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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It's really frustrating when your child doesn't perform to what you know to be his or her potential. My son really struggles with details. When he talks it's "good" "fine" "nothing" and when he writes he never provides details and always gets dinged for it. It drives me nuts.  :? [/quote]

Not unusual, really. With the writing, that's something with which his English teacher should be helping him. The teacher can work with students, showing examples of details in writing, assigning books to read that have details, and doing a lot of things to help kids understand how to flesh out some details. Not all kids are going to be great descriptive writers, but they can at least learn the mechanics of finding and inserting some details in written work--IF they get practice at it. Talk with the teacher about how your son's lack of detail is "dinging" him as you put it, and find out whether the teacher just expects the kids to be able to come up on their own with details (that does take practice; it doesn't come automatically) or whether she or he actually teaches some skills for pulling up details.

It would help to know your child's age. If your child is in early elementary and the teacher isn't walking them through what a detail in writing really looks like, and giving them practice in using details, then the teacher should be doing so. If your child is older, though, this shouldn't be as tough as it is, and your child might benefit from some extra help with writing.

Regarding answers like "good" and "nothing," is that happening when you ask him things like "How was your day?" or "What did you do in school today?" If so, listen to yourself as you question him. Vague questions like "How was your day," or even "How did history class go today," can elicit very little from kids. Try getting much more specific, for instance, "I remember that your group was doing that presentation in history today. What happened?" If he persists with "It was OK, nothing much happened," you might need to pull out more details, if you can do it without grilling him. Some kids need very specific questions about very specific things they did, or they just answer vaguely. [/quote]

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