My grade one son seems to struggle with the simple things like remembering letters and numbers but seems to know things and remember things that a grade one student should not know. He wants to learn and shows interest but doesn’t seem to be able to remember. A friend told me that it sounds like he has selective learning, has anyone experienced this situation before and if so what became of it, how did he eventually learn.
Re: selective learning
This may seem to be a picky issue, but it really is something important that can colour your whole relationship with your child: be very very careful about those unwritten assumptions. You say your child knows things that a Grad 1 child *should* not know. And who sat down and wrote up laws about who “should” and “should not” know things? Aren’t we aiming at an open society where any child can become anything?? Yes, I know I am reacting pretty strongly to one word, and I don’t mean to come down on you, just to try to help you see things in a different and *positive* way.
If your child has knowledge and ideas and opinions that are typical of much older children, celebrate it!! You have a gifted, original, creative child! He may have the ability to become a great musician like Mozart, a great artist like Da Vinci, a great inventor like Edison, a great scientist like Einstein, a great mathematician like Gauss — these are all noted famous people who had an early talent in one field but who were quite ordinary or even slow in other areas.
Of course you want a reasonable balance. You have to work with him on improving his weak areas. On the other hand, you *don’t* make his weak areas better by cutting him off from the things he likes and does well. Quite the contrary; you make him frustrated and bored and youc onvince him that this school and learning thing is worthless because he can never learn anything that he is interested in.
Go for a balance — three or four hours extra a week improving his school skills, and three or four hours a week going to science museums or finding interesting things on the internet or reading good books that he likes out loud to him or learning music or whatever gets his abilities going. And do try to fit in some physical activity, both for health and for mind-body integration that helps with reading and writing.
Re: selective learning
i know exactly what you’re saying! my six year old (kindergarten) can graph math problems, can hear and recite long passages…..things that seem like they would be a little more difficult for his age. but he can’t tell me the names of the letters in his name! he can spell it out loud and write them. but if i point to the ‘C’ and say what is this letter? he can’t tell me! the same with numbers. after much research….i believe it’s an auditory memory deficiency….possibly dyslexia. unfortunately, due to his age, teachers want to wait to test him. i suggest that you research as much as you can regarding dyslexia and see if maybe some of the ‘symptoms’ sound familiar to you, then talk to his teacher to see if they would be willing to evaluate him.
best of luck. i hope this may give you some insight, i know how confusing it can be!
I’ve never heard of selective learning. Sounds like a catchy phrase that doesn’t mean a thing. The traits you describe are often characteristic of dyslexics, who tend to be bright “big picture” thinkers who have difficulty processing symbols (such as letters and numbers).
Dyslexia is often the result of undiagnosed developmental vision delays and/or undiagnosed auditory processing disorders. You can find out more about these problems at http://www.childrenvision.com and http://pages.cthome.net/cbristol/
A program such as Audiblox (http://www.audiblox2000.com ) or PACE (http://www.processingskills.com ) is usually very helpful, especially after underlying auditory or visual processing deficits have been reduced with appropriate therapy. These programs strengthen many underlying skills, including sequential processing skills, that tend to lag in dyslexics.
Nancy