N
ow that the new school
year is in full swing,
those of you with older
primary swchool children
might be seeing their written language
assignments getting more and more
difficult, and wondering if they’re
going to be able to get everything
completed on time without your help.
But how much should you really step in?
Written language tasks are
tricky because they are cognitively
demanding. They utilise an
individual’s language, reading
and spelling skills, as well as their
organisational skills. The writer
needs to understand the topic and the
vocabulary used within the topic, be
able to express the ideas associated
with the topic using specific
vocabulary, be able to spell efficiently
and read well. If your child has an
underlying language and/or literacy
difficulty, they will find writing much
more difficult than their peers and
may well procrastinate or try to get
out of written homework tasks.
As you are helping your child
get to grips with the complexity of
writing, it is important to bear in
mind their age and the expectations
of their class teacher. A journal
entry for a Primary One student
will look very different from that
of a Primary Two student. A story
for a Primary Two student will look
different from that of a Primary
Write
y
a
a
w
Struggling to figure out
how much help to give your
children with their writing
assignments? Paediatric
speech and language
therapist
Nic Parker
helps
you work it out.
December 2013
93
