Lack of imagination - problems with schoolwork

[jlp]

G is 7 and in Y2 and is beginning to get homework home that requires imagination - writing stories etc.

 

He simply hasn't got a clue how to make something up and becomes very cross and upset. I've tried giving ideas but he won't accept my ideas ('the teacher doesn't want to hear your ideas Mammy, she wants mine')

 

This is really worrying me as I can see the lack of imagination problem causing all sorts of bother as they are required to do more and more.

 

Tonight we compromised by G writing out his name and address instead of the story (to make sure he actually did 'something' and he does need the handwriting practise) - now I'm worried the teacher will think I'm a bit mad!

 

It's situations like this where I wish we were in a specialist environment so at least it would be basic knowledge that autistic children can struggle with imagination.

[pearl]

Its a difficult one this jlp. Think its the main reason J got a D in GCSE English as his spelling grammar etc are fantastic but he couldnt ream out loads of guff like the others. Plus v slow at writing.

 

Now he's applying for jobs the D matters as most require C & above, however he did Comms level 2 at 6th form & apparently it raises his grade to C

 

This lack of creative writing will have no bearing on his future, but yes it does loom large at school & its an absolute pain. Might be worth getting school to accept quality rather than quantity, maybe one well written page rather than three?

 

Another thing we did was try & relate the task to something he was interested in, ie dinosaurs, skyscrapers etc, went way off topic but hell it got the job done

[Clare63]

When my lad was in primary school and had to write stories we also tried to encourage him to relate the story into something he was really into such as football, cars, pokemon etc., Since attending secondary school its been interesting to see the different styles they use to create comprehension such as producing a leaflet, newspaper article or letter to say an agnoy aunt etc., his English teacher said at parents evening that a lot of boys struggle with imagination and this was her way of encouraging creative writing, she admitted that even though she is an English teacher she much prefers maths like my son so she is the perfect English teacher for him !!!!

It might be an idea to speak with his teacher and explain his difficulties and between the 3 of you could come up with some alternatives for homework, so he gets chance to practise his writing and exploring some ideas of putting thoughts down on paper.

Clare x

[David Matthew Baker]

Imaginative writing does seem to be a problem for all the students in the Year 9 group I support in my present main stream school. They just seem to have problems even knowing where to start. For Key Stage 3 SATs they also have to base their imaginative writing on a short bit of information they're given.

 

For example the shorter task on last years KS3 SATs test was to write an article for the schools website on a visit by a VIP to the school. He was visiting the Technology department and during his time there the pizza got burnt. He found this amusing. Your job was to show him around. (In fact I have just made that a lot clearer than the actual question that apparently was highly critisied.) Other examples I have seen include writing a letter to persuade people why horticulture should be taught in all secondary schools. Hence if possible it might be worth teaching him how to write in a persuasive manor and to pick out important bits of information. As long as the style is right even if he just memorises phrases and slightly adapts them to the topic given he would pick up marks. I am on a supporting students literacy course at the moment. I'll check through the notes and see if I can spot anything that might be useful. Can always ask in particular if she has any info. on how to help students do creative writing if I don't have anything so far.

[Mumble]

Ok, putting my 'teacher' hat on (though with my AS one hidden underneath so I know what a problem this is - my primary school reports about my lack of imagination are a story in themselves!!! ) these are my suggestions and things I've tried with children (all children not just AS children) who have had problems, often in starting imaginative writing.

 

I think the first thing to remember is that 'lack of imagination' as in impairment in AS/ASDs does not mean a lack of imagination in the story writing sense per se - it is actually more to do with imagining what people might think (often referred to as 'theory of mind'), with routines, flexibility and understanding alternative outcomes (all of which I struggle with and have to make a conscious effect with to achieve some success - and still it sometimes goes wrong). It might be worth, if possible, trying to help your son to verbalise his difficulties in story writing - there could be many other problems underlying this as well as imagination - concerns over handwriting (is this painful for him?), perfectionism, planning or sorting out ideas (this is a difficulty I have with my writing now - not a lack of ideas but too many ideas that 'interfer' with each other making it very difficult to select between them or find any order through my writing).

 

On imagination and ideas - most teachers (unfortuantly - often related to external assessment - SATs etc.) look for specific structures - a character, another introduced, well described setting, problem, resolution - this sort of format. Although this can be incredibly boring, it could also be turned around to your son's advantage, as he could be helped to develop a structure to apply to all his stories. Many children find it difficult to think up characters, settings and events. What I have done in the past is make up 'lucky-dip' boxes of cards with various characters on them (you could simply write/draw these yourself, or maybe your son could find some images on the internet), cards with settings on them (as 'normal' or 'wacky' as your son wants - forest, beach, haunted castle, cave, school, etc etc) and maybe some cards with problems on (this is a bit trickier and you may want to start with just the characters and setting). Then your son simply selects randomly (or he can choose if he wants more control) 2 characters and a setting. I don't know about your son, but many children have a really fantastic sense of humour in how they combine their cards - even the poor child who picked a fireman, a goldfish and a haunted castle!!!!!

