I have officially become my parents.

I went to school today for bookfair and Timmy's teacher stopped me to fill me in on his progress since changing his meds (we upped his Adderall dosage). He told me there has been a drastic change BUT his writing is AWFUL and he rushes through everything!! I said well I guess we are going to have to make him write nightly. I am going to pick a book and make him write for 15 minutes a night. Then I remembered my mom and dad making me do this and I wanted to cry.

If you ladies have any other suggestions for writing please let me know. Thanks.

By Tayjar on Thursday, March 15, 2007 - 04:13 pm:

Is it his writing or his penmanship?

By Cocoabutter on Thursday, March 15, 2007 - 04:13 pm:

The first thing that popped into my head was make it as painless as possible. Get a book that he will enjoy, something simple and short, and he can copy paragraphs from it. Give him something he likes to drink. My ds likes chocolate milk shakes (or maybe a St. Patty's Day shake!) Sit down with him at the table and do something quietly with him, like read or write a letter to someone (do people still do that?) or a crossword.

But don't allow any distractions like the TV.

Have fun!

By Trina~moderator on Thursday, March 15, 2007 - 04:28 pm:

Oh Tonya, please don't make him write nightly. Meaning, don't make it a dreaded chore for him. He will come to HATE it and that will not help at all. Is his writing "awful" simply because he is rushing through his work or does he need to work on fine motor skills?

My DD (Gr. 3) has the same problem. Her fine motor skills are fine, but she rushes to finish, which means messy writing. If I cracked the whip and made her practice writing every night it would totally turn her off. She responds better to positive reinforcement and gentle reminders on both sides (school and home).

Another approach that worked well with DD - (My DH would not be happy if he knew I was sharing this. ) DH has terrible writing that is difficult to read. Sometimes HE can't even read what he has written. LOL! He wrote a letter to DD and gave it to her. She was frustrated because she couldn't figure out what the words were and commented on Daddy's messy writing. BINGO! She got the message.

By Tonya on Thursday, March 15, 2007 - 04:41 pm:

He rushes nothing to do with motor skills at all. We have been very patient all school year and nothing seems to be working. Maybe I will do every other night and if things don't improve then go to the next step of nightly. Rules in our house are going to change starting Monday. We are going to start leaving the TV off until 7pm. To allow more kid / parent time and time to concentrate on reading and other learning things.

We need to get back to the basics on everything. He is so smart but just so quick to want to get done he does everything messy.

By Tayjar on Thursday, March 15, 2007 - 04:41 pm:

My DS hated to write so I made it fun for him. He now writes because he wants to. I let him write make-believe stories using Microsoft Word. For each story he types, he must handwrite one. Each night as we lay in bed we think of new twists or plots. I check and correct his writing each night and then when he is done with a story, he gets to share it with the family. I even let him type them up and send them to relatives via email.

It has turned a dreaded task into something he now enjoys. He is now drawing pictures to go with his writings. And, he's even moved on to poems.

By Yjja123 on Thursday, March 15, 2007 - 05:11 pm:

Why not just make sure his school work is legible before he can turn it in? My son has a tendency to write sloppy. Our rule is if it cannot be read, it must be redone. His writing has improved dramtically and we did not have to resort to a stricter punishment.
Good luck!

By Trina~moderator on Thursday, March 15, 2007 - 06:59 pm:

Tayjar and Yjja123 I have made DD re-write messy homework, and making things fun goes a long way.

She is able to write neatly if she takes the time to do so. She doesn't need to practice writing, she just needs to s-l-o-w down. That's what we focus on.

By Latonya on Thursday, March 15, 2007 - 07:43 pm:

I have to tell oldest DS to slow down sometimes and make him rewrite his homework because he rushes thru it and you can't read it. We have been doing this for awhile and he has gotten better. I think they just want to hurry and finish their work so they can get to "more important thngs". I also have him write his spelling words at least twice before his test on Thursdays.

By Tarable on Thursday, March 15, 2007 - 08:36 pm:

You could even try to get him to write letters to his favorite family member or friend that doesn't live too close. Or his penpal from mom's view if he has one. I know how much i hated it when my mom made me write to practice my handwriting when I could write good if i wanted.

By Mrsheidi on Thursday, March 15, 2007 - 09:16 pm:

Good writers are also good readers. You could get him to start reading a "Choose your own adventure" book (not sure what age it's appropriate for) and have him fill in, on a sheet of paper, how HE would finish that particular story.

I like the ideas above too... Maybe even some journal writing like the other post was talking about? That would be fun for him, I'm sure!

Make sure you are keeping the teacher up to speed on what you're doing at home too. Maybe even have him show his teacher the work you guys have been doing to help him improve.

By Tonya on Friday, March 16, 2007 - 08:47 am:

The problem is not the homework at home but the work done in class daily. At home if it is messy he must redo it. he is never allowed to take in a messy sheet for homework.

And as for the reading we are really trying to get him to do that. At bookfair yesterday we found a series of books on Captain Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Carabiean) when he was a kid and he started reading book 1 last night and really was into it.

We are going to start this weekend just working on light writing and go from there. The teacher and I talk on like a bi-weekly baiss just to keep together on the same page. His teacher is great the best we have had so far with patiences for his ADHD and stuff.

Thanks ladies for the advice.