Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy getting gifted to check out the details.

It seems like my DS9 is getting things wrong on his school work due to not checking carefully & missing little details like not crossing his t's. I notice the teacher is looking for more details this year in 3rd Grade. He got a math problem wrong for spelling a month wrong when the spelling was right there on the paper. My DS has been surprized by missing points on the school work. They are doing cursive which he hates. I think when he is putting the attention to his writing he is actually doing very well. I also think it must be hard to concentrate on Math, cursive and spelling all at once when cursive is still so new.

Any suggestions? Do you think the teacher will just take care of this? Is this typical of 3rd grade, increasing detail attention? Does he need some extra help with this?

Pop over to the "homework" thread from the last couple of days. I got a few helpful hints.
http://giftedissues.davidsongifted.org/BB/ubbthreads.php/topics/55257/2.html

My son's problem seems to be speed, in that when he doesn't hurry through the work, he makes far fewer mistakes.

I agree with Dandy about the homework thread. To summarize my point there: give specific concrete suggestions for which details he needs to check.

It's hard to act on the instruction to pay attention to details when you can't see the forest for the trees. I give specific advice (no more than 2-3 points to avoid overwhelming my child), as in:


"The FIRST thing you need to do is..."


"The LAST thing you need to do is..."

Val

This certainly isn't BTDT advice but when my DS was about 3 and doing more complex puzzles, he would become overwhelmed at the "big picture" and not be able to perform the steps to get there. I wrote out a checklist outlining the steps (i.e. sort pieces into piles . . .) which helped him to focus. We were working on some algebra-esq problems last week and I wrote the steps to solving for the variable. These explicit instructions make him go step-by-step, which forces him to slow down and be more meticulous.

This obviously won't work for spelling tests but may be great to do at home to build good habits. My DS is quite a bit younger than your DS and still very much into rule-following so not sure how well it will transfer.

I have been giving him specific instructions. Like read the instructions twice. I think part of the problem it's not such a big deal because he is missing only a point or two. The work is pretty easy for him. I think I will tell him to slow down with his work. He really needs to develope good work habits.

He did get satisfactory instead of outstanding in cursive handwriting and said he needed to improve that.

I'm no expert and I'm only speaking from my own experience here, but I'm not convinced that this is specific enough. I used to tell my DS9, "Rework the problem to check your work," but I found that he just made the same mistakes the second time around. I think that the ability to check your work effectively is a skill that has be learned, rather than something you can just do.

DS9's improvements came when I got really, really specific: "The LAST thing you need to do is check signs."

In your son's case, you might say, "The LAST thing to do is to check that you crossed all your Ts and dotted your Is," or "The FIRST thing you need to do is check if the problem is addition or subtraction."


Hmm. If it's really only a point or two, is it even worth talking about? Again, this is just my opinion/experience, but I'm cautious about not encouraging perfectionism in cases like this with my kids. If you mean it's a point or two on the Ts and a point or two on the Is and...and...and..., then it all adds up to a big loss of points, that's different.

Val

Yes -- the never-ending balancing act.

At this point, I think I might be willing to trade a little bit of perfectionism in exchange for a little less I-don't-give-a-dang-ism.

The majority of the quizzes in his class are only 10-15 problems, so missing two on those is automatically a B. Personally, I'm fine with that B -- but it frustrates me to see him give up the points purely due to rushing. And that same habit of rushing gave him a very smelly "D" on a couple of longer chapter tests because he didn't read & follow simple instructions.

Because of these, I started something different with him on his weekly homework assignments: before answering any questions, he has to underline the key element of the instructions & review *that* with me first. We've only been doing this for a handful of assignments, but it seems to have eliminated a bunch of the silly mistakes.

Exactly!

I wonder about kids not seeing the forest for the trees when it comes to checking their work. So I've been trying to say "This is a tree; that's a tree" when I work with DS9.

I don't know if this difficulty is specific to him in our family. DS7 doesn't seem to have it, but he's more pensive than his brother in some ways.

