Does anyone else have a kid who follows directions a little too literally? And I mean seriously-not to be a silly. I'm referring to my 7 y/o son in 2nd grade. Examples: Directions ask to write which would take longer to write (word,sentence, or book). He answers "sentence". Why? Because in his mind "sentence" has more letters so it takes longer to write. When I told him it meant an actual word,a whole sentence, or a whole book he broke down in tears for misunderstanding it. What do I do with this? I marked them wrong but felt really bad about it since he was right in his little world Last year the directions on the bottom of a page said to "turn the page and write these 3 spelling words (I forgot the words) without looking". If you get them right color in the big star. Seems easy enough. I glanced at his paper to see if he got the 1st word right. He did but it covered a part of the star. No big deal as he has big writing. After the 2nd word I glance over and the word is written right through the star. I asked him why he's writing in the star he's supposed to color in. With a very annoyed voice he says "Well, it's hard to write them without looking!". He was spelling them with his eyes closed. While I got a little laugh out of it at the time I'm beginning to see a pattern. Once he had to write the opposite of "sweet" and he wrote "bossy". Perhaps that one is my fault since I tend to use the word sweet as adjective about people more than flavor. Should I be looking over any directions I think he might take the wrong way and explain what they want? Should I let him take the tests and only let him fix them if he obviously misunderstood the directions. Or do I just mark it wrong. I hate to mark things wrong on his tests because of this. I should add that I only keep track of test scores (not quizzes). I usually only grade tests to get a yearly average so they can get prizes/meals at local businesses for good report cards just like their PS friends get. I'm not that hung up on grades but I just don't know how to deal with my out-of-the-box thinker. I don't want it to be a problem later.
I love your post. It sounds like some of my kids. I would not mark his answers wrong if they make sense, but I would explain to him that there could be another way of looking at the question and explain what else it could have meant. Once in her senior year of high school my sister answered a question on a home ec test the way she thought it should be. The question was, "What do you do with your Jello ring when it is molded?" The correct answer was dip it in hot water and turn it out onto the serving plate. My sister, who is the smartest person I know, put... throw it away. I am not making this up. (Do you think she might be related to your son?) I should have told you that this test was required back then for all senior girls whether they took Home Ec or not. It was part of a scholarship program for girls interested in Home Ec. My sister had taken French instead of Home Ec and it was pretty obvious to everyone!
I have a couple of out of the box thinkers too. Personally, I wouldn't mark them wrong. That's the great thing about homeschool-you can talk with them to find out what they were thinking. His answer isn't wrong, it's just not the same answer that the person writing the test thought it should be. I would, however, sit down with him and explain the "correct" answer without telling him that he is wrong: "Tell me, why you decided that sentence was the correct answer. You're right, the word sentence WOULD take longer to write. Now, what if we were to write an actual word, sentence, and book? Which of those things would take the longest to write?" That out of the box thinking will be a great assesst to him in life! I would encourage it as much as possible.
Sounds like you have a divergent thinker. The world needs more people who view things in unique ways. I wouldn't mark those wrong, but explain to him what was intended while praising him for being able to see things in a unique way.
You have a wonderful scientist in the making, so encourage him! My brother used to train driving examiners in the British army. In one test, my brother drove a large vehicle, probably a transporter of some sort, following instructions given by an examiner. He literally did whatever they said. On one occasion, an examiner told him to "drive through the roundabout", so he did - going over a central grass circle and emerging the other side. Also, I correct my children when they say anything ambiguous or misleading: "Do you know the time?" "Yes." "Do you know when mom will be back?" "Yes." It irritates them, but it forces them to think. And, by the way, when I read the first question you quoted, I automatically thought 'sentence' as well.
I understand exactly what you're going through since I am raising a very literal thinker! However, I tend to approach it a bit differently. If ds were to answer the word, sentence, book question the same way I would count it as correct. Because he was able to explain his answer. Anytime ds is able to give a reasoned (one he had to think through) answer it's correct. I tell him "Good answer, You gave that a lot of though. Would your answer be the same if you though about that question like this?" First, it tells him that his thought process was perfectly acceptable and it was good that he did use his brain to think about the question. Second, it opens up the possibility that there are many ways to think about a question and that he is capable of thinking in more than one way. Literal thinkers need to know it's ok to think outside the box and that there are 360 degrees of direction once you are outside of the box. Marty
OMG, I REMEMBER DOING THAT QUESTION!!! My first response to it was exactly the same as your child's!!! Most of the time, with children that age, I go over all the directions before giving them the go-ahead to take the quiz/test. But if I don't for some reason, and I get a response to a question that's not exactly what's in the AK, we just talk about it.
