DS (aged 9 year 4) just won't or can't write descriptively. It's beoming an issue. Would a tutor help?

[Doodlez]

At wit's end with DS. He's always been great at reading but for some reason, he cannot write a 'story'. He either blanks or maybe, he just couldn't be arsed.

He's good at spelling and seems to have a good vocabulary, so why can't or won't he write?

He had an assessment today. They gave the children the bginning part of the Narnia story (where she first steps in to the wardrobe). They had to continue the story as if they were the main character (first person). Apparently, he wrote a paragraph and three lines, whereas the other kids turned in between two and three pages.

Any ideas?

I've just bought him the Discriptosauraus book to try and help but he's not looked at it yet.

Does he know how ... has he been taught how?

www.communication4all.co.uk/http/StoryPot.htm
www.communication4all.co.uk/http/StoryMaker.htm
www.communication4all.co.uk/http/Story%20Writing.htm

I find these work well in school

www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/nationalstrategy/literacy/index.php?category_id=258
www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/nationalstrategy/literacy/index.php?category_id=8

Thanks MrsZ. I'm just reading through all your links now.

Yes, he has been taught how (apparently). It doesn't translate into any semblance of decent writing however

Can he tell stories?

We work on the premise that if a child can't say it they can't write it

....and act them out.
Often when a child is telling a story and acting it, it is easier to encourage better language. For instance, they may say 'Ben walked through the door', when in fact they were creeping, so you can encourage better vocabulary.. crept, tiptoes, etc.

Also, we concentrate a great deal in question words: what, why, how, when, where, who. Start with a simple sentence,(i.e.) 'He felt sad'. Why did he feel sad? Who was he? Where was he? What did he look like? What was he doing? When was all this happening? What could he hear? etc, etc.

Answering only a few of these questions, you could end up with:
It was night-time. The owls screeched as Ben sat in the gloomy turret, waiting for the clock to strike twelve. He felt lonely and miserable.

You don't have to write anything down - you can build ideas orally. It just gets children thinking in more detail, using all senses and expanding their vocabularies.

'Think of a better word for....' is always useful, and if he's so inclined, you could keep a word book from new words that your son comes across. (I say 'as he's so inclined', because I know my son would have rolled eyes and thought I'd gone barmy for suggesting something like that when he was in Y4 (and years 5,6,7,8,9,10,11, 12 and 13 for that matter! )

Thank you Rolla. Funnily enough, you've hit on something that we've been discussing here tonight. DH suggested we get DS to TELL us a story rather than write it down. Our DS, like yours, is of the eye rolling at the thought of anything that even sounds a bit like work variety.

So, we're thinking that each evening, maybe over the dinner tabe, he makes up a short story and tells it to us. We can then employ your technique of asking the why, when, what, how, where prompts.

Maybe from this, he can build up towards writing a fuller account.

We've also decided to ask for an appointment with his form teacher and English teacher - both of them together, so we might hammer out an action plan for him.

Mrz links have also provided some useful reading.

Thank you to both of you for taking the time to reply

I have to say that if there was one school task I loathed, it was making up a story about an existing character - they've already BEEN written about, fgs. Hope your approach works.

Good points about more factual type stuff - perhaps stuff that interests him? Also, I agree, writing about something that has already been written might be too much of a mountain for young DS to climb.

Emailed teacher and asked for appointment. He's agreed - I knew he would, he's a brilliant teacher and has helped DS improve in so many other areas, it's untrue.

I hope he does click with this eventually but I'm loathe to just accept that it's quite common, especially in boys. We've had that said to us but it doesn't help DS. He has to be able to write descriptively and well in so many other subjects - I have to help him crack this.