Thoughts on Reading, Writing, and 'Rithmetic

Let's face it. Cinderella was a bit of a wimp. Why did she stay cleaning and serving those awful women who probably wouldn't have known what to do if she had put her foot down and said a nice, firm, "No"?

Of course, that wouldn't be the fairy tale we know and love, but have you ever considered how different the story would be if Cinderella had done that? What if Cinderella hated animals? What if she got fed up and had a screaming match with her stepsisters? Picturing Cinderella with a temper is a bit of a stretch for most of us but the exercise might be worth the strain on our creativity.

Asking "what if?" forces the thinker into territory beyond memorized information. We all know that Cinderella hears the clock chiming midnight and runs away, but what if she hadn't? What would have happened if she had stayed with the prince when the spell wore off?

These scenarios involve Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS, discussed in a previous blog post). Fairy tales can be very useful in cultivating those skills in kids. Using a familiar framework provides a comfortable platform for nurturing the ability to predict, infer, and analyze information. Starting a 7 year-old off with attempting to analyze themes in Crime and Punishment probably won't get you very far. Similarly, asking them to predict what might happen when a kid runs with untied shoelaces is a bit easier than asking them to predict the outcome of a chemistry experiment.

Once a child is accustomed to using HOTS, continue to exercise the skill by introducing less familiar scenarios and encouraging conjecture. Ask questions based on "mental pictures" because it is through imaging that language is understood.

"What do you picture happening if I leave the cake in the oven too long? Why do you picture that? What if I took it out before the directions say to?"

Remember that conjecture is an important part of the discovery process. If your child thinks the cake will be just fine no matter when you take it out, don't immediately jump in with the correct answer. Follow up on your child's images by questioning details and bringing in background information - particularly previous experience a child can reference.

"Remember that time I didn't hear the timer and the roast burned? Do you think the same thing might happen to the cake?"

If HOTS is something your child struggles with, it may be a sign of a comprehension deficit.  ALP's Visual-Verbal Integration program targets the mental images created by language, allowing for greater understanding and the ability to apply HOTS to new information.

Rachel Phelps
Clinician