​Are you concerned your child’s trouble with listening comprehension could be caused by auditory processing disorder?  It can be hard to know where to start to find out.  Here are steps you can take to see if your child has auditory processing disorder.
1.  Learn the signs of auditory processing disorder.
Knowing specific signs of auditory processing disorder that occur at different ages can help you better frame your concerns about your child.  Some of the things that children with APD find difficult are:·        Focussing on one voice when there are lots of people talking
·        Remembering spoken instructions (they may ask for repetition or only complete the first step)
·        Noticing the small differences between similar words (such as boat/coat, which/wish)
·        Concentrating in a noisy place
·        They may demonstrate sensitivity to noise and show a preference for quiet places
At school, most tasks depend on the child being able to understand what is said by the teacher or other children. This can be very difficult for a child with APD, and the child may become frustrated and less involved at school.
2.  Pay close attention to your child’s symptoms.
Observe your child over time and take notes about the things that concern you.  Auditory processing disorder is not the same as being hard of hearing.  But it can seem like a child with auditory processing disorder has trouble with hearing.  That’s because he may have trouble processing the differences between sounds, filtering out background noise and following what people say.
3.  Discuss what’s happening at school.
Has your child’s teacher noticed signs of auditory processing disorder?  Is your child struggling with phonemic awareness?  Does he have trouble following spoken directions?  Find out if the teacher is using any informal supports to help your child.
4.  Speak to your child’s doctor.
Discuss your concerns with your child’s pediatrician.  Bring your notes, and share any concerns the teacher has as well.  You’ll also want to make sure your child has passed a hearing test to rule out hearing loss.
5.  Consider getting an evaluation for supports at school.
Look into requesting a free educational evaluation by the school counsellor.  The evaluation can provide information that could help your child get support in school, such as accommodations or specialized instruction.  It can also shed light on whether your child’s trouble with reading is due to auditory processing issues or dyslexia, another learning issue.
6.  Consult with specialists.
Ask your pediatrician for a referral to specialists who can identify or rule out auditory processing disorder.  She may refer your child to a speech pathologist to have his receptive language or listening comprehension skills evaluated.  But he will also need to see an audiologist to be formally diagnosed.  Keep in mind that you’ll have to pay or use your insurance for private evaluations.
7.  Talk to the school about supports and services.
Set up a meeting with the school to talk about how to help your child.  Consider providing a copy of any outside evaluations you’ve had done.  Combined with any evaluations the school has done, they can help determine if your child is eligible for an Individualized Education Program (IEP).
8.  Learn more about treatments and therapies.
Talk to everyone involved—doctor, school and specialists—about treatment options for auditory processing disorder.  Speech therapy can be helpful, as can very specific reading instruction.  You can also look into alternative therapies, like auditory training therapy.  
9.  Find other ways to help your child.
Get answers to common questions about auditory processing disorder.  Learn some common myths about auditory processing disorder.  And consider connecting with parents like you who can share tips and advice.
 

Learning and attention issues can impact self-control in a number of ways.  Trouble with self-control is a key symptom of ADHD.  Self-control issues can also be a sign of the frustration and anxiety that often go hand in hand with struggling in school.
Sometimes what may look like lack of self-control is actually a lack of social skills.  Kids with certain issues may not understand social rules.  And it’s hard to follow social rules if you don’t know when you’re breaking them!
Use this table to learn what might be causing or contributing to your child’s issues with physical, emotional or impulse control.

ADHD
A brain-based condition that makes it hard to pay attention and control impulses.
Many kids with ADHD have trouble waiting to get what they want (delaying gratification).
ADHD affects the brain’s ability to “hit the brakes” and think through consequences before speaking or acting.
Some kids with ADHD struggle with hyperactivity. ADHD can also affect emotional control.
Fidgeting and trouble staying seated
Nonstop talking
Interrupting or talking over others
Blurting out answers in class
Expressing emotion that’s too intense for the situation
Throwing tantrums when frustrated
Having trouble taking turns or playing too rough

