Abstract
In this paper, some of the assumptions underlying the concept of 'self-directed learning' are examined, particularly in relation to students with specific learning difficulties. The medical condition of hydrocephalus is taken as an example of how expectations of self-directed learning can camouflage the problems associated with 'executive thinking' experienced by many of these young adults, irrespective of their 'IQ' or 'general ability' level. Brief cameos of individual case histories are presented to illustrate these problems, and the specific difficulties associated with short term memory are described. It is argued that psychological assessments of 'general ability' may:
It is further argued that in order both to 'develop their own voices', and assume responsibility for learning, these students will need support for self-assessment and self-monitoring strategies from the beginning of Key Stage I , as well as teaching approaches which will allow them to maximise their learning potential.
What is 'self-directed learning' ?
The focus in this paper is on the prior experiences students may need to have had in order to become self-directed, rather than the organisational procedures that could facilitate self-directed learning in further education. From this perspective, self-directed learning is not only a means to an end, i.e. being able to make the best use of learning opportunities in further education and employment, but the result of preparatory work that maximises the possibility that students will be ready to do that. Before it is possible to explore what that preparatory work might be, we need to have an idea of what we are aiming for. In this respect, it may be more useful to think of 'self-directed learning' not as a single trait, but as a constellation of qualities and abilities.
Qualities:
The twin ideas of 'control' and 'responsibility' (Garrison, 1992) refers not only to the learner's opportunity to make decisions and organise the work, and the obligation to recognise and conform to expected standards and deadlines, but also to the fact that learning is the learner's responsibility, as is seeking help when there are difficulties. Initiative may be an important factor, and this may go hand in hand with 'interest': a personal interest in the work that encourages discussion and investigation. Newman (1994) has also introduced the ideas of 'team-working', rather than depending on an authority figure; and evaluation, so that students (or employees) are able to judge for themselves how well the work has been done. This also implies that students should have a sense of realism, i.e. they should be aware of what they know and can do, and how far they have progressed in their learning.
Skills:
It is difficult to imagine how students could develop these qualities and skills without having first developed confidence in their ability to deal with a range of different practical situations. For example, self-direction may also require confidence in one's ability to sort and prioritise large amounts of information without feeling overwhelmed (Johnston, 1997). Equally, it may demand an ability to think ahead and plan work schedules; and a confidence that one can tackle most problems that are likely to arise. Perhaps most importantly, it may be dependent on a certain amount of resilience, the ability to 'pick oneself up' and dust off the failures, and alongside this, a belief in oneself as a person (cf Kramer, 1994), and an interest in one's own self-development. The sort of interest that prompts questions such as 'Where am I going?' 'What do I need to get there?'
Is the concept of self-directed learning a myth?
Social evidence
If young people and adults are learning to take an interest in their own development, take charge of their own lives, and feel confident about tackling problems and difficulties, we should be able to see evidence of that in what is happening in society. At the beginning of the new millennium, articles in the Sunday Times (9151) painted a very bleak picture. One article described the drug culture, and how drugs were being sold from hot-dog stands. The drug-dealer was quoted as saying to a first time user: 'It could f*** your life up... Is your life worth anything?… But you want to enjoy the night, don't you.' This concentration on short-term goals seems to be the antithesis of the notion of self-directed learning. Other articles referred to high levels of violence (with tens of thousands of crimes involving armed violence in 1999) and high levels of stress - self-direction either thwarted or gone astray? The birth rate was noted as falling, and that does not usually denote a 'happy' or successful society; one of the reasons suggested was the effect of stress on libido. On top of all this, there was again reference to the low levels of literacy and numeracy in the workforce.
Evidence from Schools and Further Education
Research in Northern Ireland (Sutherland et al, unpublished report) has suggested that very many children may be experiencing difficulties in acquiring the necessary abilities and skills. Many primary school teachers observed that children had difficulty with experiential targets in mathematics and science, and in planning and sequencing in writing. Secondary high school mathematics teachers felt that many Year 8 children lacked confidence and had difficulty planning investigations (p.8). Some science teachers felt that Year 8 children did not appreciate that their knowledge and understanding was incomplete (p.8).
