How to Teach Children with Uneven Development and Gray-Zone Challenges Who Struggle with Writing (Advice for Parents)

Hello! I'm Machika-sensei, a writing teacher (*^-^*) I run a writing school that has been operating for 12 years, and for the past few years, I have also been working as a part-time instructor at a welfare facility, providing writing programs for individuals with developmental and mental disabilities.

When writing with many children, I often encounter difficulties such as “I’m not good at writing or giving presentations,” “My writing lacks structure,” or “It’s hard to express my emotions in words.” I see these struggles frequently.

What kind of encouragement should I give, and what kind of instructions should I provide? When it clicks perfectly, the children’s expressions brighten as they say, “I did it!” or “I got my point across!” I teach writing with the hope that they can accumulate these kinds of “I did it” moments through writing.

The initiatives at my writing school are full of insights and learning. I have arranged and summarized them for parents at home. This article today is one of the things I wanted to do on note.

I will share some points that parents should keep in mind when supporting children with specific needs as they work on their writing. Ah, summer vacation. I hope this reaches parents and children struggling with writing assignments...!

This article ↑ that I uploaded two weeks ago.

I wrote it as a self-introduction, but it seems more people have read it than I expected. It seems to be appearing in prominent positions in related keyword searches, and people have told me, “I Googled it and read it.” I truly feel that there are so many people who are struggling or looking for information.

The content I teach at the writing school is not divided between neurotypical children and those with developmental disabilities. Through the instructors' encouragement and instructions, we create and clear the process and goals for each individual student. The classes are not even divided by grade level. The elementary school class includes students from 1st to 6th grade. The junior high school class also has all three grades together.

By the way, sometimes adult students join in with the children. I once asked why they attend instead of just observing. “I want to relearn writing. Business writing for working professionals didn’t suit me. I don’t want to write for a specific purpose. I want to become someone who can write. That’s why I attend this school.”

Writing is fun, and being understood is a joy. What we value at the writing school is packed into that comment, and it warmed my heart as well.

This article ↑ that I uploaded 10 days ago.

A staple of summer vacation homework, the “Summer Vacation Memories” essay. This is an article summarizing tips for working on it at home. Just like in the lessons at the writing school, I wrote it with the intention that it could be used while taking into account the strengths and weaknesses that every child has.

However, when I reread it, I felt that there was too much information and it was a bit difficult to understand. Today, I will extract the main points and add explanations from a support perspective (^^)

Stumbling block ① Can't remember what happened

I wrote it casually among the things to prepare, but what is very important is the “goods related to the event you want to write about.”

The goods act as a hook. When writing an essay at home, have a “hook” on hand that allows parents and children to enjoy remembering the event, and then work on the essay ♡

Machika-sensei thinks that if you can have a fun conversation about memories, that’s 100 points. Because I think that remembering, putting it into words, and spending a fun time with someone is a wonderful form of communication.

Let me share a personal story. I have three children, and each is unique. I never tried to force writing on them, so they have reached this point by writing sometimes and not writing at other times. I try to help with their homework essays by casually expanding on our conversations, but even after we've had such a lively and long discussion, they'll say, 'Oh, that was so much fun! But I'm not writing it! It's too much work!'

And maybe that's okay. I think the stage where they want to write might come at another time (even though I'm a writing teacher...). So, I want to tell parents not to feel too burdened by the idea that they 'must' make their children write.

Stumbling block ②: The order of events is jumbled

I think remembering and taking notes is actually a surprisingly difficult task. However, it is a very important step for writing an essay.

I think it's helpful if the person supporting them divides a piece of paper into four sections. I used Sports Day as an example above, but you can divide 'field trips,' 'nature school,' or 'social studies field trips' in the same way by timeline, right?

Following the sequence not only has the benefit ofmaking it easier to rememberbut alsoincreases the completenessof the essay content by incorporating not just the day itself, but also the preparation and reflection.

Please give it a try.

Stumbling block ③: Not knowing what or how much to write

From here, we will expand on the events to write about in the essay based on themany notes you wrote down earlier.

If you just turn everything you remember into text as it comes to mind, the essay will lack focus, and the child writing it will get tired and suddenly lose interest, thinking, 'What am I doing?' or 'I'm bored.'

So, from the notes you wrote down, let's choose a few episodes from the perspective ofwhat kind of event it was.Here are some recommended examples of what kind of events to choose.

・Things that were funny & things you laughed at
・Things that were surprising & discoveries & things you noticed
・Things that were disappointing & sad
・Things that were happy & moving
・Things that seemed strange? Odd? 'Why is that?' Things you found mysterious

These are five types of 'events' that areeasy for children to write about.You don't have to write about all of them in the essay. It's easier to start with just one or two. It's better if the essay isn't too long, so they can finish before getting tired and enjoy the sense of satisfaction of having 'written it!' ♬

Example: Things that were funny
Choose from your notes and explain what happened. Write that it was funny. Also, add the reason why you thought it was funny.