Sensory processing issues
Being over- or under sensitive to sensory input such as sights, sounds, flavours, smells and textures.
Sensory processing issues may also affect motor control. Kids with sensory issues may struggle with body awareness (proprioception) or spatial orientation (the vestibular sense).
Kids who are oversensitive may try to run away from the stimulation. Or it may cause a sensory meltdown they can’t control.
Kids who are under sensitive may seek out stimulation in ways that annoy other people (such as tapping them or pacing around the room).
Jumping on furniture and crashing into people or things
Fidgeting, squirming in seat or pacing
Refusing to wear new clothes or try new foods
Having intense meltdowns over seemingly little things (like hearing too much noise or seeing bright lights)
Recoiling from a hug or erupting in anger after getting accidentally bumped into
Slamming things down or ripping paper when erasing

Nonverbal learning disabilities (NVLD)
Difficulties with interpreting and responding to unspoken communication. This includes body language, facial gestures and tone of voice.
Kids with NVLD tend to talk a lot. But they may do so in socially inappropriate ways.
Kids with NVLD may have a hard time picking up on social cues. They might not realize they’re breaking social rules or need to adjust their behaviour.
They may also get fixated on a topic or idea and have trouble moving on to something new.
Standing too close to people
Interrupting others and hogging the conversation
Sharing too much information
Asking too many questions or getting stuck on a topic
Trouble adjusting to change
Cutting in line

Social communication disorder (SCD)
A brain-based condition that causes difficulty with the unspoken, subtle rules of spoken language.
This makes it hard to communicate effectively in social and academic settings.
Kids with SCD may seem like they can’t keep themselves from doing or saying the wrong thing during conversations.
But it’s hard to follow social rules when kids don’t understand them or notice they’re breaking them.
Trouble adjusting language to different situations (such as talking the same way in the classroom as on the playground)
Talking too much or going off-topic
Not knowing how to start or sustain a conversation
Having trouble “reading the room” and taking part in group conversations
Talking too casually to an authority figure

Dyspraxia
A brain-based condition that involves difficulty with motor control, such as coordinating a sequence of movements.
Kids with dyspraxia have trouble calling up strategies to move more gracefully. They may also struggle to adjust the volume, pitch or rate of their speech.
Some people may misperceive these difficulties. They could view a child with dyspraxia as being disruptive on purpose.
Trouble moving effectively such as when tying shoes or playing sports
Speaking too loudly
Dropping things
Bumping into or inadvertently pushing people
Playing too roughly

Learning issues like dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia
Brain-based issues that make it hard for kids to read, write or do math.
Many kids with learning issues also have ADHD.
Kids with learning issues often get frustrated when they can’t master material, even when they’re trying really hard.
Anxiety is also common in kids with learning issues and can lead them to quickly give up on tasks.
Breaking pencils and crumpling up homework
Throwing tantrums or having verbal outbursts
Worrying a lot about little things
Fidgeting or constantly tapping legs or feet
Refusing to take part in a social or school activity

 
If your child struggles with self-control, take a look at strategies to help him gain self-control.  Explore apps that can help tweens and teens with self-control, or apps to help younger kids.  And find out what to do if you think your child might have ADHD.
 

If you have a child who is learning to read, you may have come across the terms “decodable words” and “sight words.”  Being able to decode words is essential for beginning readers.
Decoding isn’t just about sounding out words.  It involves taking apart the sounds in a word (“segmenting”) and blending the sounds together.
Another important skill for beginning readers is learning to recognise words at a glance.  Kids need to build up a large group of “sight words.”  Working on word recognition helps a child become a faster, more fluent reader.
Most beginning readers are taught to read both ways—by matching letters to sounds and by building a vocabulary of sight words.  But kids with reading issues may need more specialised instruction.
Here’s what you need to know about sight words, decodable words and non-decodable words—and what can help your child learn to read.

Decodable Words
Decodable words follow the rules of phonics.  They are spelled the way they sound.  Examples include jam and nest.
Once a child knows how to break words apart into their letter sounds and blend those sounds together, she can begin to “decode” one-syllable words like splash.  As she gets familiar with syllable patterns, she can sound out longer words like splashing.
Teachers use phonics rules to help with things like knowing whether the vowel in a word makes its short or long sound.  Here are two examples of phonics rules:

• When a one-syllable word ends in a consonant and only has one vowel, that vowel tends to be short (mat, cop, dud).
• Adding a “bossy e” at the end of that word changes the short vowel sound to a long vowel sound (mate, cope, dude).