Lecturers have recognised that a lack of self-direction is a problem (Gibbs and Jenkins, 1992), and some have tried to introduce ways of encouraging students to take charge of their own learning, and use the resources that are available to them as appropriate. Few of these interventions have had any impact. Involving students in course planning has had no perceptible effect (Davenport, 1993); providing course 'surgeries' has not worked because few students turned up at them; and arranging for student networking failed because of practical difficulties relating to time and travel. One intervention (making course objectives explicit) did appear to have an effect on examination performance, but not on students' attitudes to learning, i.e. students who previously waited to be directed, still waited.
Lecturers in further education face similar problems as teachers; there are a number of courses students are expected to follow, and they are expected to gain a qualification at the end. These qualifications are meant to provide reliable information for employers, but even for 'starter' courses such as NVQ level 1, the amount of support and prompting that has been needed on occasions, to enable some students to achieve the grade, calls the validity and reliability of the result into question (personal communication from some lecturers).
Evidence and arguments in relation to different groups of students Research (Johnston, 1999) suggests that some of the 'more able' students (i.e. those choosing A level subjects and degree courses) may have to change their minds because the subjects they chose were not those most suited to the career they had in mind, or because the standard they had achieved in a particular subject was not sufficient preparation for a more advanced level. It also suggests there may be a few students who are overly dependent on guidance in their career choices.
Students with learning difficulties and/or physical disabilities may have more problems. Within the group of students with disabilities, some may have particular problems because their disabilities are not always immediately obvious, and when they are noticed, are not always understood. Students with hydrocephalus, autism, dyspraxia and ADHD, may fall into this category. Students with hydrocephalus, for example, may not only have characteristics of autism, dyspraxia and ADHD, but also visual impairments, and poor visual-perceptual abilities (Houliston et al, 1999; Caines and Dahl, 1997). Other difficulties (e.g. fine motor skills, concentration, short term memory) have more often been commented on in schools. Problems with self-monitoring, self-regulation, self-assessment and self-motivation in learning may be particularly noticeable, and students in this group may be more likely than others to make unrealistic career choices (ASBAH video). They often also appear to have very low self-esteem. If methods of encouraging self-direction in these students can be found, the chances of other students benefiting too may be very high. These methods may involve analysing their difficulties in terms of developmental delays that may have given rise to them.
Ecological plasticity
To call the brain a very sophisticated organ is an understatement. Although neurology has helped to map it out and associate particular events with activation of different parts of the brain, there is still much to be learned. When things go wrong, neurosurgeons can often intervene to prevent fatal outcomes, but cannot prevent the behavioural outcomes that may result from an insult to a particular area. One potentially fatal condition is hydrocephalus, which can result from e.g. spina bifida, head injury, tumours, meningitis or premature birth. It literally means 'water on the brain'. The 'water' is cerebro-spinal fluid, and when its pathways are blocked, it 'backs up', and the ventricles in the middle of the brain swell, putting pressure on the surrounding tissue. Some cells, and the neural pathways linking different groups of cells, may be damaged. However, although brain cells cannot recover, once destroyed, it is believed that the brain as a whole has remarkable regenerative powers, referred to as 'ecological plasticity' (Lebeer, 1998). A recent documentary on television showed how a child with epilepsy, and very challenging behaviour, had one complete hemisphere (the left) removed, and was still able to talk, even though it is known that speech is a function of the left hemisphere. This, it was claimed, indicated that the right hemisphere of the brain had already taken over the important functions of the left hemisphere. In terms of learning, this suggests that we would be unwise to assume we can predict a future performance level for children, based on their current performance levels.
Where does a sense of self-direction begin?
Strands of development
Just as the concept of 'self-direction' is more easily appreciated if it is 'decomposed', so the notion of 'development' may be more understandable if this idea is broken up into the different areas of learning that need to 'come together' for children, to enable them to maximise their abilities and skills. Research in different branches of psychology (educational, developmental, clinical, neuropsychology, neurophysiological psychology) indicates that some of these areas include:
In reality, no one of these areas is separate from the others, for example 'belief' may have as much to do with rational thinking as emotions, but an initial separation may help to indicate possible relationships between these different areas.
