Ok, after a day full of word problems, all I want to know is…when is it? When is LuLu’s Age of Reasoning? UGH! Word problems are the bane of my daughter’s existence. Just like writing a whole composition, word problems require her to use logic and organizational skills she doesn’t have. Even though she’s extremely good at math calculation and understanding how to work the actual math problems, she just can not pick the details out of the word problem to save her soul.
Yes, I understand that this is truly a reading comprehension problem, and that LuLu has CAPD. For example, when it says that Brian took five fewer minutes than Kelly to finish a problem, LuLu kept trying to subtract five. Fewer means subtract, she kept reporting. But we had Brian’s time and not Kelly’s; so I had to find another way to get her understand.
“Who is faster at this project?” I kept asking. Finally she was able to tell me that she understood Brian was faster. “Ok,” I said, “Then is Kelly going to have a smaller number as her time than Brian does?”
She looked at me like I was crazy. “NO!” So then I had to explain to her the logic of the way the sentence was written. I’m still not sure she understood it or would be able to work the problem again if asked; but we moved on.
Of course, if she gets the answer wrong, especially more than once, her frustration level skyrockets and she starts to whine, fuss and eventually cuss and rage. And with all the noise going on, there’s no way any actual logical thought can be formulated in her head.
So, I continue to wonder, at what age will she have “reasoning”? Will she ever be able to work word problems? Will she ever be able to understand any situation that the facts are clearly laid out in front of her and repeated several times until she understands?
And if she isn’t able to develop this reason, what’s next? Spelling all the words right or doing all the math calculations correctly has little value if you don’t understand why you’re doing them or how to use the information, does it?
GRRR…it was a rough day at school…glad the weekend’s here!