Writing is hard work!
One suggestion is to tell the child simply to get something down on paper to work with. “Tell me ONE thing from this reading and jot that down – don’t worry about it being a proper sentence, don’t worry about telling the entire story at once – just a few words is fine.”
All you are looking for is a starting point, not a finished product. Once he has a few words or phrases on the paper or screen, he can begin to make a complete sentence out of them and begin to tell the story. Sometimes I think kids believe that have to jump to the finished product and don’t understand the steps it takes to get there.
If there are too many ideas in his head and the child is overwhelmed about where to start, have him write down a word or two for each idea and then chose *one at a time* to write about. Picking one idea at a time, is crucial in easing nerves about writing and in learning how to focus attention.
Writing the ideas on post-it notes or index cards might be useful as the notes can be easily re-arranged, and the new writer can see that sentences can be written “out of order” and still be put back together later. This works well for some writers and not others. Some writers do much of their initial work in their head, others need to see their words on paper. Be willing to experiment.
Modeling a written narration might be of help, too. Write a written narration of something you are reading and share it with your family. Talk about how you decided what to write, how much writing you did in your head before picking up the pencil, how many little scribbles and notes you had to make on the paper before getting to your finished narration. Compare your first draft to the finished narration.
I think of writing like sculpting. First you need a big glob of clay. The clay is not the finished product. You work at the clay, adding, changing, cutting pieces away. Writing is the same way. When the child knows what he wants to say but can’t write it down, I would consider that a glob of clay. That’s the perfect starting point – he has the material to work with! Working with a glob of clay is messy and cumbersome at first, just like getting ideas on paper is cumbersome. This awkward process is a normal part of writing. A finished piece of writing is neat and tidy, but it’s a messy job to get there.
I think the wonderful literature we read with our children is the very best tool for teaching writing, but sometimes I think we need to remind our kids that the authors very likely struggled over every sentence and made many, many changes and corrected many mistakes along the way.
All the best to you.
