A Love For Writing: Part 1
The desire to write, grows with writing.
-Desiderius Erasmus
I worked with a family once whose daughter, let’s call her Lily, had limited expressive language. This beautiful, quiet, pre-teen girl, with her great big smile seemed to have a lot of words, but didn’t speak. I remember her mom coming in one day and handing me a letter. It was the sweetest thing. About a page and a half in length, describing her obsession with teddy bears, and the collection of novelty erasers she has, that she thinks has reached more than 300. She wrote about her favorite dinner, and the food she hates - all vegetables. This page, written in 3 different colors of ink, with pictures drawn in each corner of both sides of the page, was incredible. Especially because, though written, I had finally heard her voice. Lily had written what she couldn’t say. I don’t know that I ever received a clear picture of her diagnosis, but what I knew in that moment was that she had a lot more language than we had assumed because she couldn’t get it out. Her mom was beaming to have someone acknowledge what she had been saying - her daughter was full of potential! It also reminded me that writing, though simply fun, or cathartic for some, could be life-changing for others. That moment made my own love for writing, need for it really, that much more sacred.
That was really a turning point. I wanted this for more of my students. I had escaped, often, into my journal, lyrics of a song, or a poem about my childhood diagnosis. Writing was my medicine, and my way of ensuring others heard exactly what I wanted to say. For Lily, writing needed to be her vehicle for communication until the multitude of therapies could help her build verbalization. She needed writing, and thankfully, she already had a love for it!
For many students, though, the love for writing does not exist. Writing is too daunting a task because of the many, many skills writing requires. So, what if you could think of writing in parts? What if you could create an experience with writing that is positive, the same way one might for reading? The easiest way to do that would be to start with the basics. We’ll dig in more in the coming weeks, but let’s start here. Just getting a few words down. Tandem reading is a fun way to get a struggling reader to tackle the page because they’re not alone. You read a little, they read a little. Relieves pressure. Do the same with writing:
Have story time! “We’re going to write a story together. I’ll write a sentence, and then you’ll write a sentence.” Make it fun and silly.
Another fun way to just stretch the muscles would be Mad Libs. If grammar skills aren’t strong, give them a list of nouns, adjectives, verbs, etc… to choose from, and you help put a story together. They can then add an extra one to two sentences to change the ending.
One more suggestion that is always a win, is to jot down a few story starters, and place them in a jar: “I love my pet crocodile!” “One morning, I woke up, looked in the mirror, and saw that I was blue!” “Watch out, Ronald! I said.” Make them fun, and always add at least two that are a topic they love. It makes them more eager to participate. They pull one from the jar, and finish the story, or you finish together.
Try these recommendations, and let me know how it goes!
Tia