Does your child or you struggle to get ideas on the page? Is it because they/you:
• Don’t understand the question
• Can’t figure out how to start
• Struggle to organise their ideas in writing
• All of the above?
We help our clients understand where to start, how organise their ideas and how to express themselves clearly. We also help with the nuts and bolts of spelling.
How we help with writing:
Assessment: We start with a language assessment to understand our clients skill, or weakness in, comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, memory and recall, as all of these components play a role in written expression.
Therapy: Many of our clients have personalised programs which develop both their expressive language and written communication simultaneously, as these two skills go hand in hand. Depending on the assessment results, and the student’s and parents’ goals, the personalised program may include improving;
1. Vocabulary so they know what word to use and when
2. Grammar and how to construct succinct sentences
3. Organisation of ideas in their writing
4. Their ability to expand on their ideas
5. Comprehension of assignment or essay questions
6. Memory and recall. Essay writing places an enormous strain on our working memory therefore students may benefit from learning specific memory and recall techniques to help them expand on and express their ideas.
Students are encouraged to bring their classroom materials, such as assignments or exam preparation material, to therapy sessions to be used as ‘live’ examples. As their school work is relevant to them personally, this is more motivating for them than generic activities, and also ensures the techniques and skills learnt in therapy can be directly applied to their school work.