Physical experiences:
Self-direction, in terms of self-confidence, decision-making, and the foundations for literacy and numeracy skills may begin with mobility and co-ordination skills in infancy. The terms 'proprioception', 'exteroception' and 'exproprioception' (Bruce and Green, 1990) refer to awareness of body parts, relative to one another; awareness of the environment; and awareness of the body in relation to the environment. Some of this awareness depends on feedback to the mind from joints and the vestibular system; much of it depends on vision.
The development of visual skills in infancy is considered to depend on the concurrent development of early motor movements (reflexes and postural movements), resulting in the ability to switch focus ('zoom' in and out), and to scan a panoramic view smoothly and easily (Goddard, 1995). If children do not develop these early visual and motor skills, their learning about the physical environment may be compromised, and any remaining effects on visual coordination may also, according to Goddard, affect their later ability to read. Perceptual difficulties, including lack of figure-ground discrimination, will affect both school work and ordinary daily activities: interpretation of complex pictures and diagrams; distinguishing between a step and a line on the ground, or even walking (or being wheeled) across patterned carpet (a reportedly unnerving experience); organising materials on the desk. If there is 'visual neglect' children will eat from only one side of a plate and will not notice things that are placed on the 'blind' side on their desks. Some children may be able to focus on things a short distance away more clearly than close up. Squints (convergent or divergent) may mean that children have to adopt certain head postures, and squints become much more noticeable when the children are tired.
Children who have problems with balance and vision will have difficulty developing fluency of movement. Managing their bodies in relation to the environment (exproprioception) will absorb much of their attention, leaving little free to develop more sophisticated concepts, and they may not have the same problem-solving opportunities in relation to concrete objects as other children. After her mother worked on estimation activities for a few weeks, one eight-year-old girl (mainstream) with characteristics of hydrocephalus, was able, for the first time, to get herself a drink of water and turn the tap off before her glass overflowed. When children learn to use prediction and reasoning, they appear to gain more self-confidence and self-esteem (personal observation). Estimation and manipulative experiences also introduce children to intuitive ideas about number. Without such concrete experiences, children may not get to the stage of working confidently and effectively with written numbers, and it is very unlikely that they will be ready to understand problem solving with symbols.
Normally, physical experiences are internalised (cf Piaget, cited in Wood, 1988), building basic perceptions of forces, and intuitive ideas about distance, angle, size, planes, position, direction, movement and perspective. All of these 'physical' representations are related to mathematical concepts. Ideas about movement and direction introduce the concept of reversal - going forwards and back; going up and down. Ideas about position and direction introduce the notion of object relationships, e.g. below, behind etc.. Eventually very basic images of different perspectives may be acquired as children begin to be more adventurous, hide under furniture and climb on top of it. These ideas form the basis for many of the more 'difficult' ideas in mathematics, as well as what are presumed to be the simpler levels. Even the simplest actions that children usually engage in when they are 'exploring', i.e. taking things apart, may be the root of later abstract understandings e.g. decomposition. The concept of reversal may be needed for children to be able to appreciate the idea of inverse operations. It is also needed for counting backwards, and using simple LOGO commands. Children who have missed out on the early development of these concepts may need compensatory experiences, until they feel confident about the idea of 'reversal' before they can begin to appreciate its application in number. If they are introduced to written work before this, not only will they not develop the understanding they need, they will also learn to dislike mathematics (personal observations and cf McLeod, 1990; Wood, 1988).
Memory and thinking skills
Self-direction in terms of planning and problem solving may depend on how much information children and young people can 'hold' and 'manipulate' in their minds at the one time. It may be a very disorientating experience when information keeps 'slipping away'. There may be a feeling of 'Where am I, and what do I do now?' (Relfe, 1999). It may be more difficult to make comparisons, classify information and generate alternative scenarios.
