A few during school work questions

[amo_mea_filiis.]

I know ds isn't the only one, but I'm wondering how you all handle this, if you even do.

 

I notice it the most with math. Ds will be literally in the middle of a math question and while counting lines, another problem catches his eye and he'll jump ahead to do it, then go back and finish what he was working on.

 

I can't decide if I want to redirect him and keep his attention on the problem he's doing, or leave it alone. Other than attention, I want to have him work in order for left to right directionality (he's having problems reading because of this).

 

The other is him not really following directions. Like in math again, it will say to draw 3 more triangles. He'll write 3, 3 times. This bothers me because, cognitively, he does have trouble following directions so I want him to do what it says, but OTOH, he is drawing the correcting amount of something and getting the right answer.

 

What say the hive?

[TheReader]

For the jumping around, have you tried using a blank page to block off the portion below where he's working? It might be that the visual clutter of the page distracts him, he sees something easier or less mundane or more interesting or whatever and jumps over to it. If the bottom of the page is blocked off with only one line (or row of problems) showing at a time, he will have to do that row first, then you can work on left to right.

 

If the left to right still is a problem, maybe create some kind of sliding marker with a window cut out, so that he can slide the window from left to right and only see one problem at a time, period. That would be more complicated, and maybe just overlapping two sheets in a right triangle/reverse L format would help so that you block off all but the problem on the left, then slide it over and show the next, then the next, etc. and then move down to the next row and repeat. Something like that.

 

I wouldn't make it a discipline issue, just matter of fact, "here, this will help us focus on one thing at a time..." and do it, just as you might correct the way he draws letters or something by showing him the proper steps but not scolding him for getting the right result in the "wrong" manner.

 

For the directions....I'm not sure. At young ages I tend to ignore it, but if there's a cognitive issue...could you ignore it during math and then play games that involve following directions? Simon Says, Follow the Leader, a Treasure Hunt where you give verbal clues (or written if his reading is up for it) and he has to do things in order or it won't make sense? Things like that to work on the issue of being able to follow directions without it becoming an adversarial thing? These are some of the things I do with my youngest who struggles in that area (before him, I would just have ignored it).

 

Also maybe try and figure out why...one of mine hated to follow directions if he was bored with the material, so he'd make it harder or more interesting by doing it his way. It wasn't that he couldn't follow the directions, it was that he deemed them too easy. This is not the case with my youngest, who sounds similar in some small ways to your son, so with him I use games and things outside of school time to work on that, and then try as hard as possible to keep the fight out of school.

 

It's a challenge; best of luck to you.

[amo_mea_filiis.]

Thank you! That makes a lot of sense.

 

I'll have him do a math page with his OT and get some direction following advice. The way he did it makes me think *something* is off, but I can't figure it out. He had to draw more triangles and write the addition sentence. So he drew 333, 4444, 55555, etc, instead of 3 triangles, 4 triangles. It was just weird seeing him work.

 

He hates direction following games so that's a clue that I need to work on it!

[TheReader]

Thank you! That makes a lot of sense.

 

I'll have him do a math page with his OT and get some direction following advice. The way he did it makes me think *something* is off, but I can't figure it out. He had to draw more triangles and write the addition sentence. So he drew 333, 4444, 55555, etc, instead of 3 triangles, 4 triangles. It was just weird seeing him work.

 

He hates direction following games so that's a clue that I need to work on it!

 

Is he receptive to you showing him after what it was supposed to look like? As in, drawing the triangles below the numbers he's drawn and saying something like "Good, you drew exactly the right number of items! It had asked for triangles, so I would have done this (draw the triangles) but that is very good..." and then show what the number sentence should have looked like (3 + 4 = 7 or whatever it was).

 

Having the OT walk you through it is likely a good idea, too. It can be so challenging sometimes! I wish you the best of luck with him.

[2squared]

I notice it the most with math. Ds will be literally in the middle of a math question and while counting lines, another problem catches his eye and he'll jump ahead to do it, then go back and finish what he was working on.

 

My kids do this. If they are working on a problem and see an easier problem or more interesting problem, they jump ahead, complete it, and come back. I don't have a problem with it. When they are taking tests, I want them to have the skills to be able to skip harder problems and sometimes they may need to let the info sit in their brains a little before knowing what to do with it. Sometimes, too, doing a different problem will trigger something and they'll come back knowing how to approach an earlier problem. I guess I don't see math worksheets or math thinking as necessarily linear.

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

I tell my children to look over their work before doing it and work the easiest problems first. Then go to the harder ones. It gives them confidence and makes the page not seem to long.

 

My dd will come to me and ask if she can change the "draw 3 triangles" to "draw 3 flowers" instead, I allow this. As long as they let me know they read the directions and understand what is being asked then a change in color or shape is fine.

[amo_mea_filiis.]

My kids do this. If they are working on a problem and see an easier problem or more interesting problem, they jump ahead, complete it, and come back. I don't have a problem with it. When they are taking tests, I want them to have the skills to be able to skip harder problems and sometimes they may need to let the info sit in their brains a little before knowing what to do with it. Sometimes, too, doing a different problem will trigger something and they'll come back knowing how to approach an earlier problem. I guess I don't see math worksheets or math thinking as necessarily linear.

 

I also never saw a reason to work in order for math. I never require this of dd, but ds jumps, gets lost, answers things wrong, or will say it right, but write it wrong because he's verbally doing say problem 4, but writing for problem 6 or 7.

 

I tell my children to look over their work before doing it and work the easiest problems first. Then go to the harder ones. It gives them confidence and makes the page not seem to long.

 

My dd will come to me and ask if she can change the "draw 3 triangles" to "draw 3 flowers" instead, I allow this. As long as they let me know they read the directions and understand what is being asked then a change in color or shape is fine.

 

Dd also scans for she knows first.

 

Normally he draws lines or circles for everything, it was just drawing the number x many times that I found strange. I'll do shapes with him today and see if he can draw x number triangles, squares, etc.

 

Thank you everyone! Math with OT, direction games, and more verbal work is the plan.