 

It might be useful to help with structuring if your son uses a writing frame for his stories - these can be adapted from having most of the story pre-written and your son adding his characters, settings and maybe description, so something much 'freer' which just guides your son - questions which structure the story - so maybe:

1. Where does the story take place?

2. What is this place like - use three good descriping words

3. Who is the main character?

4. Describe the main character - use two good words

5. Who else is in the story - introduce your other characters

6. What happens/what problem does the character/do the characters have to solve?

7. How do they solve it?

8. What happens at the end?

This is a very simplistic overview. If your son is struggling, his teacher should be giving him support such as writing frames, so it would be worth asking him/her for copies of whatever is used in class to ensure continuity.

 

It might also be worth talking to the teacher/school about possible support for your son in his SATs. These will be teacher assessed for him at the end of year 2, so it should be slightly less of a problem, but if he is struggling, it is better to have strategies put into place now that your son can learn to help him through the activities he finds difficult. This way, when he is older and facing externally marked assessments, he might feel better able to cope.

 

Hope this is some help,

 

Mumble.

[lisa]

My son, year 8, had to do an instruction leaflet for new vampires in English recently. His teacher thought his piece was fantastic and said what a wonderful imagination he had. When I saw the leaflet and read the stuff he'd written it actually came from Daren Shan!!!! Jack had read a series of his books about vampires and although the work was his own, all the advice had come from the books even down the the names of the vampires. His teacher obviously hasn't read any of Daren Shan's books.

 

I know he's only 7 but if you can encourage your son to read 'imaginative' books, it does help them as they get older with this sort of writing because they can use the story ideas from the books and 'get by'. We used audio books and read to him a lot. We also found a fantastic series of books which are for around 8-9 year olds by an author called Mary Pope Osborne. My son would only read information books until we found this series. All the stories are about a boy called Jack who has a magic treehouse. Jack loves information books and when he reads a book he can be transported to that time and have an adventure. For example one book is called Mummies in the Morning and it's all about the Egyptians, you can buy an information book to go with the storybook with facts about Egyptians which is directly related to stuff in the storybook. They're very good and there's loads in the series. The first link is to one of the storybooks and the second to the companion book.

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tonight-Titanic-Ma...1751&sr=8-6

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Titanic-Non-fictio...1821&sr=8-2

 

Lisa

[Canopus]

When I was in Y7 and Y8, there was a bias in the curriculum towards creative writing and making up stories. This wasn't just in English but in history, geography, and science as well. I viewed these last 3 subjects as primarily centred on learning facts and information rather than making up stories. The result was that the school saw me as underperforming in them and lazy because I was reluctant to do homework, and instead preferred to spend the time learning something useful by reading a textbook.

[jlp]

Thank you all for the replies, there's some very useful stuff there. Mumble, I found the structured questions a good idea too and you're probably right there's other things causing the problem as well as lack of imagination.

 

I think we also have very big attention problems which makes homework a long drawn out and stressful event (and getting worse as the work become more difficult) For example to even think of one sentence and write it down could take 20 minutes to an hour - he has the mind of a butterfly and very poor writing skills. He also objects strongly to homework at all then gets very cross doing it so nothing's right! He's even wise to me trying to sneak anything remotely 'educational' in - we've just been away for a week and I tried to make a little book of our week together, googling a map, getting photos and a little bit writing but he just wasn't interested and I ended up doing it all myself!

 

I think I'm panicking a bit as the work does seem to be getting harder than he is capable of and takes so much longer than the time it should take.

 

If it's this hard at 7 then I dread the future!

[jlp]

Another thing we did was try & relate the task to something he was interested in, ie dinosaurs, skyscrapers etc, went way off topic but hell it got the job done

 

I bet if I'd mentioned that the Pirates in the story met R2D2 or Anakin Skywalker that would have got his attention!

Edited April 3, 2007 by jlp

[av16]

I would agree with Mumble- my son reads quite alot and although he appears to have no imagination actually writes quite interesting stories becauses he uses scenarios from the books he's read. If you can get your son to read some fantasy stories(or read them to him) or even watch videos/dvds of different stories he may find writing a bit easier. With my teacher hat on I have found that even the most reluctant writers can find something to write about after watching a film- even several weeks afterwards. Well done for being such a pro-active parent!

[MichelleW]

I have the same problem with J who is nearly 7. He always gets spellings as a homework, but was supposed to put them into sentences. It was almost impossible to get him to think of sentences, then he would refuse to write them out. His teacher was great - said not to worry about putting them into sentences. And his memory is so good he usually gets his spellings right. Writing stories is also a problem , he just can not seem to think of anything, and when I try to suggest ideas, he just repeats back exactly what I said, instead of something even slightly different.