honeymommy4 Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 I called my 2nd grader's bluff today. Rising 3rd grader. 4th-5th grade level reading. Can't spell to save his life - or so I thought! Turns out he is intentionally writing at a phonetic spelling level so he does not have to work as hard. I have him in WWE1, it is way too easy for him... he knows if he works harder he will have more work, I guess! Yet he is the child always telling me how boring everything is. Not sure what to do with him. I am going to push him harder. Everyone says to give them lots of space, don't try to do too much, seems his Rx is pushing him more, I'm just not always sure what level he is at - it was just a hunch today but I was right. Any tips?? this is the kid I always have to fight with to do school.:confused: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herekittykitty Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 No advice, but he sounds like one smart cookie! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verity Posted August 15, 2012 Share Posted August 15, 2012 (edited) I pulled a child out of school who had learned how to "work the system" in a similar way. It is important to figure out what his real learning challenges are and what he is capable of. (sorry grammar police!) In our case I set some tangible rewards up front for really good performance - it can be as simple as an early "recess" to extra video game time or even credit towards some purchase he would like to make (create a chart to chart visually if it helps!) Then when I knew I was getting his real, honest to goodness best I could design his classwork to his level. It turns out that my child is one of those kids who is still flipping letters and numbers at age 10 and he does have weak fine motor skills. Those are areas that I need some professional help to remediate. But now that I know what he *can* do I have him working in the upper ranges of his ability several times a week. That sometimes means recopying a sentence that he was intentionally sloppy on, or going back over a math test where he skipped problems. Just not every writing assignment or every math test. KWIM? For the horrendous spelling (he was taught phonetic spelling at public school where they encourage them to just write regardless of spelling) we have been using the Phonetic Zoo and it has helped. Not sure what we are using this year - maybe All About Spelling since I am ordering this program as part of my 1st graders curriculum. PS the school psychologist tested my 2nd ds and said he came out with an IQ of 88 (and that I should be grateful because he was so much better off than so many she saw)..but I knew that he was much brighter than that...he just didn't care about what she was doing with him and was bored. This is a kid who now is learning Latin (and doing well!) along side complex math and science. It can be hard to judge a child's learning abilities without really getting to know the kid and creating a desire (of some type) to do his or her best. :) Edited August 15, 2012 by Verity Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heathermomster Posted August 15, 2012 Share Posted August 15, 2012 I called my 2nd grader's bluff today. Rising 3rd grader. 4th-5th grade level reading. Can't spell to save his life - or so I thought! Turns out he is intentionally writing at a phonetic spelling level so he does not have to work as hard. I have him in WWE1, it is way too easy for him... he knows if he works harder he will have more work, I guess! Yet he is the child always telling me how boring everything is. Not sure what to do with him. I am going to push him harder. Everyone says to give them lots of space, don't try to do too much, seems his Rx is pushing him more, I'm just not always sure what level he is at - it was just a hunch today but I was right. Any tips?? this is the kid I always have to fight with to do school.:confused: What was he diagnosed with? I'm all about goal setting and rewards. Maybe consider having him take a learning styles quiz and teach more to his learning style. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katemac Posted August 15, 2012 Share Posted August 15, 2012 we were doing an online program. Unfortunately there was too much repetition of the same stuff, the same lecture kept playing day after day, DD was so annoyed that she deliberately bluffed her way to kill the time. I caught her tricking the program but swapping the subject and object to see if the system can detect it. And it didn't! I didn't like it, that she's goofing around and not taking it seriously. After all, we've to pay for the course! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmmm Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 How did you figure out he was bluffing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eoffg Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Children with an LD, very often arrive at a turning point as they realise that they have an LD? Where they can make a choice? Do they recognise that they will have to make a commitment to work that extra bit harder? Or do they use it as an excuse, for not bothering to try? This is a character building turning point, where children with an LD that take up the challenge? Often become leading figures in the community, as they grew up learning how to take on a major challenge and overcome it. So rather than 'pushing him harder'? Perhaps you could rather present him with 'challenges' ? The challenges of Learning Differently? An LD as an excuse, or as motivation? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
honeymommy4 Posted August 26, 2012 Author Share Posted August 26, 2012 What was he diagnosed with? I'm all about goal setting and rewards. Maybe consider having him take a learning styles quiz and teach more to his learning style. It was ODD in 2009 then OCD/Anxiety in 2011 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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