dauphin Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 Care to speculate? I don't even know what question I'm asking here. Does anyone else's DC do this? She's going in to 6th grade, and can do writing tasks at an adequate level (eg we did IEW with CC last year). But when we were more unschool-y when we first started out, that's something she wanted to do. She started an ambitious power point presentation about ALL the horse breeds. Now, she loves horses but that seemed less the motivator than the task itself (and she just did one today on butterflies, when asked to do a show/tell/share for her forensic science camp tomorrow (no I don't see the connection either). But she's really pretty much copying the info verbatim out of the reference. Today's butterfly writeup was verbatim from a Brain Pop video. She's done that with scenes from movies, too, and then wanted to get friends to act it out with her. She's proud to share, so it's not just the internal drive/obsession with facts (although she does like memorizing things (including the entire VP history timeline cards in 8 days)). I read all that and it screams autism spectrum to me but that hasn't really been a concern on our radar....for multiple reasons... I'm sure we could work on summarizing skills but I'd love outside opinions on the motivation here.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndOfOrdinary Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Does it by any chance have to do with perfectionism? Is the text seen a inherently "perfect" thus not needing anything else? I do know that if my son likes the way things are written, he would just as soon not put in the effort of changing them. Plagiarism is no where on his radar and he seems to think the idea is flattering rather than insulting. I used to recopy my math homework in pen over and over till it was perfect and my son takes on seemingly overwhelming tasks in scope out of the idea that to do any less would not be perfect. Something about the pages or presentation being clean and perfect we both find soothing. He has some mild OCD stuff going on....don't know if she has any symptoms of that. I do not know if I am the best person to respond with the idea that the behavior is suspect or not, since my husband openly tells me my family is autistic and I have learned too many things from them to ever be normal. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 It may be a purpose thing. As in the purpose is to tell the people about butterflies and this book tells about butterflies really well so what is the purpose in rewriting it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slache Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 I love to do that. I still do it. I have a notebook I keep. I'm probably on my 50th one since I was a teen, which is when I started. I don't have them all. I wish I did. I'd upload a picture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dauphin Posted July 25, 2014 Author Share Posted July 25, 2014 Does it by any chance have to do with perfectionism? Is the text seen a inherently "perfect" thus not needing anything else? I do know that if my son likes the way things are written, he would just as soon not put in the effort of changing them. Plagiarism is no where on his radar and he seems to think the idea is flattering rather than insulting. I used to recopy my math homework in pen over and over till it was perfect and my son takes on seemingly overwhelming tasks in scope out of the idea that to do any less would not be perfect. Something about the pages or presentation being clean and perfect we both find soothing. He has some mild OCD stuff going on....don't know if she has any symptoms of that. I do not know if I am the best person to respond with the idea that the behavior is suspect or not, since my husband openly tells me my family is autistic and I have learned too many things from them to ever be normal. :) LOL valid questions and I might have to think on them. But overall, perfectionism and OCD-ness is definitely NOT her issue. Hehehe. She has started quite a few of these projects and really hasn't finished any of them, either. Often because the initial setup was a bit overly ambitious. But she also loses steam - I think she loses interest as the initial novelty of the project wears off and she moves on to the next thing. Now, that's her in general (crafts, chores, conversations ;) ). Books are the only thing she ever finishes, really. She loves to read but likes nonfiction probably as much as fiction. Favorite fiction stories, though, are puzzles/mysteries (e.g., Encyclopedia Brown, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew). Go figure. I think it's less about the model being ideal and more about what you said about not putting in the effort to change it. Like you said, plagiarism isn't on the radar, and if the point is the presentation, why exactly must one reinvent the wheel?? Haha, what IS normal, anyway? Many of us have a 'touch of the 'tism. It can be adaptive in some ways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dauphin Posted July 25, 2014 Author Share Posted July 25, 2014 It may be a purpose thing. As in the purpose is to tell the people about butterflies and this book tells about butterflies really well so what is the purpose in rewriting it? Yeah, that. We haven't covered "what is plagiarism." But I just wondered why she keeps starting them and never really cares about the end product (sharing the information with others), or at least not caring about seeing it through. Oh, I forgot, after I introduced her to Scratch, she decided she'd like to try her hand at making a web page and she just started one dedicated to writing up information about horses and horse breeds. She grabbed like 4-5 references and piled them up. And then copied verbatim. I love to do that. I still do it. I have a notebook I keep. I'm probably on my 50th one since I was a teen, which is when I started. I don't have them all. I wish I did. I'd upload a picture. Ooh, I wish I could pick your brain! :). So this is just intrinsically rewarding? Just starting lists of facts about something? There never seems to be an "end product" or goal in mind (although she likes to intermittently read the partially completed projects to me as she's working on them - is that seeking affirmation? Positive feedback? Constructive feedback????). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colleen in NS Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 Maybe it's her way of processing information she finds interesting? A way of remembering it? A visual person is helped by the act of writing something down. And there is something satisfying about getting information on paper, esp. by handwriting. Is she visual and tactile? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dauphin Posted July 28, 2014 Author Share Posted July 28, 2014 You may have some points there. She's pretty kinesthetic but I don't recall what was secondary... Fwiw, she's usually typing these things up. Looking at what you quoted, it isn't entirely accurate to say there's no end product in mind, it's more that we rarely end up with some kind of -finished- end product.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slache Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Ooh, I wish I could pick your brain! :). So this is just intrinsically rewarding? Just starting lists of facts about something? There never seems to be an "end product" or goal in mind (although she likes to intermittently read the partially completed projects to me as she's working on them - is that seeking affirmation? Positive feedback? Constructive feedback????). It's very relaxing. I cannot get the satisfaction out of typing that I can get from "copywork". I started copying facts, went to poetry and song lyrics, then selections from my favorite writers, then Spanish poetry. Right now it's Greek words. No goal in mind, just enjoyment. I like to share it too, but not for affirmation. I'm sorry I don't have an answer for you. I never thought about it before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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