How do I help my son overcome chronic, debilitating writer's block?

Parents Forum
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<p>My son has long been unable to start papers, make steady progress on papers, or finish papers. He often spends an entire day on a paper and ends up with less than a paragraph. For years he has flirted with failure because he turns papers in incomplete or not at all.</p>

<p>Fortunately, he has had teachers who appreciate his intelligence and have made concessions, allowing him to turn things in much later than even I, as his dad, consider appropriate. When he finally finishes a paper, it’s always good, and often excellent.</p>

<p>Of course, in college, he’s not going to get away with it anymore, but he has already dug himself a hole. He is taking one writing-intensive class and has turned in one paper half-done and one not at all. Obviously he has to kick it into high gear and now, or he’s going to fail.</p>

<p>However, telling him to work harder doesn’t help. He just doesn’t know how to put a paper together. He’ll work on it endlessly and still produce nothing. I don’t know how to help him.</p>

<p>The subject matter makes a difference. He manages to write brilliant lab reports in chemistry, for example. But give him a “touchy-feely” subject such as English or history, and it’s as though his mind just freezes. One pattern I’ve noticed is that he has a hard time just saying exactly what he means; he seems to have the notion that his writing should be flowery or dance around subjects rather than simply and bluntly state what he’s thinking, Hemingway-style. Maybe this says something about the nature of his problem, but what? Oddly, in scientific writing, he has no problem just stating exactly what he means; for some reason, though, he seems unable to do this when writing for the humanities.</p>

<p>He does have ADD but no other learning disabilities that we’re aware of. I think he might just need a really good writing coach to teach him better methods. What can you suggest? He’s in his first semester of college, and I’m afraid he’s going to fail and dig a hole for himself right from the start.</p>

<p>Thanks for any advice you can offer. Surely he’s not the first kid to have this problem.</p>

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<p>Is there a writing center at his campus? that would be my first stop in this case…</p>

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<p>Based on personal experience, I would suggest it’s highly related to ADD. </p>

<p>Might be helped by a writing coach…but might be better helped by someone who will provide some behavioral and executive functioning suggestions.</p>

<p>I hope there will be some good suggestions on this thread…which will help some people I know.</p>

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<p>What does he like to read?</p>

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<p>Is he a strong communicator when he speaks? </p>

<p>When I was younger I struggled with taking the thoughts in my head and putting them down on paper, I also felt when writing that I needed to edit as I wrote, so I had a hard time getting papers completed because I would get stuck in making it “perfect” before I went on to the next paragraph or sentence. Since I was very comfortable communicating my ideas verbally I started talking my papers into a recorder, then would transcribe what I said and work from there. By the time I was in high school I no longer needed to talk them into a tape recorder, but still (to this day) often speak my papers (articles, essays, etc…) aloud as I write them (of course not in a public place :)). </p>

<p>Most colleges have writing centers that will work with students on papers and writing skills. They might be able to help him in the short term on the papers he is trying to complete.</p>

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<p>Not that you would notice from College Confidential, but I have a lifelong problem with writer’s block. When I was in college, cocaine helped a lot, in very small doses. I’m not kidding. But I think 2boysima’s suggestion is probably better.</p>

<p>One problem that I see all the time: People who really know their subject matter, and know what they want to say, don’t have a lot of trouble writing it down. That seems to be your son’s situation with science. But lots of kids, not just him, are mystified by literature. They don’t know what they want to say, and they don’t understand what they are reading. It seems stilted, artificial, flowery to them, and they don’t get why, but they think that they ought to imitate those qualities. They also get caught up in the dynamic of humanities in which a commentary on art is itself a kind of art performance (and indeed all artistic performances have a huge element of commentary on or engagement with other artistic performances). They get lost in the House of Mirrors, which makes it awfully hard to start someplace and finish someplace else and make it clear how you got from point A to point B.</p>

<p>The solution to that isn’t learning how to write, it’s learning how to think. You have to bear down until you have something to say and you know exactly why you think that particular thing. Then you write it. That part’s easy.</p>

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<p>For many years, I assumed kids just came in different stripes and sizes. Some were better at this, others at that. I felt that blaming a “condition” for some weakness missed the chance to teach them how to survive in the adult world.</p>