Words That Can’t Be Sounded Out
There are lots of words that don’t follow the rules of phonics and aren’t spelled the way they sound.  Look at who and was, for instance.
If you’d never seen those words before, you might guess they were spelled hoo and wuz.  Sounding out these written words won’t work. The only way to learn them is to memorise them.
The goal is for kids to become so familiar with a non-decodable word that they don’t even try to sound it out.  They automatically recognise it at a glance.

Sight Words
Sight words are words that readers can recognise instantly and effortlessly.  These words can be decodable or non-decodable. They’re sometimes called “high-frequency” words.  That’s because early readers encounter them so often.  Examples include the, of and said.
Automatically recognising words helps kids become faster, more fluent readers.  Repeated exposure to a word is key.  That’s one reason many teachers create a “word wall” that lists a group of high-frequency words in alphabetical order.  The word wall is placed on a classroom wall where students can see it often.
A word wall gives kids extra exposure to these words.  It also gives kids instant access to words they’re likely to need during reading and writing activities.  Word walls can include both decodable and non-decodable words.

Why Reading Can Be Hard
When kids have early reading issues, regular phonics instruction might not be enough.  There are many possible reasons for this, including:

• Not being able to see the difference between individual letters. For example, b and d or m and w may look the same to them.
• Not being able to break apart words into individual sounds. (They may hear the word cat but not be able to hear the three separate sound units in C-A-T.)
• Not understanding the similarities and differences between words. (They might not know that the t sound at the end of cat is what makes it different from the word can.)
• Not hearing the subtle distinctions among sounds.

These types of challenges make learning to read very difficult.  And they make memorising sight words—some of which follow no rules and can’t be sounded out—even harder.

What Might Help
There are many teaching methods that help struggling readers.  The most effective ones use a multisensory approach.  This uses sound, sight, movement and touch to help kids understand and remember what they’re learning.
For instance, struggling readers may need to work on their phonemic awareness.  Doing this can help them get better at hearing the phonemes—or smallest units of sound—in spoken language.  One multisensory way to work on this is by clapping or tapping a finger as they hear each sound.
Skywriting is another activity that engages multiple senses. Kids can say letters and words while using their arm muscles to “write” them in the air.
If your child is having trouble learning to read, it’s important to find out why.  A number of learning issues can cause difficulty with reading.  They include dyslexia, auditory processing disorder and visual processing issues.
Getting to the bottom of your child’s issues can help both you and the school figure out the best ways to help her learn to read.  Talk to your child’s teachers about what they’re seeing in the classroom. Finding books that are at your child’s reading level can help, too.
 

To all parents with children currently studying in Years 3, 5, 7 & 9 the Naplan test is due to commence between the 10-12 May this year. The test will cover language conventions (spelling, grammar & punctuation), reading (comprehension with multiple choice questions) and writing (either persuasive writing or narrative) and finally numeracy.

​Many people believe that this test is not important, however, teachers at ALA believe it is a vital tool for measuring not only your school's performance but also your child's basic knowledge of literacy and numeracy.  It is important to remember that it is not a pass or fail test, rather, it is a good tool for teachers to record your child's ability at classroom level. 

​For parents needing more advice about Naplan and Naplan preparation please contact us!

​

​Below is a transcript of a conversation with a parent that I had recently (please note names have been changed to protect their identity). It was an eye opening conversation and I felt a lot of other parents would benefit from this.
 
 
“Like a lot of parents, I used to think Minecraft was a waste of time but my son has always loved the game.  He has often said to me, “Daddy, do you want me to teach you how to play?”
 
David has ADHD.  His attention issues often get in the way of his executive functioning skills.  He has a hard time keeping his room neat and his books organized—and getting started on his homework. But, curiously, when he’s playing Minecraft, he has no trouble staying calm, patiently working through problems and reaching his goals in the game.
 
That sparked my interest, and I finally agreed to play with him.  Once I did, it was amazing to see how many of the tasks he was doing in Minecraft involve executive functions.
 
I know that might be hard to believe.  So at my son’s suggestion, he and I came up with some examples.
 
Task: Build a Shelter
Skill: Planning and Prioritizing
 
The object of Minecraft is to survive in an imaginary world.  The first thing you need to do is build a shelter before sunset.  If you don’t, monsters like Creepers and Zombies will come out at night and destroy you.  You need to build a shelter quickly.  Do you build a simple hut out of dirt?  Do you take refuge in a cave or collect wood to build a house? You need to plan and set priorities in order to survive.
 
