Hmmm... well, DD's literalness tends to be quite spotty and we've generally attributed it to maturity rather than anything else. It's like it is one of those funky "blind-spots" where more normative development exists in tandem with the advanced cognitive development, KWIM?
That said, she REALLY struggled with this when she was 8-10yo and enrolled in a literature analysis elective intended for GT 7th-8th graders. The reason was precisely what you are (rightly) wary of; she simply read too literally to understand the connotative/implied/symbolic meaning in some selections. Some of that was a lack of life experience, frankly, and her observations sometimes differed quite radically from her typical-age classmates, but in the end it was good for her.
I believe, on the basis of what we saw with DD, that this is to some extent a set of learned skills. I'm recalling the thought-provoking statement posted here recently re: our kids and "deliberate" versus accidental learning.
I might give something like this a try as enrichment and see where it goes. Yes, it will probably be frustrating for both of you, at least initially, but it will make his learning experiences much richer in the long run. DD really digs into literature, art and history now in a way that she didn't before she learned to see past that literal surface.
ETA: In talking to the teacher about this problem (and wondering whether we should rethink the placement), the teacher's take on this was that MOST students struggle to develop this skill as middle schoolers. MOST elementary aged kids are quite literal, and inclined to think inside that box. As she put it; "some COLLEGE students struggle with this set of skills, and frankly, some of them never really learn to look past that literal surface meaning." In other words, she really didn't think that DD was experiencing a failure in terms of placement. Just learning. Which was what we were all actually hoping for, so that was good. LOL.
Other things which 'stretch' kids this way--
political cartoon analysis. Is it funny? why?
Caricatures-- both literary and visual
metaphors and similes
analogies.
HTH.
Last edited by HowlerKarma; 04/20/13 03:20 PM.
