but this is now gettIng to be a real stumbling point.

Any ideas how I can help him overcome this?

Bumping for the afternoon crowd!

I work in a school as a 1-1 TA for a little boy who has problems with memory (due to a medical condition). He can tell me stuff verbally but struggles to retain it long enough to write down on paper.

We use a voice recorder and he says into it what he wants to say then we play it back.

Not saying your son has memory issues at all but if he can say it verbally and you can record it then it might give him the confidence to write it down?

Would he prefer to do a mindmap / spidermap first? Then form the points into actual writing? My yr4 class always go 'miss i dont know what to puuuuuuuut!' but when we have scribbled down some main words they seem to do loads better.

We've tried the mind map approach - with limited success, and at the moment he splits the page into six boxes and is meant to put a few keywords in each - 2 for the beginning. Of the story, 3 for the middle and one to finish it.

We get there eventually but it just seems so hard to draw the info out.

I don't think it's a memory issue per se as he can remember in great detail certain things....

I don't know if it's a language issue - that he's not confident in the second language, or if he just doesn't want to do it he's a stubborn bugger or if there's another problem there that I've not considered.

I have a 10 year old D.C. with the exact same problem so will lurk for any ideas. We're also not in the U.K. and there's a huge emphasis here on writing stories and getting a grade for it. He's just written a whole page at school and got a page of comments from the teacher and was given a 4. I tried to suggest to him that he try at home to write it out again but this was met with absolute horror that he would write in his own time. Will be interested to see what ideas others suggest.

My DS had exactly the same problem. He has asd & an ed psych reccomended using a laptop to type & that has helped a lot.

Also giving him a list of starters helps.

My dd is the same recent diagnosis of slow visual processing and poor working memory. A word processor really helps her and she has a dictaphone too which she likes.

His teacher suggested emails to family might help and DMIL used to teach the second language so would be brownie points there if could manage that.

Perhaps that's the ways forward as he loves computer time