Nail on the head, HK. He is a perfectionist, not the kind that does work until it's perfect but the kind that says the work is stupid because it requires a monumental effort to get what is in his head to appear on the paper. He'd rather not, thank you. He also tends towards a bit of anxiety (as do I), so it is likely that fear of failure is playing a role.
I'm positive it's not dysgraphia, he can write, did well up until 2nd grade, pages and pages, he just doesn't enjoy it AT ALL. He's an avid reader just not into creating his own words.
And, yes, I'm looking for the magical solution to inspire his intrinsic motivation as external motivators are only effective short term.
I hadn't thought of the difference in school from his POV, HK. You are correct. He's been hearing how well he knows things for years and now he has to reflect upon it and supply citations in his work, not just know the right answers. Common core is NOT helping us.
We are concentrating on effort, not output. He has said he has so many thoughts in his head that he can't write fast enough. In getting them all down on paper, that one niggling piece that really matters to him gets lost, so he's frustrated, angry and blaming the source, school.
We are coaching him from every direction to increase his ability to handle the unknowns and promote resilience. It's the stream of reports from teachers, forgotten math sheets (but remembered textbook), etc that keep it amped up with little chance to adjust to new, 5th grade expectations. We use Edison's quote of finding 999 ways NOT to build a light bulb to remind him that even failures provide knowledge and learning...unfortunately, taking it to heart is another thing entirely when you really, really believe those were just failures.
Shannon L.
