Good advice for supporting children’s writing

Here are a few helpful pointers to how parents and grandparents can help their children/grandchildren get more out of the WriteReader app and optimize the child’s writing development.

BEFORE START

Motivate the child

Build displays with toys, make different scenes, take a walk in the zoo or in the woods – and take pictures of it. Use the experiences and images as motivation and inspiration for story writing.

“Co-author”

Support the child as a “co-author” by listening to and approving the child’s spontaneous suggestions. Ask questions about the plot in order to further develop the story. As a principal rule accept the child’s own wording and structure to make the child feel personally attached to the text.

WHILE WRITING

Customize the challenge

If the writing process is too much of a challenge, the child may just tell or record the story and let an adult write it in the adult window. The child can then copy the text in the child window. Transcript of single words can also help facilitate writing.

Adult writing

The adult’s “translation” of the child’s text should be done as grammatically correct as possible. In addition to the child experiencing correct spelling, it is also important that they visually can see and learn about the use of periods, commas and capital letters.

Line break

Make sure to do the same line breaks as the child, as this increases the child’s possibilities to make the important comparisons between the child writing and the adult writing.

ON FINISH

Support reading aloud

If the child has a hard time reading his or her own writing, they can be recorded and played back immediately prior to reading aloud. The child should then point to the words as they are played. It is important that the child uses the text in the adult window when reading aloud.

Share books

Sharing the child’s work with friends and family will help to motivate and encourage the child to continue writing. This will also allow the child to think of his or herself as a writer and appreciate the role of written language.