Task: Keep Track of Inventory
Skill: Organization
 
In Minecraft, you keep building supplies, food and tools in your inventory.  Space is limited.  Organization is important.  If there are items that can’t fit in the inventory, they must be stored in wooden chests.  The more items you have, the more important it is to stay organized.  You need to know where to find things when you need them.
 
Task: Use a Crafting Table
Skill: Working Memory
 
To create things, you use a “crafting table” and a recipe.  You need to remember the ingredients in that recipe.  An example is TNT, an explosive used in the game.  To craft a block of TNT, you need to gather gunpowder and sand and add them to the crafting table.  This process requires the use of working memory.
 
Task: Handle the Unexpected
Skill: Flexible Thinking
 
Sometimes in Minecraft, you may get lost while gathering wood or mining underground.  You may find yourself away from your shelter after dark and surrounded by monsters.  Or you may accidentally fall into a ravine or cave.  You need flexible thinking to handle these unexpected situations.
 
Task: Explore Temples
Skill: Impulse Control
 
You can also explore the world of Minecraft.  When you do, you sometimes come across temples.  Temples have treasure rooms, but they also have hidden traps. To get the treasure, you need to carefully scout out the temple first.  It takes self-control to stop from rushing in.
 
Task: Build Machines
Skill: Self-Monitoring
 
One of the coolest things about Minecraft is that you can build machines to make tasks easier.  David loves this part of the game.  He recently built an oven that cooks chicken.  The oven helps him stay well fed and survive in the game. To make his chicken oven, David needed to use self-monitoring to keep track of his building progress.  If something wasn’t right, he needed to fix it.  He’s very proud that he was able to make the adjustments for the oven to work.
 
Will David’s success in Minecraft improve his executive functioning when doing everyday tasks?  I wouldn’t go that far.  These skills don’t necessarily transfer to activities that kids find less interesting.  But right now, I’m just happy that my son has a relaxing activity in which he can feel a sense of accomplishment.
 
In his words, “There’s less pressure to get things done than in real life, and I can just express my creativity without having to worry about what other people think. That’s why I like Minecraft.”

​Raising a child with dyslexia can stir up a lot of emotions.  You may look ahead and wonder if this learning issue will affect your child’s future.  But dyslexia is not a prediction of failure.  Dyslexia is quite common, and many successful individuals have dyslexia.
Research has proven that there are different ways of teaching that can help people with dyslexia succeed.  There’s a lot you can do as a parent too.
If you’re just starting your journey, don’t try to tackle everything at once.  You can start helping your child simply by learning more about the symptoms, causes and strategies that can be used at home and in school.
What is dyslexia?
A good way to understand dyslexia is to establish what it is not.  It’s not a sign of low intelligence or laziness.  It’s also not due to poor vision.  It’s a common condition that affects the way the brain processes written and spoken language.
Dyslexia is primarily associated with trouble reading.  Some doctors, specialists and educators may refer to it as a reading disorder/disability or a processing disorder/disability but it can also affect writing, spelling and even speaking.
People with dyslexia can still understand complex ideas.  Sometimes they just need more time to work through the information.  They may also need a different way to process the information, such as listening to an audiobook instead of reading it.
If your child has dyslexia, they won’t outgrow it.  It’s a lifelong condition.  But that doesn’t mean your child can’t be happy and successful.  There are many effective teaching strategies and tools that can help your child.  In fact, many people with dyslexia have successful careers in business, science and the arts.
There’s a long list of famous people with dyslexia. This list includes director Steven Spielberg and actress Whoopi Goldberg.  It also includes the author Dav Pilkey, who created the popular Captain Underpants books.
People with dyslexia are often very creative.  It’s unclear whether such creativity comes from thinking outside the box or from having a brain that’s “wired” a bit differently.
It’s important to keep in mind, however, that struggles with reading and other issues can lead to frustration and low self-esteem.  The stress of dealing with schoolwork can make kids with dyslexia lose the motivation to keep trying.
There are lots of tools and strategies that can help.  It might take some trial and error for you to figure out which work best for your child.  But finding the right strategies and seeing improvement can boost your child’s confidence.
Essential Skills for Reading Comprehension
For kids with dyslexia, reading a single word can be a struggle. Dyslexia also makes it hard to understand and remember what they’ve read.
Early in primary school, students are expected to read a passage of text and answer questions about it. This is what’s known as “reading comprehension,” and it’s essential for building a strong foundation for success in school.  Students with dyslexia often have reading comprehension problems because they need to develop several underlying skills, such as:

