Homework Repeats Itself

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So, as much as J bird is bright and intellectual. In speach he's always repeated himself and he does the same when it comes to writing. I do a lot of editing on his homework to make sure he hasn't doubled up on stuff. His favorite is to repeat things in twos or threes. I have worked with him on this and all though he has gotten better over the years, it still happens.

Worse is now his grade beginning to slip because the teacher is docking points for his repition. So now I'm stuck. Cause I mean I understand, you have to write a paper properly. He's not as bad as he use to be. But I am not sure what I can do to get him good papers. They have made allowances, until now.

They said that because their curriculum is now pronounced to getting kids ready for college level, they cannot make allowances because college won't make allowances.

How do I stop homework from repeating itself?

And how do I get the teachers to make an allowance as we try to do what we can to make sure things don't repeat?

What does he say when you ask him why he does it?

I'm afraid there's not much you can do, except keep doing what you're doing to help him understand when he's repeating himself. Maybe if you sat down with J-bird and gave him some colored highlighters so he can read through his work himself and highlight the repetitions, he'd be able to see it graphically and start doing his own proof-reading. If there's a pattern to it, he'll quickly catch on and perhaps be able to stop himself, eventually. In the short term, he'll at least be able to see the problem and fix it on his own.

Grades are a guideline; they reflect the students' mastery of a subject. If he's not mastering the subject -- in this case, clear, concise writing -- you can't ask the teachers to tell him he is by giving him better grades for poor-quality work. It wouldn't be fair to J-bird or to the other students in the class who are being held to a higher standard. We all have issues we have to learn to work around, whether AS or NT.

I'm curious: is he repeating himself exactly, or is he re-stating?

If it's exact, I wonder if you could set up MS Word to catch a repeated sentence the same way it catches word repetition - you can certainly have it do the highlighted thing described above, just have him copy each sentence into "search." Of course, this is assuming he is using a computer to write?

Another tool that I found very helpful in high school and college was using an outline to write a paper. Here's a good, straightforward if somewhat oversimplified example: http://www.bookrags.com/articles/2.html After you've written the outline, you create paragraphs by converting each detail into a full sentence. Maybe with this or some other kind of visual roadmap, it will keep him from getting lost and repeating himself.

He is mostly unaware he does it. Other times its because he loves the way a word or a sentence sounds. And other times its do to excitement.

@Pschristmas: Well what I meant is, not give him good grades. What I meant is that they should understand more. We put him in this scool, mind you this is not public school, in the hopes that one on one teaching meant he'd get the necessary help he needs, They have specialized teachers for this stuff at his school, and I am not asking for a better grade. I am a horrible explainer I realize.

Thank you for the advice everyone.

Why don't you give him a repeat paper, where he can write the word/phrase as many times as he likes, provided he only write it on his homework once?

Actually, most colleges WILL make allowances if you ensure they are aware of your son's diagnosis and special requirements.

rofl!

I always seem to confuse people. J bird is my youngest brother.

And I hadn't known. It isn't like me and him talk about college, I don't even really think he's aware of the concept.

If he doesn't realize he is repeating himself then my guess is that the problem is just a poor memory combined with an unstructured writing technique. Basically, he rights an essay, and thinks to himself, 'a ha! this is a good point, I should write that down'. Then about two paragraphs later he forgot that he made that point so when he thinks of it again he thinks, 'a ha! this is a good point, I should write that down'. It isn't as though he is trying to repeat himself, he has just forgotten which points he has and hasn't made previously so he winds up repeating his thoughts.

Overall, the best way to deal with the problem is simply to have him structure his response (either in his head, or in an outline) so that he knows what he is going to write, and in what order, prior to sitting down to write it. That way he can just go down the list of things to write and avoid repeating the same thing twice.

Also, I should point out that when writing, repeating yourself isn't necessarily a bad thing. It is often useful in trying to get the point across. But the trick is to re-explain the same idea multiple times in different ways, and in different contexts. That way, while you may be repeating a point, you are doing so in a way which serves to help the reader better understand, as opposed to just re-iterating exactly what you have said previously.

And to caitlin: Most colleges will help students with the method of learning. For example, you could ask for extended test time, different environments, and so forth. But ultimately, the college will still expect you to provide good results in order to earn a grade. That means that a rambling, repetitive, and incoherent essay will not be acceptable. They may be willing to help with some tutoring or support, but ultimately the finished work done by the student has to be up to a certain standard otherwise the college will not accept it. Accepting sub-par work from somebody just because they have a disability isn't going to help that person learn what he needs to learn.

I can understand this. Thanks.

I agree Tracker, but it depends on the college, the definition of "sub par" (which is subjective), and the course being taken. For example, I was an Honours English major and thus my writing skills were expected to be pretty much perfect, however my friends who were getting science degrees had written skills that I considered "sub par" but which their profs considered perfectly adequate for the purpose at hand.

My point was mainly to help ease fears that graduation day in high school is a cut-off point for skills you need in college when you have special needs (including those related to written skills), as most colleges have programs/staff to assist people in learning how to write for particular purposes in a post-secondary environment. I just wanted to address the OP's statement that this had to be fixed in high school since it wouldn't be taken into consideration in college. It most likely can be taken into consideration in college - it's not a free pass for mediocrity - just a consideration for the bigger picture.

If he is in public school in the US, does he have an IEP? An IEP is the only way to ensure that curriculum is modified based on a disability. Working on this specific issue can be a goal in the IEP. The school folks need to be the ones teaching him how to do this by examining the learning issue and teaching him a method that address the issue. The teachers should not be punishing him for his disability, yet they can often not make allowances to students without IEP's.

Yes.

But the teachers or at least this one this year, has seemed to completely ignore it. We've went to the principal, talked to his last teacher, etc. Nothing has come to avail. This woman is just as naive and stupid, as she is not fun to be around with.

If they are ignoring an IEP, that's illegal, and you should send a letter to the principal stating that if you do not see immediate resolution (ie, adherence to the IEP) then you will be contacting the Principal's superior (where I live that's the school Superintendent). Be sure to cc the letter to the Superintendent AND your equivalent to the Minister of Education.

I didn't know that was illegal.

That's my bad.

Yeah, shows you how importantly I thought about it. I'm dumb and slow sometimes. Now that I know that, I can fully give them the fist of words. lol. Furious words.

Pandora box, I just wanted to say that you are amazing. The reason you were mistaken for the parent and not the older brother/sister is that you wrote with so much kindness and compassion. I had also assumed you were the parent. You are a really great brother or sister?