Theories of working memory (e.g. Baddeley, 1986, 1999; Logie, 1999) have been helpful as a means of visualising some of the difficulties children and young people with short-term memory problems may experience. The mechanisms proposed include rehearsal and short-term retention (subvocalisation, the 'phonological loop', a 'visual cache'), imaging functions (auditory imagery, the 'visual scribe') and an overall 'control' system, termed the 'central executive'. Once fluency is achieved, a sort of 'autopilot' system manages familiar routines. The achievement of fluency seems to 'free up' thinking space in the mind, so that more complex problems can be tackled without information overload. For example this may be related to Gray and Mulhern's (1995) research findings that indicated children with 'high automaticity' in small number addition facts had higher mathematical ability. It may also be related to Baddeley's (1986) research that showed rapid pronunciation is associated with better recall.
Children and young people with poor short-term memories will have difficulty retaining and following oral instructions, or even watching and copying routines, or copying from a blackboard (especially if there are also perceptual difficulties). They may also be slower to develop the ability to read silently, and many may have difficulty visualising and transforming images, e.g. if they are asked to describe a video, or an experiment they have watched their replies may be very brief, and the narrative lacking in clarity and structural cohesion. Some children may appear, sometimes, to confuse fact with fantasy. These difficulties with short-term memory can co-exist with very good long-term memory (ASBAH literature).
The basic skill of matching may be all that is needed to establish many routines, but if this is the only skill, the result will be rigid thinking, and rigid thinkers tend to have difficulty reworking their thinking to take account of 'new' information (Iddon et al, 1996). At its most extreme this rigidity may result in perseveration, when an action continues to be repeated without re-evaluating the situation, e.g. children may continue to write right up to the edge of the paper. One young adult was trying to double-loop elastic bands on a stand, but each time she tried to lift one and loop it, her hand kept moving upwards and the band came off (personal observation). A nine-year-old (who knew colours) watched and listened to a demonstration of a repeating colour pattern (e.g. green, blue, green, blue). He copied the pattern, pointed to the cubes and repeated the colour sequence as it had been said, but because the colour sequence was now reversed, he was simultaneously pointing to the transformed sequence (blue, green, blue, green) (Hydrocephalus video).
Many of the thinking skills we use are skills that have developed over millennia (cf Sharron, 1996; Rogoff 1990; Doise and Mugny, 1984), and one of the most efficient of these is classification. Creating deliberate associations between different items or events facilitates recall, much like a well organised filing system. It allows much quicker access to information already stored in memory, as each file can hold many separate items, and it puts less strain on memory as each file just counts as a single item. However, another essential skill is that of being able to recognise both similarities and dissimilarities (not just 'same' or 'different'), and this may be one of the most important skills to develop (cf Bruner, 1990; Wood, 1988; Hofstadter, 1986, p. 205). It appears to be an essential element of flexible thinking. When this skill is applied to classification systems, it becomes possible to generate new categories, by synthesising existing sets, and this may be important for both critical and creative thinking.
It may be that this ability lies dormant most of the time because it is not needed; it may also be underused because it can be associated with 'uncomfortable' feelings. When faced with 'new' information that does not appear to make sense, there can be a noticeable physiological reaction (e.g. increased heart rate). Confident problem-solvers may interpret this feeling as 'excitement' or 'pleasurable anticipation', whereas those who have experienced repeated failure might interpret it as an alarm signal (McLeod, 1990). An eight-year-old child with hydrocephalus, who had been slow to acquire reading and spelling skills, was introduced to phonetics, beginning with onset and rime. There was a significant improvement in her spelling (personal communication from educational psychologist). One day she had to write down someone's name. She managed some of it herself, and was told the rest. She disagreed with the spelling she was given, pointing out that it did not sound that way. It was then explained to her that sometimes words are not written as they are pronounced, and that different people pronounce words differently to each other. She became very upset, buried her head in a cushion and exclaimed 'I think you've got a spelling problem!'
Mediation (Sharron, 1996) for problem solving may be necessary in order to help children learn strategies, and this instruction needs to be both an enjoyable and a successful experience for children with short term memory problems. It needs to be enjoyable so that they can begin to look forward to problem solving. One child, who was referred because of difficulties with mathematics, enjoyed the problem-solving work she was given with Multilink cubes. It was explained to her that this was 'algebra', a sort of mathematics. When she was asked how she felt about mathematics in school, she said she did not like it - but she loved algebra! It also needs to be successful, because when children or adults have short-term memory problems, the wrong answer or strategy is as likely to be remembered the next time as the right one. This is the principle underlying 'errorless learning', an intervention programme for schizophrenia (Wykes et al, 1999). Vygotsky (Van der Meer and Valsiner, 1993) has given us the phrase 'the zone of proximal development' to indicate how to assess children's learning potential by observing what they can achieve with help.
