- 3/16/2010 11:37:43 PMSix Hour ReportElocution is the study of formal speaking and reading out loud. It focuses on pronunciation, grammar, style, and tone. Once a month, our family participates in an elocution group with some of the other homeschooling families in our area.
In the days that lead up to the event, our children will gather together information regarding something of interest that they have recently done which gives them the background for something to talk about when it is their turn in front of the group. Sometimes it is a book report, or show-and-tell, or the reading of a story they wrote themselves.
I have seen some of the kids do a simple skit or play. The presentation could be almost anything. The point is to get them in front of the group and speak in a clear and sensible manner that focuses on making sure the listener is correctly receiving the message that is being given. It is not only important for people to understand us when we speak, but also so that people don't misunderstand us. Learning to properly communicate is a big deal and that is why we have our kids participate in elocution.
We have been doing this for around thirteen years so all of the kids are quite familiar with the process and preparation. Since Michael arrived two years ago, he has participated in some events by doing things like reading from a story book written in English. At the time, this was quite an accomplishment. Over the past few weeks, Michael has been reading from a book he got from the Library - "The adventures of captain underpants", by Dav Pilkey.
On Monday, Michael was given the task of writing a small book report on the story he has been reading. Not a multi-page report, but something that could be read out loud that would give a very brief overview of the story and some of the main characters.
After five hours of struggling, having his report reviewed, rejected and corrected dozen's of times and generally wasting a lot of time, Michael finally produced his masterpiece. He revealed the finished product to James who read it, promptly crumpled up the paper, threw it away, and told Michael to start over.
By the time I got home, Michael was outside scooping up dog turds from the yard. "Why are you out here doing this?", I asked. Immediately Michael went into his story of how he was wrongfully accused of wasting time which led to his wrongful punishment. "Slow down", I said.
"James said I was wasting time because I took five hours to write my book report", said Michael. "Were you wasting time?", I asked. "Yes." said Michael. "Why?", I asked. "Because I didn't want to do it.", said Michael.
Here in lies the crux of most of Michael's problems.
"At first I was excited about writing the report. Then when I tried, it was hard", said Michael.
I spoke with Michael a little more on the issue and went into the house to speak with James. "Dad! You should have seen it! It was full of nonsense!", exclaimed James.
I'm trying to take James at his word but perhaps he was over reacting a little and maybe he was too harsh on Michael. I explained to James that we have to be careful when addressing Michael, his problems, and what we ask of him. After all, he is a little brain damaged and most definitely behind other kids in school. I said, "you wouldn't ask Ellie to go an pick up the refrigerator would you? She is physically not capable of doing what you ask. In the same way, Michael may not be able to give you what you're asking of him".
I thought I was being smart by making such an analogy about our youngest child. I further told James how we need to separate out parts of Michael's writing into some unique areas:
Spelling - this for now can be overlooked. If I can at least recognize what he was trying to spell, that will be good enough.
Understanding - Even if he is missing a word here or there, is he thinking and writing in a complete thought? Does it make sense?
Handwriting - Michael has perfect handwriting - when he wants to. Whatever he writes, it should be neat and clean.
So I'm thinking at a bare minimum, there should be many hours worth of effort in neatly written text, that needs some spelling help and perhaps some mental organizational work.
I told Michael to bring me the report. Michael handed me a sheet of crumpled up, fat lined paper, that had lots of eraser marks, and semi-neatly written text on approximately 1/2 of one side.
"Where is the rest of it", I said. "You worked on this for five hours."
"That's not all!", Michael exclaimed. Then Michael handed me another sheet of paper with three more sentences on it.
I read the first page out loud to Michael. As I read, he slid down the door and into a slumped over position while covering his face. It was extremely difficult to read his words. I tried to guess at what he was attempting to spell, but even when I got the intended word correct, it had nothing to do with the words around it. The entire report was filled with incoherent and grossly misspelled word rambling. Some might describe it as infantile or baby gibberish.
"What is this?", I asked Michael "Now I understand why James threw it in the garbage."
I gave Michael the task of starting over again and he immediately asked if he could pick up where he left off with the other sheet of paper that contained three sentences. "Sure", I said. I hadn't really looked at that paper and after what I just read, anything had to be better.
Michael took his paper into the other room and worked on it for another hour before dinner. During that time, Michael produced a report where he copied word sequences (three to four words in length) from various random sentences in the book and attempted join them together giving the illusion of a well written and complete sentence. The general idea is that if you don't copy the ENTIRE sentence, then you're not really "copying" and therefore not cheating either. In the world of Michael, this is how you comply with the law.
This sort of behavior is also commonly known as a "work-around". How does one solve a problem that is preventing them from getting to the final solution. In this case, the problem is that Michael didn't want to do the work because he thought it was too hard.
The first attempt at the work-around was to not do the work. Michael sat at the table for hours doing nothing but day dreaming. This is always Michael's first choice. It is usually followed by a lie that says, "I did the work".
The second attempt at the work-around was to put some kind of nonsensical garbage on the paper. No matter what James said to him through out the day regarding his report, Michael ignored it, erased whatever James told him was wrong, and rewrote the EXACT SAME TEXT. In some cases, he simply added more garbage or different garbage.
The third attempt at the work-around was to copy parts of the book.
Michael has been known to frequently take the longest, most painful and most agonizing "short-cuts" known to man simply to avoid doing what he doesn't want to. It is not real clear if Michael doesn't realize that what he was doing was wrong. He has exhibited behavior where he clearly knows he is doing wrong and either hides it or "plays dumb" about it in an attempt to get away with doing wrong. Then there are other times where we have to go to painstaking lengths to explain why his behavior is wrong. Regardless of the motive, in the end there is still a great deal of wrong (deceptive or boneheaded) moves made on Michael's part and it is both physically and emotionally draining to parent him.
The following day was elocution day. Mom confronted Michael about his copying and told him that it was wrong. She gave him an example of how to write a very high-level, simple overview of the story and sent him on his way to do it. Michael returned with a very detailed short paragraph describing one moment in the story. Mom explained again what she wanted and how the report that Michael produced was not what she wanted.
Michael went away and came back again with a very detailed paragraph describing a different moment in the story.
This happened four times and it is not unusual. On a good day at school, this sequence of events repeats itself and is all too common.
In the end, Michael had no report to give. The family went to elocution where Michael watched as the other kids gave their presentations. When they were all done, all the other kids went outside to play. Michael stayed in the house and sat on the couch near the adults. This is one of Michael's favorite places - sitting in close proximity to adults talking so that he can eavesdrop.
Michael was sent outside to sit on the front porch. He sat there all afternoon - alone. Some of the other kids went up to Michael and asked if he wanted to play. "No. I can't", Michael would say.
On the way home, the other mothers commented to Michael, "I hope you can give your report next month Michael. I know the other kids would like to play with you afterwards".
"I definitely will!", exclaimed Michael.
I think Michael's ability to calculate future effort is somewhat skewed. I don't think he realizes that making up your mind to do something in the future will be followed by the opportunity to make your words worth their meaning.
One mother commented, "Hopefully you'll remember how you felt sitting here on the porch watching the other kids play."
I wish. I think he sat in that same spot on the same front porch the last time he decided he didn't want to do his report.
