Not keeping up with his brain

[Χά�ων]

Ds is filling out a multiplication table but has spent more time erasing the thing. Why? He is mentally on the next problem or three problems down. He knows the answer but his brain is moving too fast. He is writing fast but not as fast as his brain is processing the problems. An odd odd problem.

[prairiewindmomma]

We have found it helpful to fold or cover the paper....our boys have a similar lag

[PeterPan]

Yes, our psych said this will happen with ds because of his IQ, that his mind will go faster than his hands will be able to.  

[OneStepAtATime]

Definitely an issue with DS, too. Mind leaps far ahead of his ability to get it on paper.  And he processes things so quickly that sometimes when he is dictating he forgets I'm not in his head and he is like twelve steps ahead of where I am.  Covering up everything else while he works on that one thing has helped here, too.  Dictation for other things as long as I keep him focused on the immediate long enough to write it down.

 

With flash cards, he started making it more of a game.  I flash up 3x7 for instance.  He won't say 21.  He will say "that's 31 - 10" or "that's one more than 20" or something else like that.  It keeps his brain a bit more engaged in what is happening in that moment. 

[PeterPan]

Definitely an issue with DS, too. Mind leaps far ahead of his ability to get it on paper.  And he processes things so quickly that sometimes when he is dictating he forgets I'm not in his head and he is like twelve steps ahead of where I am.  Covering up everything else while he works on that one thing has helped here, too.  Dictation for other things as long as I keep him focused on the immediate long enough to write it down.

 

With flash cards, he started making it more of a game.  I flash up 3x7 for instance.  He won't say 21.  He will say "that's 31 - 10" or "that's one more than 20" or something else like that.  It keeps his brain a bit more engaged in what is happening in that moment. 

Ds does stuff like that too!  And yes, it turns out his processing speed is more than double dd's.  After years of working with molasses, it's a real shock to work with something different!

[wapiti]

Brain faster than hand = bottleneck

 

In our house, it might look like this:  ds (who wants to avoid all handwriting) reads deep math problem.  Ds stares off into space.  After a few minutes, I pipe in with some statement or question as to whether he is actually working.  Ds erupts in anger that I just erased the whole page of math calculations he had going on in his head.  "Now I have to start all over!!"  Then approximately 7 minutes later, without having actually lifted the pencil, he provides an answer and viola, it turns out to be correct.  (For quite some time, he could solve problems intended to involve setting up a proportion, but without actually knowing what a proportion was or how to set it up on paper.)

[OneStepAtATime]

Ds does stuff like that too!  And yes, it turns out his processing speed is more than double dd's.  After years of working with molasses, it's a real shock to work with something different!

Yes, exactly.  Totally the same here.  DD has very slow processing and word retrieval issues.  DS does not seem to have this same situation.  His glitches are different.  He can process so much faster.  Kids are a conundrum!  :)

[SandyKC]

What everybody has already said here!  Writing anything by hand can be a much slower process than thinking of the answer for some kids.. In such cases, they will often have problems getting things written properly on paper.  It can cause them to leave words and sentences out of papers they're writing too.  Looking ahead, you might want to consider setting your DS up with Dragon Naturally Speaking software so he can dictate his papers as fast as he can talk.  That will allow him to get more written in the essay without losing it while trying to write it by hand. ;-)