Interactive skills
Self-direction also requires the ability to communicate one's ideas, and understand the ideas of others, whether by speech, gestures, signs, symbols, models, or through an artistic medium. Many influential writers have contributed ideas about the role that communication plays in learning. It helps to clarify thought, especially if the speaker has to justify an idea (Piaget, cited in Johnson-Laird and Wason, 1977; Doise and Mugny, 1984). It begins with 'speech for others' before it becomes 'speech for oneself', and this 'inner speech' may contribute to higher order thinking and planning (Vygotsky, cited in Van der Meer and Valsiner, 1993). It is an aid to evaluation, which draws on both 'logic' and 'emotions', and may help to establish a sense of pattern and logic in events, which is often communicated in the form of a 'story'. It may also be an aid to memory; when facts are recounted in the narrative they appear to be more memorable (Bruner, 1990). It is the means by which adults can help children learn thinking strategies, the first one of which may be 'Just a minute, let me think …' (Feuerstein, cited in Sharron, 1996).
These theories reinforce the idea that children need to learn to use the vocabulary associated with their learning, i.e. figure out what things mean in terms of the words already available to them, their own experiences and their own feelings, if they are to be able to both understand and remember new concepts. In a class of non-statemented children with special needs in a main-stream school, it was found that children who could communicate their understanding verbally, or diagrammatically, without any words being supplied for them, were normally able to score 100% in a subsequent test in that particular mathematical topic. It was also found that those who needed to be 'led' to the answer, through questioning, invariably had lower scores (personal observations).
Initial experiences may be guided, but as fluency and confidence develops, children can begin to be more creative, and master tasks that are more complex. Just as fluency of movement allows more sophisticated sequences of actions, so fluency in the use of language, both formal and informal, may allow more 'thinking power' to be made available, rather than being used up in 'navigating' unfamiliar sentence constructions (cf Bruner, 1990, p.76). Children with short term memory problems may be in special need of help to develop a more extended use of language, partly so that following a discussion will be easier for them, but for other reasons as well. The use of language, in a narrative form, may also help to establish a template for thinking and learning, which can introduce temporal concepts, concepts of probability, ideas of cause and consequence, and social perspectives. Thus, it may also help them to develop a 'theory of mind' (Premack & Woodruff, 1978, cited in Saarni and Harris, 1989). Young people who can appreciate other people's perspectives may be more likely to feel part of a peer group, and people who have a sense of belonging in such a group may be more likely to feel confident and secure (cf Kramer, 1994).
Social evaluation
Without a sense of 'I', there could be no concept of self-direction. Social experiences may allow children to develop a sense of personal identity: the 'I' in the personal narrative, which is thought to emerge at around the age of four years (Jung, cited in Rich and Devitis, 1994, p. 33).
Adults appear to receive cues from children that determine how they will interact with them. Interactions with a ten-month old child are very different to interactions with a three-year-old. If some of these cues consist of physical prowess, it is possible that physical development will partly determine the stage at which adults begin to adopt different attitudes, different tones of voice, and different expectations of the children's behaviour. When the 'normal' stage for these developments arrives, and children are not yet able to do the physical activities that would be expected, it may also be that the cues become confused, and some adults may then take some of the disabilities for granted, as permanent conditions.
Normally, as children gain more independence, more is expected of them, and they are often given more responsibility for helping out with household chores. All of these experiences contribute to confidence building. Because of their poor co-ordination, balance and fine motor skills, some children are not as capable of self-help as their peers, and are not always encouraged to participate in household chores (personal observations). When it was suggested to parents that their nine-year-old son could perhaps learn how to make a cup of tea, they were very reluctant to attempt to teach him, because his handgrip was so weak and they thought it would be dangerous. However, when he had practice in finding out exactly what he was capable of, using cold water, he was able to move on to using boiling water and his success boosted his self-esteem.
