Cammom that makes sense to me. I do think there is some kind of 2e going on. He has to write a speech for school, and when he climbed into the car with hubby after school yesterday, he was excited about it, had planned out what he wanted to look up and talk about, and once home he went straight to the computer, got his pen and paper ready to make notes, and found a site that actually was a great resource for the topic he'd picked.
Then the wheels fell off - right at the point when he needs to start reading, extracting meaning, and writing what he understands. Instead, he will sit and write out word for word everything he’s reading on the web page. And we’ve realized that his behavior from this point (which always follows the same pattern), seems to be an effort to sabotage everything until we call it a night – and he hasn’t had to do much in terms of writing/understanding the material. We always feel so impressed with his motivation and work ethic, but then he hits the same point and something just isn’t working, and it’s amounting to a lot of frustration – I think especially his side, which he’s then showing by slowly balking more and more until he simply refuses to do anything further - and will also push every button so that we aren't focused on the work being done (or rather, not done?).
Please don’t misunderstand. We are peaceful parents, we support and guide where he needs or asks for it, we’re not peering over his shoulder, criticizing and correcting him on everything he does. We offer a lot of encouragement, and we help where and when he needs it or asks.
Flyingmouse, Schonell put his reading age at 11y 6m, when he was 9y 1m. I've tried various other reading assessments over the years (there's also that San Francisco one I think? Sonlight's only goes up to grade 4 and he zipped through that when in 2nd grade) and they invariably place him between 2-3 years ahead. I’ve checked in with him maybe once a year since he started reading, just to try see what I can try offer that he might find less boring than the school readers he was getting.
While I will confess to trying to steer him away from Diary of a Wimpy Kid (which I don’t like), I’m actually just really happy that he enjoys reading, so I usually just get him what he’s into as and where I can. Right now he’s begging for HP2 so he can take it with him on an overnight school camp they’re going on this week. This is not at all directed or pushed from my side – his first thought on waking is HP, and his last before we say sleep tight is where I think we could get the second book (my collection is patchy – I have books 1, then 5-7). So I don’t feel I’m pushing him or only putting stuff in front of him that I feel is appropriate, or that my expectations are off…