• Connecting letters to sounds: Kids have to learn that each letter of the alphabet is associated with a certain sound or sounds. (Teachers refer to this as “phonics.”)  Once your child can make these connections, she’ll be able to “sound out” words.
• Decoding text: The process of sounding out words is known as “decoding.” Once your child can decode individual words, she can start to make sense of entire sentences.
• Recognizing “sight” words: The ability to read a familiar word at a glance without having to sound it out is called “word recognition.” The more words kids can recognize by sight, the faster they’ll be able to read. Average readers can recognize a word by sight after sounding it out a dozen or so times. Students with dyslexia may need to see it 40 times.[1]
• Reading fluently: Fluent readers can recognize most words by sight and quickly sound out unfamiliar words. They also can read smoothly and at a good rate. Fluency is essential for good reading comprehension.
• Understanding the text: Strong readers can remember what they’ve just read. They can summarize it and recall specific details. Readers with dyslexia can get bogged down sounding out individual words. This interrupts the flow of information and makes it harder to understand and relate the new material to what they already know.

If your child has been having trouble reading, it’s a good idea to find out what’s going on and get her some extra help. That’s because kids who start out struggling with reading rarely catch up on their own.
Fortunately, researchers have been studying dyslexia for decades. They know which teaching methods and tools can help children with dyslexia succeed.  If dyslexia is diagnosed by year three, it’s easier to catch up.  But it’s never too late.
 
 
 

Click As students’ progress through school, they need to write more complex texts for a wider range of academic and community purposes.  Therefore the teaching of writing needs to be explicit from Kindergarten to Year 12, with clear links between academic and community purposes.
 
In all subjects and at all stages of learning, students need to understand the purposes and contexts of their writing.  This enables them to compose written texts effectively, which involves the ability to structure texts and to use language well.  Using language effectively includes being able to move, when required, from spoken to written language.  Students need to be taught how to write for different audiences and for different purposes.  
 
In all subjects there are different topics about which they will write.  The demands of writing increase in complexity and sophistication as students move through school.
 
The teaching of writing should aim to impart a balance of knowledge, skills and understanding so that students learn to write effectively. Composing texts also requires an understanding of the development of writing as well as presentation.
 
The aim of teaching writing is to ensure that students learn to write effectively in community and academic contexts.  To develop the skills, knowledge and understanding required, students need to learn about writing and learn through writing.
 
Teaching writing involves teaching students how to take into account the purpose and context of a task.  It follows that tasks set in class should have authentic purposes and contexts.  Teaching students to write involves teaching them to reflect on written language, how it works and what makes it effective.  It also involves evaluating the effectiveness of the writing in achieving the task.
 
Writing should be examined at all levels, including the whole text as well as its smaller components.  Explicit teaching of writing includes teaching about:
 
• The composition of whole texts, i.e. purpose, text structure and cohesion,
• Sentences and words, i.e. syntax, grammar, vocabulary and spelling and
• Surface features, i.e. punctuation and layout.
 
Students should be taught to reflect on how writing changes in different situations and differs from one culture to another.  Students should also be taught how writing changes over time and is affected by technological change.  Above all, students should be taught to consider the impact of their own writing on the intended reader.
 
Teaching students about the processes of writing equips them to produce accurate texts.  For most academic purposes, the processes of writing consist of drafting, revising, and conferencing, editing, proofreading and publishing.
 
Drafting involves making notes of ideas, planning the text and writing the text down initially.
 
Revising involves reworking a text to improve ideas or amend the content. Revising might involve editing, because it often requires reorganising the text or changing sentence structures.
 
Conferencing involves discussing drafts with others to engage in critical reflection and clarification of meaning.  Revising and editing might occur during, or be the result of, such discussions.
 
Editing involves changing the drafts of developing texts in order to improve the text, for example, by improving cohesion, syntax, grammar and vocabulary.  Editing leads to changes which will be incorporated into the next draft of the text.
 
Proofreading involves preparing the final text for presentation, including reading the text to locate and fix any inaccuracies in grammar, spelling, punctuation or layout.
 
