English tutoring for DS (10)?

[MonkeysNuts]

DS is 10, at prep school, just finished Y5. We are hoping to move him to a senior school in Y7 rather than Y9 (we have the choice) as we've had enough at the current school (nothing in particular, just enough after 6 years, new start and all that).

DS is bright, good at maths, etc., mildly autistic/aspergers.

Have just had him do a couple of 11+ English practice papers.

Paper 1 had an extract from The Phantom Tollbooth, which has lots of whimsical wordplay, and pretty much flummoxed him. E.g,, question "Study the world rigmarole. Why did the count pass the breadbasket when offering a rigmarole." No answer for that one.

"In the final sentence Milo wraps up in a napkin EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR THE BEST. Explain why this is a half-baked idea." Answer: "This is because some of it is words, some baked thinga."

He did fine on the more formal aspects, grammar, etc., but the comprehension isn't there.

Second test was an extract about a child with blind parents, same problem, e.g., 'Explain what you think Etta meant by "I don't think seeing is knowing"' [extract from this paragraph]:

'I think seeing is so primitive. Even a dog and a cat can see. Knowing a personality and knowing how you speak and what you say and how you say it, I think that's more important than how people look. I don't think seeing is knowing'

His answer: 'Even blind people can do things.'

I scored him 1/12 and 2/12 for the comprehension exercises. Obviously he has more general problems with 'getting it', in terms of conversation/the world around him, so it's not strictly 'English'.

Clearly however it's problematic for school admissions.

Thoughts?

He is still young, and they will prep him for these tests, won't they?

Dunno, my 9 year old is completly lost with exams like that...

I will hopefully be practising some comprehension with ds over the summer.

I would be loathe to hire a tutor for my sons in prep, as really, the school should be able to teach them to do this ...

Talk to his teacher

I was surprised how rubbish my sons prep was at teaching him techniques for comprehension. What to me seems pretty standard stuff seems to have passed them by on the other side of the road. We're talking a highly regarded boarding prep feeding into well known independent schools at 13! The English comprehension my DS sat for his entrance exam was very difficult and required an ability to put 2 ams 2 together and make 4 and also time was not on his side. My older sons tutor gave him a couple of lessons looking as I say at technique and it was resolved.

I would speak to the senior school, as they may well be quite understanding of his special needs with regard to the test, and if they are not, then is it the right school, anyway?

As his current school goes to 13, they won't be interested in preparing him to leave at 11, so any preparation will be down to you, i would expect.

Thanks for the comments, we still have no idea about which secondary school he will go to. He's well ahead in maths, so it seems a shame that his English lets him down in this aspect. Got two months now to improve his skills so it seems like an opportunity at any rate.

MonkeyNuts, he sounds just like my DS!

He is well ahead in maths, and surprisingly scored considerably above average in his English end of year tests at his well known prep school, but I have my serious doubts about his standard of comprehension.

When I test him on a Bond Comprehension at home, he finds some questions difficult to answer and gives an all too brief response or misses the mark when it comes to a question which requires reading between the lines, (I do try to do the next year's papers in Bond).

Also, while he is a fluent reader, I've discovered there are many words that he simply skims over when he does not know the meaning of them, rather than ask or look them up .

I hired an English Tutor for an hour a week to focus on his Comprehension and other areas in English - I know prep classes are small and you shouldn't have to fork out extra but I hope the individual tuition for my DS will pick up on his weak areas. You might just want to consider it for the short term. I am going to help my DS over the summer too but I plan to carry on with the English tutoring for him when term begins again.

I think DC run into problems on these questions because so much in school is right or wrong. Tick boxes, multiple choices, worksheets. They don't expect to be able to think for themselves. I tutor English and for the first few sessions with every child I have to keep repeating: there isn't a right answer to this question, I just want your opinion. They stare wide-eyed when they hear that, and lots of the shy, good ones are flummoxed.

Just keep seeking his opinion in all things and encourage him to give reasons. Do it really casually about anything at all for a few days: eg. "Which do you prefer, scrambled or boiled eggs? Why's that then? etc. just to get him used to giving an opinion followed by his reasoning. Once he's comfortable with this, move onto discussing stories and films - why does he think people act in certain ways, or what they mean by certain things they say (which aren't obvious immediately.) Always encourage him to expand on his answers. Keep saying: anything else?

In exam practise papers, see how many marks are given for an answer and encourage him to write one sentence with a clearly argued idea for each point.

I did that one from the Bond papers with ds1 and we were both flummoxed by it. I think that's a pretty hard comprehension paper to judge your ds by. Try looking up past papers that various indies and grammars set for 11+. From memory the Wind in the willows seem to crop up a lot as did Dickens, Alice in Wonderland, all of which was much more straightforward

Dickens is not straightforward at all. I write reading comprehensions based on it precisely because there are loads of inferred meanings - not explicit in the text.

I think it would be a good idea to get a tutor- but one who is experienced in/ trained in working with children with SpLD/ASDs.

You see,- sorry if you know this already- they do have a problem with nuances, metaphors and idioms, and tend to take everything literally .

Children with ASD are great at finding out facts from text but the subtler workings of language tend to confuse them, as do any question where they have to empathise or even "read between the lines."

Some of this can be taught, but you can also do things yourself by trying to make him aware of metaphorical speech .