In compensating for physical disabilities, and in terms of the behavioural expectations they have of children, adults (parents and teachers) may be missing opportunities to introduce new skills. If this were the case, delayed development of physical skills might also sometimes result in a delay in social development. If one's sense of identity is derived largely from social experiences, as Bruner (1990) would suggest, then the failure to give children the skills they need, plus the messages that are conveyed about competence or helplessness, could influence identity formation, and the children could begin to see themselves as non-participants in society.
Pain and discomfort may be both 'natural' and social motivators - pain is sometimes a signal of potential danger, or ill-health, and the discomfort of peer disapproval can sometimes encourage conformity to certain behaviours, even when there is a risk involved (e.g. Maggs and Humelmann, 1998). Work and learning are not always comfortable experiences. The socialisation process introduces children to the idea that sometimes they need to repress their instinctive reactions (which may be to avoid things they do not like) and act appropriately. They need to learn to self-inhibit. Self-inhibition, e.g. through refraining from 'butting in', may also introduce the idea of concurrence, drawing attention to the fact that external events are operating on one agenda while 'personal-events' are operating on another.
Some children (and young adults) may have little or no concept of time, or of managing a task to 'fit' a given time-span. In informal discussions, many different parents have referred to examples of behaviour similar to the following. If told about a pleasant event that will happen in a few hours, they may tend to ask every few minutes if it is 'time yet'. If they are expected to get ready for something, they can often 'dawdle', or may be found engaged in some other activity that has caught their interest. Managing two separate tasks within a given period (e.g. preparing scrambled egg and toast) may be almost impossible without prompting.
Temporal concepts are thought to be a later development than spatial concepts and it might be that children need to establish ideas about the physical environment before they can begin to learn about time. Ideas about time may also depend not only on learning to 'read' a clock face, but also on explicit social instruction framed in a way that children can understand. This explicit instruction may include e.g. clues that indicate when people are 'not busy' and can pay attention; or limiting the initial instruction to a specific context (e.g. talking) and requiring recognition of that context by using a phrase, such as 'excuse me'. Many other social activities may contribute to the idea, e.g. queues, taking turns in a game, taking turns with a toy. Estimation activities in a mathematics programme may include opportunities to understand the idea of measuring time, but children who have not developed the initial social concepts may find this difficult, and some children may not have consolidate these ideas by the end of KS1.
One child's parents were informed that she was not behaving appropriately at the end of break-times. Instead of lining up with the other children, she stood to one side. When this was investigated at home, it was discovered that the child had not yet developed the concept of a 'queue', and so may not have been aware that this was a criterion of 'appropriate behaviour'. After some practical instruction, using other family members, a 'test' was provided in a local supermarket. The test result showed that while the child now knew that she had to join a queue by standing behind the last person in it, she had not yet learned that when the queue moved up, she did too.
When children master these ideas of inhibition and turn taking they may benefit from an increase in the positive feedback they receive, and this in turn may help their social confidence develop.
Self-evaluation
Unless students know what is possible for them to do, they will remain dependent on some-one else to guide them, but as well as knowledge about what can be done, they also need to know the different parameters by which their work is being judged, and this knowledge should not be taken for granted. A nine-year old child, with spina bifida and hydrocephalus, was being shown some mathematical activities and pre-empted further explanation by demonstrating that she understood what the activities entailed. The tutor commented 'very good', and moved on to the next activity. A few moments later, the child said 'Why did you say that was good?' This question indicates that the child was not familiar with the criterion that was being used in that evaluation. She was aware of what she could do, but was not very sure what it was about the performance that was being evaluated.
For students who have yet to develop physical, social and academic confidence, evaluations without explicit criteria for improving performance in the required areas may be confusing at best, and even distressing. It may lead to extreme anxiety, e.g. about formal examinations. Another outcome can be unrealistic beliefs about what is possible and what is not. If some young people have not become aware of what they can do unaided across the curriculum, it may be difficult for them to assess the suitability of different courses and careers. This can develop into a sort of detachment from reality, with young adults expressing an interest in certain careers without any apparent awareness of how far short of the entry standards they are, or to what extent their disabilities will make that career a non-starter.
