In 1990, I graduated from the University of  Iowa College of Law, where a heavy, heavy emphasis was placed on writing.  My first “real job” was to clerk for a judge; in that capacity, I read hundreds and hundreds of legal briefs written by lawyers.  It was by reading others’ work that I really learned how to effectively write, and especially how NOT to write!  Writing was and remains important to me; with dyslexia diagnoses, I absolutely still wanted my children to excel in written expression. 

Written expression is the most difficult academic skill to acquire for someone with dyslexia. It requires the student to layer many difficult, and usually weaker, skills simultaneously. Using a combination of technology and appropriate instruction, each dyslexic individual can achieve a skill set that allows them to write with credibility. This experience gives them the opportunity to  play on the field but with different and appropriate rules.  My  instruction is aimed at getting them to the field, and on the field where the game is happening.  Once there, they use their unique, inherent talent set to wow their team . . .  and my only job is to get out of the way!  

 While homeschooling my own dyslexic children, I had the opportunity to attack this particular challenge.  I tried this writing program and that writing program over the years, but with my writing experience I was never  impressed with the process or the outcome! 

Pre diagnosis, for ten years, I loved teaching with the Charlotte Mason approach to homeschooling (basically, reading real books and then writing narrations).  Post diagnosis,  I morphed all of the above and kept my eyes on the important goal of producing well read and well written students.  The gift was that we had the time and the space to take small bites of the elephant—really, really, small bites.   Initially this narration process required me to listen to the child share their insights while I typed them onto the computer.  Later I taught each student to type using Diana Hanbury King’s Writing Skills Keyboarding Skills ( . . .I have learned the hard way that my students are “excellent cheaters,” and teaching themselves to type is not a good idea).

 Later, building on this skill, they type an appropriate-to-their-skill-set narration by themselves. 

It is imperative to note that the above is Step I of the narration process. The two of us then sit together to revise their work. It may take three weeks or more to edit a single page narration, and that’s OK.  My concern is the process, not a timeline. They don’t love it, but they don’t have to hate it.  Over time, through these discussions, I hear their strengths in writing–what they are good at (ask them a tiny detail from a book–they will know the name of the store the toy was bought at, etc.) as well as their weaknesses.  Gently, we build a skill set based on what they can do.  Eventually they are able to produce their narration on their own, and I edit their work with them.

Now, as in the law, there will always be an exception to the rule –and Eavan Marie, my fiery almost 12 year old was, and remains, that exception.  To say that she disliked writing narrations is akin to saying the sun is occasionally important–both are great understatements.  So finally, in the spring of fifth grade, by which time we had sat side by side for probably a year and a half editing and discussing narrations and the result was a perfunctory product with rudimentary quality.  Now, this might have been quite enough for many of my students,  But I knew Evan Marie had a cornucopia of interesting thoughts about these books.  Like Mary Poppins’ bag, she would endlessly pull out interesting and creative thoughts;  she would talk vivaciously about various characters with insights that I considered truly remarkable. But boy, she was not going to share them with me at that school table, because we might just have to write them down.  This is not a conclusion that benefits anyone!  Remember, this is not a jail sentence, this was a couple paragraphs weekly with no grading, no degradation, just an attempt to be able to do enough writing to play ball.  So, at the end of her fifth grade, I asked her to write a creative writing paper instead of her last narration.

That is where the story begins! And it’s a great one! Stay tuned next week to learn more!