Val

Val

I do that too!
Assignments are pasted in their hw journal but there are just too many words. I find underlining / highlighting the key words help him to focus on what he NEEDS to do. Especially when there are different parts to one assignment.

I think this underlining is just what he needs - THANK YOU.

So far it's not a big deal losing a point or 2 in Math papers because the directions have only referred to one or two problem.

If he overlooks something like circle all the odd numbers and there are 10 problem he is in trouble. I'm thinking this is just the specifics he needs - looking for the key words and focus on what he NEEDS to do. After completing spelling sentences check for t's crossed and periods should help too.

WOW! I'm just realizing the real problem for the first time.
Now that I'm thinking of the math situation, the problem is usally with two part instruction. His fast brain probally just jumps to first instruction and finishes it. He has to think about the problems he is doing SO he forgets about the second instruction. He probally doesn't realize what he is doing.

This seems so simple. Why didn't I think of that?

here's a update...DS has been very receptive to specifics like underlining the key word but has not adapted the habit. I think this is so important to check for mistakes. So far it has been no big deal because it's just a point or two. He keeps bringing home Math papers without underlining after agreeing to do this. He said he forgets. His teacher liked our plan. I explained to DS the importance of checking because if he shows what he knows he has a better chance of getting more challenging work. I also said these are skills that will take him thru college. It's better to be self reliant than count on me to see his paper is correct. I'm starting to feel like I'm pressuring him with this. I plan to back off a bit. He does best when he is the driving force not me. I also need to tell him this stuff away from the moment, but that has always been hard for me. I just got a book on executive functioning maybe that will help. If any body wants to offer thoughts that would be nice.

Has anybody used resources from Davidson data base, websites or books on helping gifted with accuracy in their answers. I'm looking for strategies like highlighting key words in directions and getting them to slow down.

After school he is crabby and has been fussy when I request he use his spelling sentences check list. Maybe I just need to give it time and relax a little. Last year he failed some test due to not checking so I have reason to worry. So far this year all As in classes so far except a B in penmanship - no big deal, but something to for him to work on.

Maybe they will just take care of this at school? My DS9 is in 3rd Grade. He is a young 9 in some ways. I wondering if a lot of this is just maturity. 3rd Grade seems to be looking for more details.

I am happy to report DS9 is really watching the details. Wow what an improvement on tests and paper. It's nice something is better. I do think it will be an ongoing challenge to have him slow down and really make sure he shows what he knows.

Did you do anything special? We're still fighting that monster over here with our DS.

At school they had study guides for 2 weeks at school. I'm not sure exactly what they did but it helped. DS's teacher has the students do some highlighting and circling with a red pen for key information. For Social studies and Science the teacher has the students use different colors to mark information in the text and correlating diagrams.

I also have been telling DS he really needs to show what he knows to encourage the school to give him challenges. I don't like saying this. It feels like pressure and the wrong motivation. But it is the reality. I do also say it feels good to do your best effort.

It seems like there should be some library books about this. If I ever find some I try to post. good luck.

We have this exact same issue with DD8 and it's been going on for a year now. She used to be a staunch perfectionist and we worked really hard with her on that. Last year in 2nd she started making simple mistakes and rushing through work "in order to get onto something more interesting". All the while she was asking for more challenging work from her teacher. The teacher told her "Do the easy work well and you'll get more challenging work.". DD complied and got the necessary 100% on math tests given per unit to go to math enrichment. This worked for awhile, then by the end of the year she was back to where she was but her attitude spread to other areas. She said "Enrichment isn't challenging so what's the point of doing well on the tests to get to go?". We had a hard time arguing that logic.

This year she's basically given up on her school being able to challenge her. She continues to make simple errors due to rushing but the school believes it's because she hasn't memorized her math facts (she uses mental math tricks). She doesn't do her best work and continues to rush because she just doesn't see the point. Part of the issue is that we aren't output oriented parents and are really reluctant to force her to play the game. We feel really stuck.

DD has decided she wants to school at home next year so she can "learn at her own pace".

I'll be watching this thread closely!

How wonderful you can homeschool her. She really needs more challenge.Does she do anything challenging at home? Some non school type learning would be encouraging.