In terms of social behaviour, successful functioning usually necessitates noticing the do's and don'ts; the things that meet with social acclaim, or castigation, but these are rarely made explicit. Likewise, in classrooms, certain behaviours may be expected, e.g. getting settled down to work quickly, listening when the teacher speaks, co-operating with others in a group, sticking at a task until it is completed, and asking for help when it is needed, rather than just keeping quiet and getting it wrong. How often is credit, or withholding of credit, given for any of these as achievements in their own right, as distinct from the actual content of the task?
In many ways, it is much easier to make academic criteria explicit than it is to make social criteria explicit. This also introduces the idea of inference. We can often presume that children will 'know' what we expect of them, and we do not always say what we mean. Children e.g. with autism, hydrocephalus, or brain injury, and very young pre-school children, tend to take things very literally. A family story has it that when an infant (now a retired consultant anaesthetist) was playing with paint pots in his grandfather's shop, his grandfather came in and exclaimed 'That's a nice mess.' Shortly afterwards his grandmother came in and scolded him for spilling paint powder everywhere. He defended himself by explaining that his grandpa had thought it was a nice mess. Some children may continue to take things literally when they become adults.
It has been found that up to the age of eight, all children tend to see things very much in black and white. Dr Temple Grandin (1996) has explained how complicated social 'rules' are, and how, as an autistic person, she has had to categorise them: 'really bad things'; 'courtesy rules'; 'illegal, but not bad' and 'sins of the system'. Some rules may appear straightforward (e.g. killing people is a 'really bad thing'), but are quite often broken, and it is an unwritten rule that they should be broken if the circumstances demand it, e.g. attitudes to armies, euthanasia. On a more frivolous level, children are taught not to tell lies, but if they have dinner in someone else's house, are given a meal they don't particularly like, and are asked afterwards if they enjoyed it, they may be expected to say: 'Yes, it was lovely thank you. I just wasn't very hungry.'.
The tendency for literal interpretation, when combined with an emphasis on pleasing adults, can be especially problematic in relation to child abuse. One teenager with a brain injury was schooled by his parents to weigh up situations for himself. They emphasised that if someone was asking him to do something he did not feel good about doing, he should say 'no'. However, this landed him in trouble when he followed that rule in class. Another teenager, with hydrocephalus, got into a car with people he did not know (but who knew his parents). As he was getting out, after a long chat, he was offered money for sweets. He refused, saying that his mother did not allow him to take sweets from strangers. (She had not said anything about not talking to them.)
The problem is that children who are 'literal', cannot be told that they must always do what an adult tells them to do. Yet they must also be given help to develop the sorts of behaviours that will not land them in trouble for disobedience or seemingly rude behaviour. Many of these situations force us to confront our own ability to deceive, which is perhaps one of the most characteristic traits of humanity, and one that we tend to deny being well-versed in. For children and young people who think literally, this must be very confusing, and must add to a feeling that there is something they are not connecting with. Fullan (1989) uses a poem by Laing (1970) to illustrate this same feeling of confusion, in relation to the predicament of those responsible for leading curriculum innovations, when, as can happen, they are not totally sure themselves what the innovations are about.
Children and young people may need help to avoid seeing things in 'black and white', i.e. instead of their work being just 'good', or 'not so good', it may be more confidence-boosting to know what it is that is good, and what aspects can be improved. The more unfamiliar the assessment process, the more worrying it may be. If however self-monitoring and self-evaluation are part of the normal routine, children can develop a confidence that will carry them through such events.
Emotional experiences
The proven ability to problem-solve, and to 'get through' sticky patches, provides a measure of confidence that difficulties can be tackled, and overcome or minimised, and this in turn appears to boost self-esteem (cf Rachman, 1981). Without these abilities, and the self-confidence engendered, self-esteem may be low, and as children develop into young adults, depression may set in. When young adults have a diagnosed disorder, there is a danger of this diagnosis 'overshadowing' what may be an obvious diagnosis in other circumstances (ASBAH literature). Warning signs of extreme lethargy and lack of interest in activities may be attributed to 'the condition' rather than be recognised as symptoms of clinical depression. It is not uncommon for some children with learning difficulties to believe they are 'stupid' and 'can't do anything'. Too many teenagers then develop into young adults who show little interest in anything. Increasing numbers of young adults with hydrocephalus are presenting with depression (Batchelor, 1998, informal communication).