My oldest DS and I are very literal thinkers, VERY. Now that he is older he can get very smart-alecky with it, sad to say, but so can I. I don’t count his work wrong as long as he can explain his answer and I know that he is not just trying to be smart.
not to be an alarmist, but I have an autistic son(aspbergers) and this is one of the first things that tipped off his teacher. On an IQ test he was asked to list 4 kinds of money. The expected answer was nickel, dime, quarter,etc. His answer was dinero, yen,franc,euro...also he took common sayings very literally such as raining cats and dogs(he would look up in disbelief) and wondering why someone would say "be there in a second", when clearly it would take much longer than that. Your ds sounds just like mine did at that age. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. On the contrary, my ds who is now a gifted 21 year old writer, is one of the most entertaning and interesting people I know. But I would keep it in mind.
Hi everyone, I have a 20 year old son with Asperger's Syndrome. I asked him the question about the types of coins. He said, "Yen, Euro, Pound..." I kid you not, but he did say that he thought of the other answer, but chose to go that way with his answer. He had not read this forum or anything. I did not think he would answer that way at all, but he is a literal thinker for sure. When he was younger, he always woke up and had to eat immediately. I used to tell him that his stomach got up before him. Anyway, he started waking up earlier and earlier and seemed worried about something. I finally asked him what was wrong. He told me that he was worried because his stomach woke up first. Apparently, he was trying to wake up before his stomach. I explained what that saying meant, and he was very relieved. Bountiful blessings, Susan
It took me a minute to figure it out but that is awesome! I just got home from work so thanks for all the replies. I think I'll re-grade that test and just watch for directions that might be misunderstood in the future. It's so encouraging to know I'm not alone
I WOULD NOT check this as wrong. I would use it as an opportunity to explain and then move on and let him know that there is nothing bad about misunderstanding. Also, I would "grade" very liberally at this age. Personally I don't think it is necessary to give tests. That of course is up to you.If you grade at all: I would "grade" conversations that you have with him. I would "grade" how much he is willing to participate, even if he makes mistakes. For instance if you are outside and looking at birds and he asks questions and you answer and he seems to get it. Maybe you even have to go to the computer to look things up--count it as learning. You and he can learn a lot together. Help him to foster a love for learning, not a "need" for performance. I am speaking from some experience (although with an older child). I wanted to evaluate things he did just like the schools, only to realize that may just be the worst way to evaluate his achievements.
I forgot to add that I did something like this when I was younger. I was in gymnastics and my coach always asked us to point our toes. Well, I pointed my toes, and only my toes,, I didn't point my whole foot. It looked awful, but I followed the directions. To this day, I don't like doing anything that I don't know the "rules" or "steps" to with full understanding. I don't know if this is related to this, but my son once asked my mom if she was in the phone when he was talking to her on the phone. He also used to think the people were acting out the movies or TV shows when we were watching them.
I am like this as well. It does mean occasionally things need to be explained to me a bit better, but that's it. Like everyone else, I wouldn't mark that off either. I would tell him very creative answer, but that I think the author had something else in mind. It might also make a good starting place for explaining 'expressions of speech' and how sometimes we have to really think about what a paper is asking. From my own experience, taking the time to explain what a paper is asking will really make him a much better test taker! My own experience: just to amuse me LOL I took an IQ test. The question was which one of these things is not like the others : Saw Hammer Screwdriver Spoon. I chose the saw because it doesn't have a handle. The answer they were looking for? Spoon because it's not a tool (unless you live in my house and your dh carries off the REAL tools...). I still think both answers are 'right' but everyone I ask says oh, the spoon! LOL
And 'hammer', because it doesn't begin with an 'S'. And 'screwdriver', because it's the only one you twist.
Of course, a spoon is a tool but not one that carpenters generally carry around in their tool belt unless they are having yogurt for lunch. I would say you do twist a spoon at least in stiffer things like ice cream or dirt in the backyard. I would also say that saws have a handle, it would be extremely difficult to use one without a handle. It isn't shaped as differently as the screwdrivers or the hammers which are at 90 degree angles from each other. They definitely shouldn't count off for someone who answers that hammer is the only one that starts with H as that makes more sense than any of them. I tend to think questions like these are dumb. I am not a fan of multiple choice or any type of fill in the bubble answers. I will say it is important though to teach our children to communicate clearly AND to TRY to understand what the other person is saying or intending to say. I sometimes think the hardest part about succeeding in our test driven culture in the educational realm at least is trying to read the testers mind. Like it or not, my children will have to deal with it. Not that they should have to learn how to deal with it in second grade. I love the idea of learning through conversation because just as we all had different thoughts on this problem so people in general have all different ideas that can be put together into new things. Of course, the topic is usually not so irrelevant, hopefully.
I agree with this. My only "fear" (if you want to call it that) is IF my kids have to return to ps some day. I feel they should know how to take tests as much as I hate the "teach to the test" mentality. If I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that they'd never set foot in there again I wouldn't even bother with them. I would love to say I'm in it for the long haul but I'm not sure what our government is up to:wink:
Baby steps. I don't see anything wrong with explaining that they weren't wrong but this is what the tester wanted but I would encourage you that it's pretty normal for kids to not have heard all our idioms and to automatically understand what they mean. I would definitely explain it so he knows what "not looking means" etc but it will be a life long process deciphering what other people mean. I guess that's what I meant to say is not to expect understanding all the time but you can still explain it.
