My child has been talking a lot more at the tutor’s recently and I think she is using it as a tatic to get out of work. Now,when we first started tutoring a couple years ago, I was fine with the tutor talking to my child and visa-versa because of my child being language delayed I saw it as good practice for her verbal skills. Now I see it as she is using her verbal skills as stall tatics. I am wondering what to ask the tutor to do, as she does get her back on task , but this takes a while longer than it used to,as she patiently listens before redirecting.
Re: talking to get out of work
My son is king of this tactic. I usually warn people who are new to working with him. His long time Neuronet therapist sometimes falls for it still. My son is great at asking interesting questions which draws people into his game. I see her often telling him that we will discuss this AFTER you do this and that.
It takes a certain amount of sophistication to pull this off so you might feel proud about that.
I guess the only thing I would do is maybe mention it to the tutor and see what her reaction is. Most likely she is on to her too. You might suggest using talk time as a reward. That is what our Neuronet therapist often does and it works well. My son gets to ask his questions and she gets him to do his work. I know you probably feel like you are wasting your money on her chit chat but truly I think some of it helps build a relationship-at least that has been my experience.
Beth
Re: talking to get out of work
Thanks, for the feedback. I did talk to the tutor today, and she said the same thing that she noticed an increase, but wants to maintain a positive relationship. So it makes sense. Thanks for the suggestions.
This same issue comes up with me a lot. I figure if the student does as much work in an hour with me as is usually done in a week of class work, we are well ahead of the game. Some students don’t chat much and others chat for perhaps fifteen minutes out of the hour. As long as they can be redirected and they do focus on the work, that is reasonable. Setting a strict no-talking rule would really be counterproductive; you need a positive relationship, and you need to discuss thoughts that come up from reading.