What to Do When Your Child With ADHD Struggles with Writing

Writing is torture for many children with ADHD.  This is because handwriting issues combine with a confusion of ideas, poor working memory, and difficulty planning to give a blank paper.   In a previous article, I discussed handwriting in depth.  This article focuses on composition.

Tips for remediating writing difficulties.
Point out how writing is typically structured.  For example, paragraphs have an indent and are about a topic.  A plot summary has the setting, the characters, the problem and solution.  A news article or report on a historical event or figure has the 5 W's and how.  A helpful exercise is to have the student take notes on a passage, then write a paragraph based on the notes.  If your student needs more structure, you could even pose direct questions such as, "Where does this story take place?  Whom is it about?  What is the main problem?  How do they solve it? "  Then have them write a summary.

Provide organizational support.
There are many ways to help your child organize his or her thoughts in order to get them down on to paper.

• Write out a list of possible topics and their pros and cons.
• Have the child dictate their thoughts.
• Write the student's ideas on post its.  Practice categorizing ideas into topics by having the student place them into piles like "things the animal eats", "where the animal lives", "animal family". Then have the student organize them into paragraphs or toss them if they are not relevant.
• Experiment with graphic organizers and concept diagrams.  There are a lot of different types depending on the type of composition.  Often you can find them for free on the internet, or you can also buy software that can assist with organizing writing.

Take baby steps.  While some neurotypical children can write pages of stories from the time when they are able to form letters on paper, children with ADHD often need to take baby steps.   They may find it especially difficult to come up with and organize ideas for writing.

Here is a sample progression of writing skills:

1)  Copywork.  Start with a sentence, go up to a paragraph.
2)  Dictation.   
3)  Lists--first dictated lists, then written ones.
4)  Fill in the blank--closed ended question.  For example, "(blank) was the first person to be President of the United States." If done as a dictation exercise, write the full sentence.
5)  Answering a direct, factual question with a full sentence, first dictated then written.
6)  Answer a series of direct, factual questions, then recounting/reporting/summarizing with fixed template response.
7)  Take notes, then recount/report/summarize with a fixed template response.
8)   Fill in the blank--open ended question.  For example, "If you like (blank), you should live in a suburb, not a city."
9)   Taking notes, then recounting/reporting/summarizing without a template response.
10)  Open ended writing prompt.

Accomodating problems with composition.
Accept that creative writing is difficult for your student and come up with an alternative plan to help your child learn to write relevant prose.  Writing pure fiction is not a life skill.  Even writing sentences using vocabulary/spelling words isn't really a life skill, though it is important for students to use the words they learn.  Ask the teacher to allow your student to have a choice between a creative topic or a more concrete or real life topic.  For example, instead of writing about what he would do if he were a bird, he could write about what he sees birds doing, or how to build a birdhouse.   Instead of coming up with sentences, perhaps he could take dictation or answer questions using spelling words.

Other real life writing assignments include:
shopping lists and to do lists
menus
instructions
letters, reviews, or emails of complaint or commendation
invitations or descriptions of social events
persuasive essays, letters to the editor, letters to legislators
reports on topics

Unbundle the exercise.  If the exercise is really meant to teach grammar, have the child practice the grammar in a different way, such as sentence diagramming or editing, without the demand for composition.  If the exercise is meant to teach facts about a topic, perhaps use a fill in the blank worksheet.

Finally, keep trying, and listen to your student.  Composition is a necessary skill for almost all people, but it can take time and patience to learn it.