Sam has struggled with writing for years. At first it was the physical aspect of writing. He had fine motor delays--mostly because he is ambidextrous, which means he didn't develop a strong right or left preference, which didn't give him the normal strength and control he would have had if he had been definitely right or left handed.

Sam also has ADHD. I know, EVERYONE seems to have that these days, but in his case it is legitimate. I know this because the medication he is on has made a big difference in his ability to focus on things. He still has normal 11 year old boy behavioral issues, which is fine. I don't believe in medicating away personality. But for a long time, he had difficulty writing--not the physical aspect, but the actual mental process of writing. He is lazy, too, which didn't help. If he was told he needed to write 5 sentences in a story, he would write 5 sentences. Period. For years I have tried to get him to not think about the number of sentences or paragraphs, but to just tell the story, the whole story the way he has it in his head--because that was what was important. If it takes you 5 sentences to tell the story, fine. If it takes you 10, fine also. The idea is to complete the telling of the story. So he has worked on that. *laughs* I am tough with him on writing. I insist that his punctuation, spelling and grammar be as accurate as possible. Of course, I do allow for his being 11. I might pull my hair out at the way he writes some things, but they are in his words, the words of an 11 year old.

So he had an assignment due Friday--a book report. I remember the last book report he did. *shudders* He hated me by the time he finished it because I kept handing it back to him--not for spelling, punctuation or grammar (because he is pretty good with that), but for content. He had a list of things he had to address and he addressed them as if he were making a list. His book report read like a grocery list. So I expected this one to be a challenge also. I was pleasantly surprised.

He did his report on Frankenstein. The book he read was an edited version for younger readers, but I have read that version and it is pretty good and true to the original. He showed me his first draft and I made a couple of suggestions, mostly trying to get him to write smoother compound sentences rather than short, choppy separate sentences. He just now emailed his final verson to me (he has had the run of my desktop since I have been attached to my laptop). I am posting it here because it's not half bad. And he is getting a major kick out of having something he has written "posted online."

My Book Report, by Sam Shaffer

 

A few days ago I read a book called Frankenstein. The author of the book was Mary Shelley. When I read this book I felt sad for the monster because everyone hated it. He may have killed some people, but he only killed them because they were mean to him. If those people were not so mean to him, he would not have killed them. The people were more at fault than he was.

 

The problem in the story was that the monster that Victor Frankenstein created was running amuck. The monster was destroying things and was also killing members of Victor