How can I help ds to understand what the question is asking?

[LiveLifeWithPassion]

Ds always seems to answer certain questions involving ideas really basically, and sometimes totally incorrectly.
It's like he hasn't read the question properly and not understanding what it's asking. When I prompt him, and ask him to break the question down, then he can do it.
But by himself he can't.

He's very good at maths and science but I'm think he's going to struggle when he needs to do more problem solving and discuss findings type questions etc.
He's also good at creative writing so it's not vocabulary or wording he's got issues with.

Anyone able to help please? Any resources or ideas?

What kind of question is it? Is it a maths word problems or reading comprehension question? Or something else?

Any question that involves thinking!
If he's asked straightforward maths questions, science, history etc that asks for logical and factual answers, then he's fine.
I think it's more inference stuff he has difficulty with. A recent example was 'how does free public transport reduce pollution' his answer was 'er because it doesn't cause much pollution'
When I asked him to think what public transport was, what would happen if it was free and how would this affect pollution levels then he managed to think of a good answer.

Pretend you're three and going through a 'but why...' phase

So a brief unthought out response (because it doesn't pollute) gets a 'why doesn't it'.

Do you ever have far fetched ridiculous conversations with each other? What if the moon were made out of cheese type conversations. Just get him thinking to the next idea rather than just the immediate idea.

Speak to him in language that his science/maths/logic brain understands!

If the question is 'how does free public transport reduce pollution?(6)' then he is going to know that 'er because it doesn't cause much pollution' is not worth the six marks! He needs to expand his answer according to the tariff of the question.

Does he know about mark schemes: they give a 'logic' of showing how more complex answers get given more marks.

Great ideas thanks.

I like the idea of having nonsense conversations

Agree with Titchy. My Ds is the same. Questions like that tend to get the "Ask a silly question, get a silly reply" response . Sounds like your Ds just needs a little mental prod to help him get past the logical answer. Why is a wonderful word it works wonders with my Ds.

Tell him to ask the 5Ws about any question and answer all that apply.

Who?
What?
When?
Where?
Why?

So who - the public
What - the types of transport
When - free all the time
Where - in the UK
Why - if more people use the transport already available they will take other vehicles (their own) off the road.

Sounds like he is used to giving the simplest answer he can think of instead of expanding on his thinking. I would give him an illustration based on the question you suggested, reminding him of the difference between how (in what ways?) and why (give the reason).

So a decent answer might include:

• Because public transport vehicles can transport many more people, thereby reducing the number of vehicles on the roads
• Because public transport reduces vehicle congestion, thereby cutting travel time (and therefore pollution) produced by all road users
• Because government funded public transport vehicles can be manufactured so that they are more fuel efficient than private vehicles

Etc.

Then ask him to think up one or two further reasons and see what he says.