According to ADDitude Magazine, there are multiple things that one can do to help children with ADD write things.
In the classroom:
- Set up a note system.
- Start small and build skills.
- Demonstrate essay-writing.
- Give writing prompts.
- Encourage colourful descriptions.
- Explain the writing process.
- Allow enough time.
- Don't grade early work.
- Don't deduct points for poor handwriting or grammar.
- Use a graphic organizer.
- Grade limited essay elements.
At home:
- Exchange journals.
- Assist with essay topic selection.
- Brainstorm.
- Stock up on books, movies, and games.
- Be your child's "scribe".
- Go digital.
- Remind your child to proofread.
Tech solutions include:
- Portable word processor.
- Speech-recognition software.
- Word-prediction software.
- Electronic spell-checkers and dictionaries.
ADD In School.com also adds:
In assignments that require research reports and creative writing, have the student dictate the words to someone rather than writing it down. The ADD ADHD student can then copy the words using the word processor. This technique will yield greater output on tasks requiring expressive written language skills by removing the written component.
Assignments that require extensive fine motor skills are difficult.
Give seat work one sheet at a time, if possible. This will prevent your ADD ADHD student from feeling overwhelmed. This is also a helpful technique in testing him.
Finally, as an addendum for those of us who are terrible procrastinators in life: get into the habit of writing daily. Not only does it allow you the ability to reflect and analyze your own behavior in a not-talking-to-yourself in circles kind of way, but it also serves as a means to improve your writing. For better or for worse, the more you write, the better your writing. This is true for fiction, nonfiction, technical, and academic writing alike. It sucks, it's hard, but it's the single most important thing you can do to keep your writing skills up.
Speaking from my own experience, I started a blog in 2004. Since then, I've found my typing speed to be higher ('cause I often have to churn out a 2,000-word entry in less time than I'd like to be spending on it) and my quality of writing has improved significantly. Writing and keeping a regular blog has allowed me the ability to monologue -- that is, talk aloud to myself -- in a "silent" manner. Certainly, now, when I reflect back on my life, not only do I remember things from a year ago, two years ago, or even two weeks ago better, but it's also nice to sometimes go back to, oh, 2007 and relive a few months of my life. Either way, having to tell stories chronologically, in a way that makes sense, has spilled over into all of my writing.
Full disclosure: I'm not diagnosed with ADD/ADHD, and I was a serial procrastinator. I was/am also an avid reader, which helps the caliber and quality of one's writing, in my humble opinion.
