The best way to help your child become a better writer is to separate the mechanics of writing (spelling, handwriting, punctuation, grammar) from the creative aspects. Your child's strength is in his vivid imagination, a valuable asset in a writer. Help your child learn that writing is a two-stage process; the first stage is getting the ideas on paper; correcting or editing work is the second step.

For writing the first draft of an essay or story, follow this rule: there will be no corrections or criticism for spelling or grammar. Your child should be encouraged to write things down in whatever form or order she is comfortable with. Once the ideas are in written form, you can guide your child to developing a more polished version. When your child is very young, you will give a lot of help; as she grows older, she will learn to do more for herself. Remind your child that even professional writers rely on editors to proofread and correct their work.

Mind Mapping

Once good technique for getting ideas to flow is mind mapping. To do this, your child starts with a main subject, and writes down a few words or draws a picture representing the idea in the middle of a blank sheet of paper. He should then draw lines or branches radiating out from the center for each main idea he has about the subject; with each line he should write a few words or draw another picture. He can add details to each idea by again writing a few words, connecting them via a line or branch to the idea they relate to.

Once the ideas are written down in a mind map format, you can help your child develop them into written sentences, using the map as a guideline for developing the structure of his paragraph or essay.

Experiment with Different Formats

If your child seems to balk at writing anything in narrative format, have him try writing poetry or verse. Introduce your child to the concept of free verse — poetry that does not have to have a particular rhythm or cadence, and does not have to rhyme. One of the advantages of writing poetry is that it frees the child from writing conventions, such as the need to use complete sentences. It also allows your child to experiment with the sounds of words and to use novel words that are evocative of a particular mood or feeling.

Your child might enjoy writing haiku, in part because it is short. Haiku traditionally has three lines consisting of seventeen syllables in total, usually arranged in lines of five, seven, and five syllables. Although the form is very brief, writing haiku will help your child develop sensitivity to the phonetic structure of word segments.

You might also encourage your child to write a play; it is sometimes easier for the budding writer to focus only on the dialogue among the characters. Your child might enjoy presenting her play as a puppet show or using a video camera to make her own movie using her own written screenplay.

Use Artwork as Inspiration

Your child may do better with writing if you encourage him to draw a picture of his ideas or a story he wants to write, and then use words to describe what is going on in the picture. He might want to write in comic-book or storyboard format, with a series of pictures and a short sentence describing each one. Alternatively, your child might draw a larger, more complex picture and then write several sentences or paragraphs describing what is going on in the picture. You might also want to encourage your child to write a story, a set of impressions, or a poem about an illustration or artwork in a book.