writing a paper....how to get going when you're stuck?

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my son is 16 years old and in a high school program at our local community college. He takes a full course load and will complete his high school requirements concurrently with getting an AA.

He excels in math and has no problem with courses requiring study and non-essay testing.

Writing is another story. Here's the issue: how to organize information? What's a process for simplifying the outlining task? How can I help him research his topic, then convert the many facts into an organized paper?

I've tried asking him questions to help him structure his work and this seems to be little or no help.

He's at the point that he totally stresses out when faced with the task...today, it's re-writing a paper from the rough draft he did last week. (And he totally stressed out during that process.) the stress pushes him to total overload, basically incapacitating him.

We (his mother and I) have just had him evaluated and got a diagnosis of Asperger's. We'll be pursuing help that's been suggested. However, I wanted to turn to this forum to see what practical advice I could find.

thanks.

oh gosh...good luck!

I'm mid 30s, took some college education courses, including A's in english--and I STILL can't write. I think I can when I set out. Then EVERYTHING is jumbled. As if I need to think of it more in drama terms (plot ect), and those I don't remember.

The function of a sentence? blah.
The shape and outline of a paragraph? blah (and those stats have just changed from what it used to be thesis, body, repeated thesis conclusion to something so off the wal that I couldn't explain what my 17 year old said it was now)
And I NEED to write, so if someone smart would PLEASE respond to the sirs query...

I know exactly what you're talking about. I struggled with writing for many years and have both diagnosed with asperger's and a separate writing disability, and even now in college I still have a hard time. In fact I'm currently working on a paper this weekend and it is also stressing me out a lot.

The first thing is that, to help with the stress, is to realize that except for the most gifted of writers, writing is a painful process for everyone. It may be significantly more painful for him and me, but regardless, the feeling of being stuck is certainly not limited to people with disabilities, and knowing this may help.

The second is to realize that not all techniques and tricks meant for "normal" writers are as effective as for us - for example, a typical process a teacher may recommend is to write an outline, then a rough draft, then polish the sentences in the rough draft into a final draft, in a sort of "figure out the main structure first" way, and this just doesn't work for me at all.

I sometimes find it more effective to, say, just write the sentences I want to say in whatever order, and then rearrange them using cut-and-paste (use real paper and scissors if that helps!)and then figure out what's missing. Just incrementally building the paper one sentence at a time as it comes to you. It's good to, in general, have "working" thesis statements and topic sentences, or at least a vague idea of what they will be, but it is entirely reasonable to build a paper from the inside out.

You said he's good at math. I'm fairly good at math too and I've discovered my writing has improved tremendously once I started writing papers like math proofs. It's actually very similar, and the higher you go in writing (to college level) the more emphasis on logical argument and reasoning.

This is not a good recommendation for those on a deadline or who have problems procrastinating, but it's good to take "creative breaks" when you're stuck. This is one reason why starting a paper early is essential. If there's no time pressure, and the creative juices just aren't flowing, taking a productive break can be just the trick.

What's a productive break? 15-30 minutes getting away from the paper while still thinking about it. TV and video games aren't great since you lose focus on the paper itself. A hot shower, going outside to shoot some baskets, taking a jog up and down the street, oiling your bike, anything where you can remove yourself from the writing environment and relieve some stress while still thinking about the paper.

Finally, for when it's 10pm and the paper's due the next morning, it's anything that relieves the stress while still writing. Music. Something to chew on. If he has a laptop, changing locations might help. And also, just getting words out on paper - not necessarily even sentences. If he can just get some applicable words out, it's better than nothing.

Hope this helps!

these are all good ideas. i'll share them with him. i really appreciate your help!

if anyone else has additional ideas...please post!

I tend to just write out whatever I have and then fill in the gaps later on and reorganize paragraphs as necessary or remove them. I have an extreme mastery of grammar when it comes to writing things "right" the first time and editing to the point where I've had teachers accuse me of handing in the same draft for multiple drafts required.

When I did my term paper in college, the professor suggested we put each fact we found on a 3x5 card. A note at the top referenced a 4x6 card with the bibliographical data. When the facts were gathered and ready to arrange, put the 3x5 cards on a table and arrange them so the information flows from item to item. Then the paper is practically written except for the connecting phrases and final conclusions.

If the entire task looks overwhelming, start by writing the question "What is this paper about?" then writing the answer. Take the first two facts and write a connecting sentence or paragraph. Add the next fact after a connector, etc. Double space to leave room for the polishing notes.

This also helped me write a science fair project. Too bad I'm a lousy artist.

I could use some advice myself, and I'm an English major two courses shy of my B.A. What has happened is I've grown such an intolerance to criticism that it takes me several hours to eke out a paragraph when writing an essay. In pursuing those last six credits, I have taken and dropped six courses. Doing the reading is fine; in fact, I will complete all the necessary reading and then not complete the assignments! I'm currently in two courses now, trying again, but the problem is still there.

this is very interesting. i'm the original poster...a dad of an aspie, not an aspie myself. i fear i'm the source of criticism (or, perhaps, just one source of criticism along with the prof) because I see my son freeze up. i'm really, really working to manage my criticism. frankly, i don't say ANYTHING that is critical, and I'm really quite good at not showing any feelings of "you're not working at this" but I know that feeling creeps into the interaction. or, at least I think it does. Any Aspie that can give me perspective on this, i am all ears.

back to the poster....what, if anything, is working to get you moving to complete an assignment?

what i observe with my son is that he seems clearly at a roadblock at certain times. it's so hard to grasp for me. because i know, i KNOW that he knows what to do, but he's frozen, then stress builds, and we go down the downward spiral. rather, he does.

thx for listening...thx for any ideas!

i have (and have had) this issue with writing. I usually end up writing my papers in the last 2 days that they are due. The way I do it is the same way the previous poster said... cut and paste... I use Microsoft word and I just start typing then go "oh this needs moved up, this needs to go here, this needs to go there..."

I do most of my research online through the college now. But I used to do it using books from the library and the notecard for each sentence thing (in the middle of the living room floor). Then they get grouped into categories depending on how I was writing the paper. If I have something that I think I might use but just doesn't fit, it gets it's own pile.

Outlining... um i cheated... if it wasn't due before the paper... then wait to outline until after the paper is finished.... if it was due like two weeks before the paper.... i would do the research....write the notecards... seperate the piles.... each of the piles is a category- those are headings... then pick details -one from each of the notecards in each pile- these are the filler... this also helps write the paper

i am still trying to figure out how to handle school stress myself... papers and speeches and such just about drop me... but i'll get times where, because i know i just have to do it, i'll be up through the night, finishing something, hyperfocus-like, then once i am done i feel better... i know that if i get through this, if i get it done, it is gone, if i don't do it, it is still there, it still sits in the back of my brain going "hey you didn't finish me! I'm still here!"

In other words the feeling of relief that it is done far outweighs the feeling of disappointment in myself that I didn't do it.

The worst critic of your son is going to be your son himself. So what I would suggest when you see him freeze is to try to get him to talk it out (if he can). Not to read what he already has, but to go to the next point in the outline, look at the notes he has for that section, and explain it to someone verbally (even if it is just a taperecorder)

If he is having an issue fixing something in a rough draft, try to get him to move to the next issue, some of us have problems doing that. I have this issue, when i come to something that I know i can't fix, in word, i make a new document, cut it out, paste it in the new document, save the new document, close it, and move on. then i have to go back and reinsert things and see if i can fix it now that the rest of the issues are fixed, or if they even needed to be there.