<p>A youth psychiatrist convinced me of this: some highly intelligent kids do have a block that prevents them from achieveing their potential in all arenas. It may be as simple as ADD or it could be some “ADD-plus.” Today, there are more sophisticated neurological tests that “may” help identify the root cause(s.) If so, then professionals can recommend the ^ “behavioral and executive functioning suggestions” or Rx or particular study plans, etc, that may help. In other words, pursue neurological testing. If one counselor (not just the pediatrician) isn’t a good fit for your child, find another. In the end, it’s not about, “Oh well, he’s fabulous in x, just not in y.” It’s about preparing our kids for the reality of life as an adult and preparing them to confidently pursue goals.<br>
At his age, forcing a square peg into a round hole- assuming he just needs confidence or practice or the writing center- “could” be terribly frustrating if something deeper is behind his issue.
Good luck.</p>

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<p>OP, does your son typically try to write sitting at a computer (i.e. directly into a word processor) or with pencil and paper?</p>

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<p>My older son had terrible writer’s block. He solved it mostly by going to a college that gave him lots of AP credit. He still had to take a basic writing course and one semester of history though. I agree that if there is some sort of Writing Center that’s a place to start. Therapy might help too. </p>

<p>I’m not clear exactly what his process is. When I was in college I would start papers with some vague idea about what I would write. Then I would look at them and literally cut them up and arrange them in groups. Then I’d make a very vague outline which I would flesh out. I always found it easier to write a paper if I could figure out how to start it, but it’s also okay to start in the middle. Some people prefer using graphical organizers. [WriteDesign</a> On-Line - Graphic Organizers](<a href=“http://www.writedesignonline.com/organizers/]WriteDesign”>WriteDesign On-Line - Graphic Organizers)</p>

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<p>I also find – and I think this is very common – that notwithstanding my advice above, it’s almost impossible to know what you really think until you have tried to explain your thinking in writing. I can’t tell you how many wonderful ideas I have had that “just wouldn’t write” and had to be changed.</p>

<p>What I do, and what I tell others to do, is to start writing, and write until you have a conclusion. Then take that conclusion, make it the first paragraph of your paper, and re-write everything else so it supports that new first paragraph.</p>

<p>That was a lot tougher in the typewriter era (not to mention cuneiform!) than it is now.</p>

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<p>“cocaine helped a lot, in very small doses.” </p>

<p>LOL. (Thanks for the candor.)</p>

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<p>JHS, not that I would advise it, but a very small dose of cocaine probably has a similar effect on the brain as Ritalin. (both are stimulants). So it sounds like you were self medicating for ADHD-like tendencies.</p>

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<p>I’d just echo some things that people brought up - 1) brainstorm bullet points, quick points, nothing long. 2) put those bullets into some sort of structure or order and 3) write without editing AT ALL- if he needs to talk into a recorder, fine but just stream of conscious is good, but NO editing. 4) let it sit and go away, go for a walk, anything but physically walk away. 5) come back and begin to revise, not on word choice/grammar but on main thoughts.</p>

<p>My ds has a similar problem and the end product is usually surprisingly good, just the angst is the part I’d like him to grow out of. He gets bogged down on stuff like grammar, word choice…technical editing - way before he’s even got a thought down.</p>

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<p>Mantori, google “ghost writer” or speechwriter or executive communications consultant for where you live. There are agencies which have hired gun writers and editors for hire… and I bet in exchange for a few hours of a consulting engagement they will sit down with your son and walk him through the process of “banging out” a paper. They earn their living helping very bright scientists and corporate leaders and politicians put pen to paper. Sometimes they actually write, but very often they sit and act as midwife to help with the writing process. Their techniques will be very far removed from that of a traditional writing tutor-- which you may want to consider as well- since they’re not all that interested in teaching your son grammer or composition or sentence structure. But if he has an intellectual understanding of what those things are but just can’t pop an essay out of the computer without a struggle, a professional writer/editor may be the way to go.</p>

<p>Their techniques are very pragmatic. Rather than work on topic sentence and the stuff that is probably hanging up your S, they will work with him on quick exercises like making lists and bullet points of his ideas and then show him how to wordsmith a sentence or paragraph around the idea. They will not get hung up on polishing (that’s the final step) and won’t lose sleep over typos. Their job is to get your son to commit his ideas and thoughts to paper and then get him to make it sing.</p>