Publishing involves presenting the text to its intended audience.  At school, this is often the teacher, although it is good to give students the experience of writing for other audiences where appropriate.
 
In order to compose texts that are both accurate and effective, students need to be taught how to engage in these processes with a critical understanding of how written language is used.
 
 
Teaching strategies
 
Effective writing programs use modelled, guided and independent teaching strategies to support students.  It is important to emphasise that these three types of strategies are applicable at all stages of schooling.
 
Independent writing should happen in Kindergarten, while even in Year 12 there is a need for modelling and guiding.  Kindergarten teachers model how to construct simple sentences and texts, while teachers of Year 12 students provide and analyse models of writing appropriate to the Higher School Certificate.
 
During modelled, guided and independent writing teachers need to ensure that students have a good understanding of the topic they will be writing about.  This understanding might be developed through such activities as research, teacher input, presentations, class discussion or first-hand experiences such as excursions.
Knowledge of the topic and relevant research skills need to be developed through modelled, guided and independent teaching strategies.
 
Teachers will need to familiarise students with any subject-specific vocabulary they need, including the etymology of those words.
 
It is good for teachers to model the practice of using a dictionary and it is strongly advised that students in every classroom have access to a good dictionary, which should be consulted constantly by both students and teachers.
 
It is also important to emphasise that the three strategies of modelled, guided and independent teaching are recursive that is, teachers constantly return to them and apply them in new ways. When students achieve some independence in writing, they are ready to experience new models and receive different guidance.  This means both models and modelling.
 
Modelled writing refers on the one hand to the selection of models to show students how writing works.  It also refers to the teacher’s practice of modelling or demonstrating writing to students.  The best source of models for writing is the real world, that is, the texts that students read.  In modelled writing, teachers provide students with examples of the type of text they will be composing, explanations of how these texts work and structured demonstrations of what efficient writers know and do.
 
Modelled writing helps students gain the knowledge about language, vocabulary and text structures required to write for a range of purposes.  Modelled writing should also include explicit teaching about the processes involved in composing texts.  When examining models of writing, teachers can pose such questions as:
• What is the writer’s purpose?
• From whose point of view is this text written?
• For whom might this text have been written?
• What word choices signal the writer’s purpose? What would happen if we deleted or altered these words?  For example, if the writer’s purpose is to entertain, how is language being used to develop a vivid image?
• What word choices signal the writer’s attitude? Are they convincing or perhaps too emotive or emphatic?
• How do adverbs, such as finally or previously, help you to follow the sequence of events?
• If the model is a narrative, in what tense is it written? What would be the effect if we changed the tense, e.g. from past to present?
 
In guided writing, students are required to draw on the knowledge, skills and understanding developed during modelled writing sessions, with varying degrees of support from the teacher.  Guided writing activities sometimes involve students working as a group or in pairs to support each other, with the teacher as a guide.
 
There are various ways to conduct guided writing sessions.  Guided writing sessions can involve the whole class, small groups or individuals.  Guided writing sessions are also a useful strategy for providing support for students with specific needs.
 
A common guided writing activity involves students and the teacher jointly composing a text.  The teacher might record, in random order, ideas on the topic as suggested by students.  As always, it is important that this strategy should follow purposeful, extended research.
 
The teacher might then ask the students to start organising these ideas, perhaps drawing their attention to one of the model texts examined previously.  Having thought about the content of the text and how it might be organised, students and teacher collaborate in composing a text, with the teacher scribing the developing text on the board.
 
Students could write in pairs the opening section of a text.  The teacher could then ask them to share these with the class and discuss which ones they felt were more effective and why.
 
Teachers might select one of these openings and then continue to scribe the rest of the text, eliciting ideas from the students and discussing how the class could go about shaping those ideas into a text.  In this way, students have an opportunity not only to participate in a collaboratively written text, but also to observe how a mature writer makes decisions about the structure of a text and the language choices available.  This is modelling, which is still appropriate during guided writing.
 
Teachers could discuss the developing text with students, asking such questions as:
 
• What is our purpose?
• Who is our audience?
• How can we best affect or influence our readers?
• How might we begin this text? What does the reader need to know first?
• How should we organise the different sections of this text?
• What should we leave in or take out?
• How are we going to end the text?
 
