Doc Meek

Archive for March, 2014

Dear Moms and Dads,

When your child falters it is tempting to blame the teacher.

Here’s what happened with the young boy I was helping overcome his learning difficulties and his attention difficulties in Grade 5 in Emerson Elementary (not the real name of the school).

The boy benefited in 2 ways

The boy was  restless and did not have an easy time staying focused on his desk work.

The boy tapped his pen on his desktop.

The boy drummed his fingers on his desktop.

The boy drove the teacher “crazy.” Not to mention the other kids in the classroom.

Everybody blamed the boy.

Doc Meek to the “rescue”

I said we shouldn’t blame the boy. We should blame the disruptive sound of  the tapping and drumming.

“Brilliant.”

I said the boy needed something quiet to keep his left hand busy while he was trying to use his right hand to do his schoolwork.

I spoke with the boy and we “brilliantly” agreed that if he squeezed a soft rubber ball with his left hand, the active squeezing would help his right hand do the written work.

Boy drops the ball

Boy squeezes ball. Squeezing really helped his right hand do the schoolwork.

Boy drops ball. Ball bounces all over he place. Bouncing ball entertained everybody.

Everybody laughed.

Except the teacher.

After the ball bounced  “brilliantly” the third time, she took the ball away from the boy and put it in her desk drawer.

So much for the “brilliant” ball solution. 😮

Boy could not work without the ball

The parents blamed the teacher.

“Don’t drop the ball,” I “brilliantly” suggested.

“I can’t help it,” protested the boy.

“You’re smarter than I am,” I told the boy. “You solve it.”

Smart boy solves his own problem 

The boy put his mind on it and came up with a truly brilliant solution.

He skewered the ball with a big needle and leather shoe lace and tied the ball to his belt.

Boy squeezed tethered ball.

Boy gets all his schoolwork done.

Everybody’s happy.

So how did the boy benefit in 2 ways?

(1) The boy got a “brilliant” suggestion from a learning specialist.

(2) When the “brilliant” suggestion did not work, the boy learned he could adapt outside suggestions inside his own head. He could adapt outside advice to his own use.

(3) The boy could show real brilliance in solving his own problems (and stop blaming himself and others for his lack of success).

OK, that’s 3 benefits. 😮

Sincerely, Doc Meek

P.S. This same boy began to tap his right foot on the floor while he was trying to do his deskwork. The floor was hard tile. The foot tapping “drove everybody crazy.”

Not possible. You can only drive yourself crazy. 😮

But that’s another story. 😮