NESCA is currently accepting Therapy and Executive Function Coaching clients from middle school-age through adulthood with Therapist/Executive Function Coach/Parent Coach Carly Loureiro, MSW, LCSW. Carly specializes in the ASD population and also sees individuals who are highly anxious, depressed, or suffer with low self-esteem. She also offers parent coaching and family sessions when needed. For more information or to schedule appointments, please complete our Intake Form.

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punctuation

I Can Tell You a Story…I Just Can’t Write It

By | NESCA Notes 2020

By: Alissa Talamo, PhD
Pediatric Neuropsychologist, NESCA

According to understood.org, “Written expression disorder is a learning disability that results in a person having trouble expressing their thoughts in writing… They might have the greatest ideas, but their writing is disorganized and full of grammar and punctuation mistakes.” Experts believe that between 8 and 15 percent of people have a written expression disorder and it often co-occurs with other learning challenges, with two of the most common being dyslexia and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD).

Writing is difficult because it depends upon many separate components that need to be integrated into a complex whole. For example, to write well, a person needs to have acquired knowledge about the topic, retrieve needed vocabulary and express the information in a way that can be followed by the reader. At the same time, the writer needs to be able to self-monitor their progress, including switching between the main idea and writing mechanics, such as spelling, punctuation and grammar. People with written expression disorder might be able to tell an organized and interesting story, but struggle when asked to recreate that information in written form. Receiving a formal diagnosis can help a child receive extra help at school or even specialized instruction. Also, a diagnosis can possibly lead to accommodations at college.

There are also several methods of instruction that can help a student organize their writing. These programs help a student visualize or represent abstract ideas by using visually-based templates. While many of these methods are copyrighted and cannot be reproduced in this blog, some examples are programs such as Thinking maps by David Hyerle, Ed.D. or “Brain Frames.” These programs have developed specific graphic organizers to help a student with a variety of writing assignments (e.g., comparing and contrasting, ordering and sequencing) and provide specialized instruction that can help a student greatly improve their ability to express their ideas in writing.

If you believe that your child may be experiencing difficulties in the area of writing, one step is to determine the root of the difficulty. For example, does the student have an underlying learning disability or reduced self-regulation that may be negatively impacting their progress? Receiving a neuropsychological evaluation could be a useful tool in determining the appropriate supports and services to best help your child.

Sources:

https://www.understood.org/en/learning-thinking-differences

http://www.ldonline.org/article/33079/

http://www.thinkingmaps.com

http://www.architectsforlearning.com

 

About the Author:

With NESCA since its inception in 2007, Dr. Talamo had previously practiced for many years as a child and adolescent clinical psychologist before completing postdoctoral re-training in pediatric neuropsychology at the Children’s Evaluation Center.

After receiving her undergraduate degree from Columbia University, Dr. Talamo earned her doctorate in clinical health psychology from Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University.

She has given a number of presentations, most recently on “How to Recognize a Struggling Reader,” “Supporting Students with Working Memory Limitations,” (with Bonnie Singer, Ph.D., CCC-SLP of Architects for Learning), and “Executive Function in Elementary and Middle School Students.”

Dr. Talamo specializes in working with children and adolescents with language-based learning disabilities including dyslexia, attentional disorders, and emotional issues. She is also interested in working with highly gifted children.

Her professional memberships include MAGE (Massachusetts Association for Gifted Education), IDA (International Dyslexia Association), MABIDA (the Massachusetts division of IDA) and MNS (the Massachusetts Neuropsychological Society).

She is the mother of one teenage girl.

 

To book a consultation with Dr. Talamo or one of our many other expert neuropsychologists, complete NESCA’s online intake form.

Neuropsychology & Education Services for Children & Adolescents (NESCA) is a pediatric neuropsychology practice and integrative treatment center with offices in Newton, Massachusetts, Plainville, Massachusetts, and Londonderry, New Hampshire, serving clients from preschool through young adulthood and their families. For more information, please email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.