While guiding students in composing the whole text, teachers should provide guidance about particular language features and choices, posing such questions as:
 
• Can you think of a more effective verb?
• Do we need to define this technical term?
• What tense should we be using?
• This sentence is a bit clumsy. How can we make it more concise?
• This is how we would say it, but how would we write it?
• Should we combine these two sentences?  Should we split this sentence?
• What sort of punctuation do we need here?
• How can we work out the spelling of this word?
 
During guided writing, the teacher not only discusses text structure, language features and choices, but also demonstrates the processes involved in writing, posing such questions as:
 
• Let’s look at the outline we made earlier.  Is it still working okay?
• Should we revise, move or delete this section of the text?
• Have we finished or are we just blocked?
 
Throughout the above activities, students and teachers will be developing a common language for talking about language.  This language can be drawn upon when conferencing with peers, resulting in more detailed and informed feedback.
 
By jointly composing texts, students will develop an understanding of how spoken language differs from written language.  This would be demonstrated by teachers as they mould students’ verbal contributions into the language of the written mode.
 
Independent writing involves students composing their own texts without help.  Independent writing provides students with the opportunity to demonstrate their skills in composing a variety of texts.
 
When writing independently, students should be encouraged to:
 
• define their purpose
• identify their audience
• engage in further research if necessary
• jot down ideas and notes
• think about how to organise ideas effectively
• write drafts
• share drafts with peers and the teacher
• rework drafts in the light of comments about text organisation, cohesion, grammatical choices, sentence structure, spelling, punctuation and layout
• prepare and edit a final draft
• publish and present their work for further feedback.
 
During the editing phase of independent writing, a greater emphasis will be placed on aspects of writing such as spelling, punctuation, handwriting, word processing and layout.
 
Conclusion
 
At all times, students should be given the support they require to compose texts independently.  If, during independent writing sessions, students indicate the need for further development of knowledge, skills and understanding, teachers should provide further modelling and guidance.
 
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Click For some children with ADHD, frequent lying is a real problem.
Now, most kids tell untruths at some time.  It truly is a natural part of growing up.  They try to get away with something and hope they won’t be punished if they deny it.  Or they tell a lie and blame someone else for what they in fact did.
But apart from the lying most children do at some point, kids with ADHD may tell lies as a part of their ADHD symptoms.  Here’s an example:
David tells his dad he’s headed to the library after school to do homework. But instead of going right away, he impulsively decides to hang out with friends. And when he gets to the library, he’s so distracted he doesn’t get any work done.
Later, his dad asks to see his homework, and without thinking, David lies and blurts out that he left it at the library. This is an impulsive response to a situation created by David’s ADHD symptoms.
Ironically, kids with ADHD generally don’t make great liars.  It’s hard for them to keep their answers straight and consistently remember the untruths, especially when asked several times.
There’s a saying that I like to point out to these kids: “If you always tell the truth, you never have to remember what you said.”
For you as a parent, it’s important to distinguish willful lying from what I call “ADHD symptoms untruths.”  How do you do that?
If you observe your child over time, you’ll begin to get a good sense of when he’s likely to lie and in what situations.  You can preempt a lot of lies by guiding the conversation and asking the right questions.
Let’s go back to the example with David.
His dad might know that David has a hard time getting started on his homework after school. And if he wanted to see whether David did his homework, he might say something like this:
David, I want you to tell the truth and I know sometimes you say things without thinking it through.
So, before you answer, here’s what I know happened. I spoke to the librarian. She said she saw you arrive late at the library. She told me you were horsing around a bit. Now, think for a moment before you answer—did you do your homework at the library?
Just asking a child to think before you allow him to answer may help you sort out intentional lies from impulsive responses. In fact, kids often do tell the truth when confronted by what parents already know.
Another thing to consider: A child doesn’t always think through what might happen if he actually tells the truth. Including that the reaction might not be bad. That’s why in David’s situation his dad might say:
David, there’s still time tonight to finish any homework. So if you didn’t get your work done at the library, you can finish it now.
By letting a child know the consequences, you can help them think through his response.
Obviously, this blog post is just a small sampling of the very complex issue of ADHD and lying. But I hope it gives you a window into why lying happens and what to do about it.
Keep in mind when you are a child with ADHD and get in trouble, it’s easy to get caught up in untruths. Helping kids become more able and willing to tell the truth is critical for them as they move into adolescence and adulthood.