Guest guest Posted February 3, 2009 Report Share Posted February 3, 2009 > > Hello to all, > > Wondering if anyone has any suggests about writing prompts. My 13 year old > AS son is struggling with these writing prompt tests. He had them in 4th > grade, which at the time was a hellish year for him. I didn't know at that > time that he had aspergers, so big struggle there. Now once again the > teachers are going crazy with getting the kids ready for the state writing > tests. My heart hurts just watching him struggle with not being able to > start writing, coming up with a life experience that matches the topic, or > writing something personal(that gives the most problems). I don't know, but let us know, because my 14yo AS son struggles with this too. They work on this every year in our school district, so it has been an ongoing thing. So far, they just let it go because he does well enough in other areas to make up for it. But obviously that is not a good solution. I think the answer probably comes in reframing the question somehow (and teaching him how to do the same), but I can't quite put my finger on it. Simply trying to think of it as someone else definitely doesn't do it. I don't think kids with Asperger can describe others' emotions, feelings, motivations any better than their own. Ruth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 3, 2009 Report Share Posted February 3, 2009 Okay aspie here to offer some advice. There are a great many aspies here (myself not included so much but to a point) that hate the concept of fiction and while they may be able to read it they certainly would never want to write it. It is sortof like telling a lie, there is just so many possibilities that it gets hard for them to straighten them all out. Even I hate doing this sometimes and I am 22 almost 23. The best advice I can offer so far is instead of trying to practice writing them right away have him read more fiction books and see how other authors do it. I have heard this has worked many times in the past, but have never tried it myself. > > > > Hello to all, > > > > Wondering if anyone has any suggests about writing prompts. My 13 > year old > > AS son is struggling with these writing prompt tests. He had them > in 4th > > grade, which at the time was a hellish year for him. I didn't know > at that > > time that he had aspergers, so big struggle there. Now once again the > > teachers are going crazy with getting the kids ready for the state > writing > > tests. My heart hurts just watching him struggle with not being able to > > start writing, coming up with a life experience that matches the > topic, or > > writing something personal(that gives the most problems). > > I don't know, but let us know, because my 14yo AS son struggles with > this too. They work on this every year in our school district, so it > has been an ongoing thing. So far, they just let it go because he > does well enough in other areas to make up for it. But obviously that > is not a good solution. I think the answer probably comes in > reframing the question somehow (and teaching him how to do the same), > but I can't quite put my finger on it. Simply trying to think of it > as someone else definitely doesn't do it. I don't think kids with > Asperger can describe others' emotions, feelings, motivations any > better than their own. > > Ruth > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 10, 2009 Report Share Posted February 10, 2009 This is hard for my almost 12 year old, too. He loves to write poetry and he can write about video games but trying to write about some event in his life is very difficult. He actually seems to do better writing fiction, though. I think he writes about things that he wishes were true. LOL. 's teachers have used graphic organizers to help him. There is a computer program called Inspiration but it's only for the macintosh and we can't get it. However if you google " writing organization " or " graphic organizers for writing " or something LIKE that you'll get lots of PDF files you can download and print. I'll put a link in here so you can find it. It breaks writing down into small chunks and you can help by just trying to talk to him about each little piece. " Okay, what happened first? " That kind of thing. In addition, I highly recommend vision therapy. It may sound a bit nutty but kids with autism spectrum disorders, learning disabilities, ADHD etc. often have vision problems related to these disorders. is nearly finished his vision therapy and suddenly he is much more able to write!!! I think being able to see what he has already written is helping. I think he avoided writing and reading because he couldn't see properly and move his eyes to track the lines. Check out this website - http://www.dr-s.net/ You can put in information about where you live and this site can help you find a doctor in your area. Vision therapy is a one time thing. Once they learn to use their eyes for stereovision and learn to use the muscles they never forget. It's like riding a bike. had a hard time at first but within a few weeks he was changing. He was reading assignments without fighting and could tell me all about what he read. He can summarize things he has read by typing them into the computer. Typing helps, too. learned to type when he was quite small. I think we bought him Jump Start Typing when he was about 2 or 3. He is hyperlexic and was obsessive about letters and numbers. He doesn't always type using all of his fingers, but he is quite fast. Just this alone is something he could use to find a job later on! LOL. has a note in his IEP that all of his written work must be done on computer. This was his school's idea! He uses an alphasmart to take notes at school. He still doesn't like to take notes at school, but the alphasmart is there and they encourage him to try. We were initially told that would need 6 months of vision therapy, but he is making progress so quickly they are planning to stop at 4 months and give me some of my money back. In office vision therapy has been shown to be the most effective way to do it, but it is fairly expensive. We paid $3300. We used something called Care Credit. If you find a vision therapist who will take it, that might be a really great option. It is 18 months interest free for anything over $300. We paid the whole lump using care credit. Most insurance doesn't seem to cover it, sadly. It is a real shame because for some people it makes a HUGE difference. If you want to try to get an idea if your child has a vision issue that might be helped by vision therapy you can try observing his behavior while reading. Does he cover one eye or look at the pages at a weird angle? Also, try pointing at an object. Can he see where you are pointing? To test stereovision you can hold some small object he likes or that is very bright and interesting. Hold it a few feet away then move it closer to his face until it is almost touching him if he'll hold still for it. Watch if he crosses his eyes as it gets really close and then pull the object back slowly and watch what his eyes do. These are the kinds of tests the doctor will do. If you see that he doesn't cross his eyes and smoothly uncross them as you pull back there could be a problem. If he is able to do all of these he still may have vision problems that will interfere with reading and writing. 's problems were extremely obvious. When he was about 2 I'd point at something and he wouldn't be able to find what I was pointing at at all!!! I didn't know there was a name for that until was 7 and he saw Dr. shidlofsky. Dr. S, by the way, got an acknowledgment in The Out of Sync Child. If you haven't read it, DO, it is about kids with sensory integration dysfunction. Miriam > > Hello to all, > > Wondering if anyone has any suggests about writing prompts. My 13 year old > AS son is struggling with these writing prompt tests. He had them in 4th > grade, which at the time was a hellish year for him. I didn't know at that > time that he had aspergers, so big struggle there. Now once again the > teachers are going crazy with getting the kids ready for the state writing > tests. My heart hurts just watching him struggle with not being able to > start writing, coming up with a life experience that matches the topic, or > writing something personal(that gives the most problems). I've tried to > tell him to make it up, that it doesn't have to be his personal story that > they are not judging on if it is factual. So, here I am asking if any of > you have suggestions that would help or if there are special procedures we > can have implemented at school that would make this easier for him. > > Thanks in advance, > > Tosha > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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