> time... but in the meantime, how do I honestly satisfy
 > a requirement for 4.5
 > hours a week of spelling and writing?  Any
 > suggestions??
I keep thinking of things for you, activities that I've used over the years. 
Have you tried dictated stories or reactions to literature? Read a book to 
him, then ask Aaron if he can think of another verse, a different ending to 
the story, what would have happened if the character had reacted differently, 
etc. Then, write down word for word what he had to say, printing it neatly in 
large block style letters. Then read it back to him, pointing at each word. 
He may not be really interested, but do it anyway. Then have him illustrate 
the "story". You can probably get the proper kind of paper for this from your 
teacher supervisor. This activity can take up to an hour since you should be 
able to count the read-aloud book as both reading and writing.
When I was taking my Language Arts pedagogy class, one suggestion from the 
professor was to teach kids to write *on a blackboard*, not on a tiny sheet 
of paper. Perhaps Aaron's frustration is to have to make tiny little letters 
on a tiny sheet of paper - you haven't mentioned what his fine motor skills 
development is like, so I'm wondering if perhaps he's frustrated by that? If 
you have a large blackboard or dry erase board on the wall or easel that he 
can use to write with, in large letters, he'll be able to get more practice 
on a large scale. Eventually you'll be able to move him down. If small motor 
skills aren't developed yet, there are things you can do to help those along 
- just let me know and I'll elaborate.
Another activity that would be fun, creative, artistic, appeal to a young 
man's usual zeal for food :), and cover the "writing" and "letters" 
requirement would be to make dough letters. You can use bread dough (homemade 
or the frozen kind) or pie crust dough, as both are stiff doughs that shape 
easily. After you make the dough, roll it into long rolled ropes. Shape into 
letters (and numbers if you like). Bake. Eat!
Most kids like AlphaBits cereal. If you haven't already done this, serve it 
for a couple of days for breakfast and watch his reaction. Most kids will 
start to find the letters in their name, and some will take letters out and 
arrange them on the table. This isn't a good time to make any sort of 
reaction - just observe and make mental notes to write down later. If he 
doesn't react, make a note of that, too. If he does react, maybe a week or so 
later you can do some sort of cereal sorting activity - this falls under Math 
as well as Reading/Writing - where you see how many of each letter is left in 
the box. He has to sort them out by letters. (You might want to wait til the 
box has about 1/2 left, so you and he don't spend the whole day doing this, 
grin.)
See if you can borrow a set of Alphabet stamps from your school district. 
These kinds of stamps are a little pricey ($15 for capitals, another $15 for 
lower case letters), so they're worth borrowing. Be sure to borrow a stamp 
pad too, grin, unless you have one. With the stamps, you can do several 
activities. He can play with them for awhile, and then he'll probably start 
stamping out words. I used this one in the late Kindergarten year and found 
that most of my "high reading group" was stamping out words and their names 
by the end of the year. Ones that weren't quite ready for that would just 
stamp randomly but they could point out letters, and they also drew pictures 
around these letters.
I'm sure I'll think of more...
                                 -donna
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