When writing about multiple events, it'sabreeze! It's also smooth to say, 'Since it's a different event, let's start a new paragraph,' when teaching them how to structure paragraphs.

Also, what's important is that you don't have to write all the notes you took in the essay.I hope they gradually get used to the process of choosing from what they remembered.When they 'learn' that'they don't have to write everything,'their resistance to writing will fade.

Stumbling block ④: The structure of the sentences is strange

Children are working hard to write, but sometimes they stumble on grammatical aspects like sentence structure. Sometimes the child feels something is off, like 'This is weird, but I'm not sure why,' and other times they keep writing without realizing it themselves.

Effective for both cases is to give them feedback onhow to use periods (。).

Try giving specific advice, such as pointing to the writing paper and saying, 'Let's try to use a period at least once every two lines.'

The shorter the sentence, the lower the hurdle for writing.Even for adults, writing long sentences is mentally draining. Are the subject and predicate twisted? Is the modifier in the right place? Does it make sense? Is the connection to the preceding and following sentences okay? Explaining these grammatically is often too abstract for children to grasp.

Therefore, I narrow my advice down to the single point of keeping sentences short.

Whether the subject and predicate matchis usually solved by shortening the sentence. Elements of the 5W1H (Who, What, When, Where, Why, How) are fine if they are included within a paragraph. It will convey the information. I intentionally avoid pointing out the usage of particles, adjectives, or adverbs at this stage—it goes more smoothly if you address those when rereading or writing the final draft.

Even when pointing things out, rather than explaining the details, I recommend reading it aloud while correcting it (making it grammatically correct) like, 'So, at this time, XX gave YY to ZZ, right?' (^^)

Stumbling Block ⑤: Unable to put feelings into words

When writing a reflection paper, it's rare to talk about things without including emotional expression. Adults think that way, but for children, replacing the feelings that arise within them with 'words that express emotion' is quite difficult.

Let's look at examples of things that were disappointing or sad.

For children who get stuck when asked, 'What are your thoughts?' or 'How did you feel?', in our writing class, we prepare a menu of events linked to emotions in advance, and create a flow where they choose from things they have already jotted down.

When parents support their child's writing at home, I recommend this flow because it makes it easier to grasp what the child is thinking.

To nurture rich emotional expression, daily conversation is key. It is said that children build up their emotional vocabulary through empathetic comments from parents, such as 'That's exciting, isn't it?' or 'That feels painful, doesn't it?' when the child's heart is moved.

But that's for everyday life. I often hear parents say, 'What should I do today while I'm making them write this essay?!' I understand that very well. Even in a writing class, it's not easy to teach emotions on the spot...

In such cases, I recommend having them express the moment through physical gestures (movement). For example, in our writing class... when we are drawing out a happy event, we might jump up and down, clap, or do a victory pose. When drawing out an unpleasant event, we might let our shoulders slump, cover our faces with both hands, or sit still in the corner of the room. The teacher and student express it together as if they were watching a drama or manga.

This is very useful. Please try moving your bodies together. Then, have the parent put that movement into words and tell them, 'It's good to use that in your writing, it will make for a wonderful essay,' okay? ♡

Stumbling Block ⑥: Can only think of negative feelings

There are also children who don't like to talk about their feelings much. This is quite common not only in children but also in adults.

I, Machika-sensei, am the type who thinks it's unreasonable to try to turn everything into a beautiful story. (As an aside, the publishing company I worked for went bankrupt and I had no choice but to become a freelancer the following month. I was able to develop new work as a result, but even looking back now, I can't think of the hardship of that time as a 'good story'... That was a personal memory.)

You might think, 'I don't want my child to pull such heavy stories into their memory essay.' Well, that's true. It really is... However, there are children who are going through 'events' with great difficulty.

They may be carrying great anxiety, be on the verge of being crushed by strong troubles, or have pretended that nothing was wrong while working hard, only to be actually exhausted... In such cases, looking back on an event and landing on a 'lesson learned' is very, very difficult. It's painful.

I think that is the （）thing that adults can support.

・Finished doing it
・Got through it safely
・Did as much as I could
・Tried it in my own way
・It was a first-time experience

These might just be facts. But they are things that were born beyond the feelings that might be considered negative, which you felt before or during the event = experiences gained. Please tell them, along with words of appreciation, that "It's perfectly fine to write about this in your essay."

I have provided detailed explanations for each "writing" item, so please feel free to refer to this article ↑ as well.