Dysgraphia: Unable to Write in a Writing World 113
whatever takes the least amount of effort— even if that means you provide the right spelling. Having a child look up a word will slow down the process, make it less fun, and diminish motivation.
How to Develop Foundational
114 Helping Your Child with Language-Based Learning Disabilities
If you are helping your child learn how to form letters, work on a letter or two at a time. I like to start with A, B, C, and then choose other letters, often the first letter of the child’s name.
You may need to spend extra time working on certain letters. Most children with LBLDs need additional help learning how to distinguish between visually similar letters like d/b, g/q, m/n, and so on. One way to do this is to copy a page from a book and have your child circle all the b’s but ignore all the d’s.
When you feel that your child is ready for a bigger challenge, have him or her write short words. As your child’s skills improve, he or she can begin writing short sentences. First, write down in clear print a sentence your child says. Then provide your child with a piece of lined paper and have him or her copy the sentence. Sometimes it is helpful to put short lines where each word is supposed to go. If the sentence has four words, I will provide four short lines as a guide. For example: . You might need to point to each word as your child writes it. In some cases, I will actually write the words very lightly and have my student trace over my writing. The key is to provide the amount of scaffolding your child needs to stay engaged in the writing activity.
Spelling
You can help your child with spelling by encouraging an apprecia-tion of how many words he or she already knows how to spell. The idea is to make sure your child is 100 percent successful. Success breeds success, so it’s important to design all instruction for a child with language- based learning difficulties around opportunities for success.
Start with words like “a,” “I,” “in,” “is,” “it,” “on,” “as,” “at,” “an,” “if,”
“be,” and “up.” Not only are these easy words to spell, but they also are among the most commonly used. Next, try your child’s name. Children are highly motivated to spell their own names and the names of those important to them, like Mom, Dad, siblings, relatives, and pets.
To practice a spelling word, write the word on a piece of paper and have your child trace over it a few times. Once your child is ready, have him or her write it on a fresh piece of paper. Allow your child to look at
Dysgraphia: Unable to Write in a Writing World 115
your original spelling. This visual check reinforces your child’s capacity to hold information in his or her working memory. Next, write a simple sentence. If the spelling word is your child’s name, write “My name is .” Have your child fill in the blank with his or her name.
Ask your child what words he or she would like to learn how to spell.
Giving your child a choice will help motivate him or her and reduce anxiety. Once your child has chosen a word he or she wants to learn how to spell, write down the word. Let your child practice writing the word as many times as he or she wants. Then ask your child if he or she is ready to try to spell the word. When ready, leave the word on the table but give your child a fresh sheet of paper. Allow your child to write the word.
To prepare for spelling tests, have your child practice writing the words as many times as he or she needs to feel comfortable. When your child is ready for a practice test, provide him or her with a blank sheet of paper. Say the word and have your child write it down. Check his or her spelling. If the word is spelled correctly, move on. If not, show your child the correct spelling of the word and ask him or her to write the word correctly three times. After this, move on to the next word on the list.
When you reach the end of the list, turn the page over and repeat the misspelled word(s). Do not move on to the next word until your child has written the word correctly three times.
When you work on spelling, pay attention to any phonetic patterns that are challenging for your child, like “ight” in “night” or the “tch” in
“pitch.” Practice spelling similar words using the approach described above.
Talk with your child about common spelling rules. Children with dysgraphia benefit from engaging in thinking about spelling. There are a number of resources that will teach you both about common spelling rules, such as doubling a consonant when adding “ing” (running) or when to use “ch” versus “tch” (bunch vs. batch).
Capitalization and Punctuation
To help your child recognize that the first letter of every sentence is capitalized, photocopy a page or two from your child’s favorite book.
116 Helping Your Child with Language-Based Learning Disabilities
Have your child circle the first letter of each sentence. This activity will draw your child’s attention to this important detail. In time, you can repeat the process to illustrate the capitalization of proper nouns.
To reinforce your child’s command of basic punctuation, make sure he or she understands the three basic forms of end punctuation: period, question mark, and exclamation point. Invent or print out sentences with the end punctuation missing. Ask your child to determine what the correct end punctuation should be. Allow your child to ask you ques-tions, and, if needed, read the sentences aloud to your child.
Like the exercise for recognizing capital letters, you can print a page or two from your child’s favorite book and ask him or her to circle the end punctuation of each sentence. Once your child has mastered end punctuation, you can begin to work on other forms of punctuation, like apostrophes and quotation marks.