Following Written Directions

[Paige]

My child has a problem doing her school work because she has a problem following directions. I'm not sure if this is a real problem that I should be sensitive to (related to a LD), a problem that is typical and just requires reminders and patience, or a problem that means I should approach things differently and not have her responsible for reading and following the directions because she clearly has issues.

 

WWYD?

 

I'm talking about things where directions are given for how to do something and if the directions are read, then it will be obvious what to do or what not to do. Ex- directions say to alphabetize the words in the list on pg 5. My child will usually either alphabetize random words that are not on the pg 5 list or cry that she doesn't know what to do. I say- did you read the directions? She says yes. I ask her to read them out loud and she does. I say, did you look at the words on pg 5? She says no. I have her turn the pg, and she sees the words, and then we get the light bulb moment. This is something that occurs every day with every subject. We have more than our share of tears over not knowing what to do or getting very easy things wrong because of this. In math, the directions may say to use 3 numbers in an equation- gives the numbers- and she'll make the equation with different numbers. I say- did you see that it said to use x, y, and z? She says she did. I ask her, "Did you do that?" She says no and cries because she has to re-do it. I have had her read the directions to me in advance of doing the work, gone over what it says to do, handed it off to her to do, and then she's crying 5min later because she doesn't know the answers. Because she's not doing what the directions said to do to find the answers...Working memory has been tested and is fine.

 

Is it typical?? A sign of some problem? This particular child has auditory processing issues and tested as above average in reading comprehension, so I have been moving towards doing fewer things where I read the directions to her- she doesn't get it if she doesn't read it herself. I don't know if she is not reading it in the first place or reading and not following the directions. I don't believe she is acting defiantly.

[OneStepAtATime]

Get an assessment.  This may be a red flag, or it may not, but you will definitely be doing your daughter a great service to find out now, before this completely undermines her confidence.  My daughter has difficulty with sequential steps (such as directions) and it turns out that was a sign of other issues she was having but no one caught on.  She maintained decent grades, so everyone, including our pediatrician, insisted she just needed to focus more.  They were all wrong, but we followed their "expert" opinion for years.   We would get so frustrated with her since the steps seemed so simple and it really was demoralizing to her for everyone to keep telling her to focus and how easy it should be to follow the directions when it really, really, really was NOT easy for her.  If you can get an assessment, you may find she has other areas of weakness, too, that you can help her with before they become issues.  You may also find she has some wonderful, hidden strengths that you can tap in to and give her a chance to soar.  We certainly did.  You might want to read up on different learning strengths and issues.  I usually recommend The Mislabeled Child by Brock and Fernette Eide as a starting off point.  It might help, it might not, but I found it incredibly informative and put us looking in directions we hand't thought to turn.  Good luck!

[Paige]

She had an assessment which showed auditory processing problems and strengths in reading comprehension and attention. We were surprised at her strengths because we thought it would show she was dyslexic or ADHD and the psych who did it said that actually her results showed no signs of dyslexia and she had one the best abilities to focus of any kid he'd seen. Other than that it wasn't too helpful. She's had different assessments through the public school (per my request) which showed she was "normal." It wasn't really helpful. I probably need to find a better psychologist or other person to do a different assessment but we live in the boonies and have already seen the person people rave as the best in the area. What has helped your DD? My DD does fine if I talk her through every step but I have 4 kids. I can't hold her hand for every problem and at some point she needs to figure things out. I worry that she won't be able to function as an adult and will be labeled an airhead/dumb blonde. She's not either one.

[Heathermomster]

DS has to highlight and/or underline the pertinent directions in an assignment.  We struggle with this constantly.

[OneStepAtATime]

You might read the book Smart but Scattered.  I found it helpful in this area.  Lots of great suggestions.

[Tiramisu]

She had an assessment which showed auditory processing problems and strengths in reading comprehension and attention. We were surprised at her strengths because we thought it would show she was dyslexic or ADHD and the psych who did it said that actually her results showed no signs of dyslexia and she had one the best abilities to focus of any kid he'd seen. Other than that it wasn't too helpful. She's had different assessments through the public school (per my request) which showed she was "normal." It wasn't really helpful. I probably need to find a better psychologist or other person to do a different assessment but we live in the boonies and have already seen the person people rave as the best in the area. What has helped your DD? My DD does fine if I talk her through every step but I have 4 kids. I can't hold her hand for every problem and at some point she needs to figure things out. I worry that she won't be able to function as an adult and will be labeled an airhead/dumb blonde. She's not either one.

 

I came to re-revisit this thread and caught this. Your dd sounds A LOT like mine. I think I've told you that before. We also had assessments with the result that she was "normal." Eventually, like your dd, she was found to have CAPD and significant strengths in reading comprehension but also writing. (The writing is actually a great strength and that was a huge surprise to me. Thank God for np testing! I mean that very seriously because I always felt she struggled with writing.) No specialist, even the neuropscych, ever felt attention was an issue at all and she was found to have average working memory.

 

I don't remember early on that she had a big problem following written directions, but when she got older, and would go through some curricula rather independently and when I would check in with her about her assignments, I'd find she did not catch really important things, like the steps of a big project. Once she actually missed it when the instructions said, "You have a test today." She has other difficulties that only became apparent over time, like reading graphs and diagrams. Anyway, it turns out that her scanning ability is really poor as well as aspects of her visual memory. I didn't expect this at all because I knew she had CAPD and just assumed the visual stuff would be stronger.

 

The neuropsych seemed to put all of these issues down to a coordination problem along the lines of dyspraxia so you may want to read up on that. In dyspraxia, the auditory and/or visual systems may be poorly coordinated, resulting in things like CAPD and visual processing glitches. You may also see bad handwriting and clumsiness. It's all part of it and it can manifest in different ways in different people. In our case, none of these things were obvious or glaring, besides the CAPD. It really took the testing to figure it out. 

 

My dd can also seem a bit spacey. I think that's rather common with CAPD, unfortunately. And I've had to double check emails and letters for important real-life things, so I completely understand your concerns for the future. But I want you to know that once my dd found what she really liked, she became very motivated. In college and her other real life work, she doing very well. She knows her weaknesses and has developed (and is continually developing) the maturity to understand and follow through on what she has to do to safeguard her success. FWIW, I think people see her as a kind, gentle person and a hard worker, and she picks friends carefully (excuse the bragging!). So if the people around her see one of her "moments", they are likely to view it sympathetically and help her. I'm sure the same will be true for your dd.

[geodob]

Following directions, first involves ordering the directions in our mind.

So that we have a sense of where we up to, as work through them.

While the directions can verbal or visual, it is spatial thinking that provides the order and enables us to keep track of where we are up to.

So the question is whether she can order the directions in her mind?

Or does she just try to remember them as a verbal script?

 

Though I would ask how she goes with sequences, as sequential thinking is related to this.