To ask for tips on how to get a DC who rushes through schoolwork to slow down?

[Turmericpie]

I have a very able 8 year old DS who rushes through his work at the rate of knots. The result is still good but there are inevitably mistakes and i want him to slow down and take his time.

This has always been an issue but is really apparent as he works at home. We've just had a row about it and now he feels bad - well, we both feel bad.

Any tips?

I've always been this way. Remember arguments at home and at school. It was just never a priority for me. Now at work I excel at getting things done and bringing on new projects and aware I am not good enough for the detail (unless I have to... But I usually surround myself with others that are). I am highly respected at work, for the amount of work I get throb and the ideas I bring. Not sure I have any solutions, but I wanted to say it is not all doom.

Does she read the work first? Our teacher gave us an exam and told us to read through first . Of course nobody did.. The last question said to do question 1 only...
Maybe so similar?!

Ha, that's funny @Lockdownlovernotfromliverpool

I know it's not all doom - I'm a bit like it - and I'm successful. He will also be fine, he's got a marvellous brain. But it's been a constant complaint and I added to it today, and now he feels crap AND it is true that his work can look tatty and could be even better with a little more time.

What's the payoff for him?

Praise - well done you finished that so quickly?
Time - can go off and do something else more enjoyable?

Can you find a way to change the payoff so doing it right gives a better reward than doing it quickly?

Tell them to do a draft first or mark it and get them to write the whole thing again minus errors.

So few suggestions.

1. Mark the mistakes in some way (preferably with pencil etc so can remove it) and give it back to him and ask him to have a look at those bits. Depending on how competative he is, you coudl keep a tally

first try - 6/10 second try 9/10 then challenge him to imporve that. If he is good at maths he could work out the percentage increase.

1. be clear about timing, so if it is eg one worksheet, suggest to him how long it might take - this should take you 20 minutes, so you need to take a breath and take the time. Knowing how long something should take can make children slow down.
2. Award something for accuracy rather than speed, so maybe a smartie jar, and smarties go in for careful working. I would do things like - look at question 1, I can see from your writing that you took a bit more time, 1 smartie!
3. If he is writing eg a story, for my ds, one teacher drew a line across the page and said, write half as much, but write it more accurately and legibly. It worked for him.
4. As EasyPeasy says, show him that there are positive sides to this, so you aren't trying to stop him being quick, you are trying to help him hone his skills

Such great advice, thanks so much. I just showed him these posts and he felt good about it. Thank you!

I used to tell my classes this cautionary tale; when preparing for my 11+, my teacher warned us all that the paper took as long as it took, and if you're finished early, either you're a genius or you missed something. He reminded us every time to check the page numbers.
On the IQ paper, I was feeling confident; I love puzzles of any kind, approached it in that spirit, and usually got my best marks on that paper. So I wasn't that surprised to be the first finished, But as I sat there feeling smug, I noticed that two very clever boys were still writing, and my teacher's advice came back to me, to check the page numbers. With twenty minutes to go, I realised that two pages were slightly stuck together...... I can still feel that stomach-lurching sensation of sick panic as I desperately galloped through those two pages! Luckily, I still managed a decent mark overall, but it was a salutary shock.
I used to tell each class this story, and before each test remind them that I had never known the first paper handed in to get the best mark. It was a standing joke, and there was always one confident pupil sure that he could buck the trend. They never did. However, one did make a spectacular horlicks of a reading test booklet (which shook him and the whole class).
I don't know if your son feels competitive enough to be motivated by getting the best mark, but maybe some sort of reward for total accuracy?
TeenPlusTwenty makes a good point about payoff as well; I remember one bright lad wailing, "You've always got the next thing ready!" when I wheeled out the prepared extension work. Perhaps the reward might be not having to do corrections?

It's not necessarily the working quickly that's a problem, it's the making mistakes. He needs to get in the habit of checking his work to pick up the mistakes.

Instead of marking his work and handing it back to him to correct, I would say 'I can see 5 mistakes in your work' and he has to find them himself and correct them. That gets him into the habit of properly looking at his work instead of relying on you to find the mistakes.

You need to remove any incentive he has to finish early. Does finishing early mean more time playing? If so, ensure that if he finishes before you think he should have done the extra time is spent doing something he doesn't enjoy. If nothing springs to mind, copying a page of the dictionary is a good example, or if you have an old Argos catalogue laying around get him to add up the price of every product.

I was the same. Instead of trying to slow down, I go back over the work once I’ve done it to check it - like a self-review. Would that be an easier concept for him?
Also - you probably know this but he’s likely bored. If he finishes quickly can he do any deeper/further work to keep him engaged?

I love this thread, thanks OP. Some real wisdom on here

Give up trying is my advice!

My son has always been this way. Over the years I've tried to slow him down but it never worked.

He's now 15 and taking GCSEs. The advantage is that he never runs out of time on papers and he does at least have time to go back and check!

Inevitably mistakes slip through but he picks up more marks by completing the whole of the paper easily in the time frame. So it's swings and round abouts.

Such good thoughts! We had a long walk and sorted out a new approach. Two drafts/checking/smartie jar.

Since we're stuck with each other over the next few months, we may as well use it to improve what doesn't work

Thanks all

I really like the idea of the... I spot 5 mistakes... Go back and find them @noblegiraffe. Think that would have worked best on me. But yes, need to find out what works for your child. Glad you seem to have had a good chat with your son now

I’d try presenting the tasks in smaller chunks so he only has to focus on one bit at a time. Have a checklist of things he needs to tick off to review his own work and once done he can move onto the next piece of the work.