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<p>Apparently, the speech recognition programs like Dragon have progressed quite a bit, so that might be an option to look at if he thinks talking the paper might help.</p>

<p>Does he do any techniques like outlining or concept-mapping or double-bubble-circling (or whatever it’s called when you brainstorm on paper)?</p>

<p>What if he were to text himself or email himself whenever he gets an idea? That might break the barrier to Sitting Down and Formally Writing Something.</p>

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<p>It’s already been touched upon, but I don’t usually start with the beginning. I start writing with whatever point I know I want to make or idea I have. Then as that section begins to take shape, I decide what to do next - introduction, conclusion, re-craft the middle, etc.</p>

<p>Something that helped me was doing journalism. Before I worked on newspapers I spent hours trying to craft the “perfect” paper. With newspaper deadlines I knew I was never going to write the perfect article and I just had to get it done. Also, because space was tight it forced me to write more clearly and effectively.</p>

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<p>A university writing center will be able to provide the same kind of services that Blossom describes. I was a writing center tutor during my grad school days, and that’s exactly what we did.</p>

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<p>When my kids have this problem (and all 3 of them have had it at some point), I tell them “Don’t try to write something, just say what you are thinking and put that down.” It seems to be a good way to start off.</p>

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<p>In journalism, the first commandment is “write what you know.” So, this part of the OP caught my attention:

</p>

<p>If he’s like my D (a clone of Dr. Temperance Brennan on “Bones”), maybe the “touchy feely stuff” is just so foreign that it’s impossible to “write what he knows” because he doesn’t know it. That side of the brain just doesn’t compute, figuratively speaking. </p>

<p>So, for D, we stopped relying on the creative side of the brain. We turned to the logical side of the brain for writing. We gave her a (journalism) formula and told her to calculate the answers:
Who
What
When
Where
Why
How</p>

<p>It’s short and simple and a starting place. It may not produce compelling, emotional, or persuasive narratives. But, it will get words on the page, which is the first step in overcoming writers block. Over time, emphasis will shift from “words on the page” to style and energy. But, in the beginning, 5W’s = walking before running. </p>

<p>Good luck. :)</p>

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<p>Your son is almost certainly an extreme right-brain learner, as is my son. Here are some typical characteristics, taken from one of my son’s essays:

  • A holistic learner who thinks in images rather than words;
  • A student who has trouble with a vague general question, yet can focus on the critical details of a complex question with little trouble;
  • A student who learns by placing newly-learned details into a big-picture framework, but gains nothing through practice or repetition; and
  • A student who often needs to visualize a completed narrative IN HIS HEAD before beginning to commit it to paper.</p>

<p>You can find more about this learning style on this website:
[Visual-Spatial</a> Learners](<a href=“http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/Visual_Spatial_Learner/vsl.htm]Visual-Spatial”>http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/Visual_Spatial_Learner/vsl.htm)</p>

<p>If this seems to be on target, read Dr. Silverman’s book. Unfortunately, it’s a bit expensive since it’s out of print (her publisher went under):
[Amazon.com:</a> Upside-Down Brilliance: The Visual Spatial Learner (9781932186000): Linda Kreger Silverman: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Upside-Down-Brilliance-Visual-Spatial-Learner/dp/193218600X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1287100168&sr=1-1]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Upside-Down-Brilliance-Visual-Spatial-Learner/dp/193218600X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1287100168&sr=1-1)</p>

<p>Encourage your son to write out of sequence and to use rough ideas as placeholders that can be modified easily. Remember, on a computer screen, nothing is permanent, and it’s much easier to edit a poor piece than to fill a blank page. Write SOMETHING!</p>

<p>Right-brained visual-spatial learners are not traditional sequential thinkers. Given a chance to do work their own way, they may start at the end and work backwards, or start in the middle and work in both directions toward beginning and end. Have him start ANYWHERE, just get something on paper, then attach more to it if he can or start in another place if he cannot. It’s like building a jigsaw puzzle – eventually the individual blocks of pieces will interconnect.</p>

<p>Right-brain learners are often late bloomers, but once they understand something, it’s for life – short-term memory is bypassed. Plus, the more they learn the more “hooks” they have in place to learn the next thing even faster. Your son will be fine if you give him the opportunity to discover WHY he’s different and how that difference leads to some very special strengths and not just noticeable weaknesses.</p>