Dictation in Middle School?

My son also has had a great deal of writing difficulty. He loves, loves, loves commas. And has a hard time understanding what exactly a paragraph should look like. And his spelling was absolutely horrid. Part of this was my fault, I held back on writing for him because it was just so difficult. Around 6th grade I think we started Spelling Wisdom and prepared dictation. Then we added Using Language Well. This combo has had such a huge effect on his writing. And we dont even use it “correctly”. I never seem to have time to dictate to all three kids so they end up just transcribing on their own, but even this has dramatacially improved spelling and I can see grammar following suit. The biggest issue I personally have with this method is that it takes patience, which I dont have. I want immediate results. But after a solid 3 years using these resources my son has made much progress. He is entering 9th next year and although he may not be writing as well as his peers yet, he is certainly on his way. I am so greatful for the SW/ULW combo. I would say stick with good quality dictation passages and great literature. My ds is not a lover of books (sadly), but I can tell from his writing style that the read alouds we do as a family really make a difference. I can often see his writing style mimic out current read aloud author. So be encouraged, it just takes time.