We had a big discussion today that started about fractions and reading comprehension that somehow morphed to right from wrong and test taking skills! Trevor was hanging out while Colin and Tristan worked with some complicated fraction problems. I took it back to pizza (as you do with fractions) and of course that resulted in silly conversation about how to make everyone have an equivalent amount of pizza if the dogs stole a slice. But that's not important, the lesson was learned, we moved on. Colin then had a reading detective lesson. Reading detective, for those who don't know helps with reading comprehension and test taking skills. Many use it to get ready for things like SAT type tests. Colin doesn't like reading detective. I tried to get brotherly help from Trevor about why this is an important skill -picking out info from the reading to correctly answer the question. I said now wouldn't this be helpful with drivers ed, they give you A LOT of tests, right? Colin dreams of the day he will be old enough to drive. Trevor said it would not be helpful (thanks for that son, I could have used some back up LOL) because the questions are just circle the right letter not anything you write. OKAY I then said well isn't guessing a test taking skill too. After all if I can't give Colin a lesson, maybe I can Trevor. Trevor has been getting a lot of incompletes on his drivers ed tests. I tried to explain to him that when you guess you have a certain percent chance of getting it right and that is definitely a test taking skill (and fractions and decimals, LOL). Trevor insisted that it is not a good test taking skill. He in fact said it would be cheating to guess and that is why he never guesses. He said he would rather get an incomplete, and possibly fail the course due to only answering the questions he is SURE he knows the right answer, than "lie" and guess. Even educated guesses, almost sure, are not good in his world. We went back a forth a little and had good input from the typical brothers (Trevor has autism which of course does often mean he thinks very black and white and can't see the variables). Colin said he would always guess if he didn't know for sure because he wouldn't want to take the test again. Tristan said he would guess if he needed to but would go back and learn what he didn't know.
Trevor said he would never, ever answer a question on a test or otherwise that he isn't certain of the answer. He would never guess. He said he will not change who he is just to pass a test even if that is a true test taking skill. He said that would change who he is and the person he wants to be and he won't let anything change him. Is that good, is that bad? I guess it's a bit of both and of course complicated. How does a
child young adult take college courses, pass drivers ed the first time through or have any hope with standardized tests without guessing, unless they're a genius. Trevor is very intelligent, I'll give him that, and back when he was first diagnosed with AS he had a very good IQ score (FWIW, I know that isn't a sure thing "test" either) but that intelligence can be skewed highly towards his areas of interest. It's just hard raising this boy into a man and telling him that most people guess on tests, most people find all these strategies to help them be successful in life. I guess he'll have to work this out for himself. I think it's very noble to not change your values..... This isn't one I can wrap my brain around. It's no easier when a kid with autism is taking tests than when he was little and white lies not to hurt others were explained. Lying is WRONG. How will this boy function in life? Will he be taken advantage of? Will he be admired? Maybe he, or another autistic individual should be president! A real live president that can't lie! But people wouldn't vote for him because if the baby was smelly or screaming he wouldn't hold it for a picture and pretend it was cute, he wouldn't pretend to side with people to get their votes, he wouldn't skew data or use things out of context to make himself look better or his opponent worse.
Time to start lunch now, I guess we will put away the fractions, reading comprehension, drivers ed and debate for awhile. The boys are watching their forensics lectures and it's nice and quiet. My brain is tired, maybe I'll just heat up a pizza and cut it in unequal fractions.
1 comment:
My thought about Trevor: If you do not know an answer, it still *might be* important to guess. Just as if you were driving and came across an unfamiliar situation. You might not know exactly WHAT to do, and it would be important to guess, making the best decision with what you have already learned.
If he came across an animal in trouble (during every day life, not driving), he might not know exactly what to do, but he should guess and do something, rather than nothing.
His "guess" is not a true guess. It is much more likely that he would choose a correct answer based on what he already knows. A four year old would truly guess, because they would have no experience.
He doesn't have to change his values. Maybe you can change the presentation and use a word other than "guess."
Would it help if you used things that have happened to either of you in the past, where you had to guess the best course and it was correct? (And think of when it didn't, because if you don't, I bet he can!)
I'm just rambling. I see his point. And he'd make a great president!
Enjoy your pizza, lol!
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