Le Doux's (1998) neurological research on emotions has indicated that the amygdala - a part of the brain that registers fear responses - has 'powers of control', and can process information more quickly than the more logical systems in the cerebral cortex. He has found that there is not just one link between these two centres, but rather that 'control' can operate in either direction, and the amygdala-cortex pathway is actually much stronger than in the reverse direction. If 'executive' thinking has not been well established in areas of functioning already mentioned, it may be that the strength of the 'fear' message is not easily overcome through rational thinking. Equally, perception of danger that depends on rational thinking may fail to trigger a fear response. This has many implications for development, and may perhaps explain the seeming fearlessness of some very small children in situations that could be very risky - such as busy roads, or swings and slides in playgrounds. If the potential dangers involve concepts that have not yet been assimilated, the danger may not be recognised and so the survival response will not 'kick in'. In several cases, parents of primary school children with hydrocephalus have commented that the children 'know no fear'.
On the other hand, some children and young people can often evince considerable anxiety when faced with certain situations. On occasions, it has been necessary to provide alternative test arrangements as the children were showing such distress. Goddard (1989) associates these characteristics with the retention of a reflex that should have been inhibited in infancy (the Moro Reflex), and cites earlier research that indicates a cluster of such behaviours: 'hypersensitivity, overreactivity and near neurotic anticipation of future events' (p.2). A child with severe learning difficulties was given a series of key stage tests in her final year in an MLD unit. Shortly after the tests began, her epileptic seizures increased in frequency, and her behaviour became more aggressive. While it is 'folk psychology' amongst actors, musicians etc. that mild nervousness is essential for a good performance, negative emotions can also use up some of the working memory capacity (McLeod, 1990), making it more difficult to demonstrate one's true competency. Some children and young people appear to be very reticent about responding to a direct request for information or explanation. Goddard (op cit), who attributes this sort of behaviour to a retained Fear Paralysis Reflex, notes that when this reflex is retained it can result in elective mutism (i.e. refusal to speak).
Intelligence tests provide information about both verbal and performance abilities. Although the verbal IQ is the result of performance on different subscales, generally speaking it is a measure of received knowledge, more so than the performance IQ. Similarly, 'crystallised intelligence' is a term that is used for intelligence that is based on learned routines, rather than 'fluid intelligence' which is the ability to solve novel problems. It has been found that most students with learning disabilities have a lower verbal than performance IQ, but those who have gone on to tertiary education typically have a higher verbal than performance profile. A 'verbal > performance' ability is also the profile that seems to be associated with hydrocephalus, across the life span, and across the ability range.
This verbal-greater-than-performance profile has also been found to be typical of several different disorders including bipolar disorder, multiple sclerosis, depression, alcoholism, and Alzheimer's disease. The specific problems (apart from poor problem-solving) that are associated with these disorders, and contribute to that profile, are hypothesised to include anxiety, and impairments in fine motor abilities, perceptual-spatial abilities, concentration, motivation, and information processing speed (Kaufman and Lichtenberger, 1999). Therefore in many ways intelligence tests appear to be capable of identifying students who are 'at risk' of developing low self-esteem and emotional problems. This may be potentially more important than judgements of intellectual level.
Developing a sense of identity and personal worth, within a social system, places obligations not just on the child, to achieve a good performance, but on responsible adults to provide appropriate learning opportunities. To appreciate this fully, perhaps parents and teachers need to make that difference is celebrated as much as 'sameness', and that 'sameness' does not always mean 'as good as'; it can also mean 'having as much difficulty as'. In describing a particular creative-thinking technique for group discussions, Stelios Georgiou (1994) suggests that in our culture, there is a greater tendency to focus on certainty and proof than on speculation and experiment, and also to 'pick holes' in arguments rather than allow ideas to develop. For those who can expect to succeed in academic work, this may be a good way of increasing their thinking skills. For those who are still not familiar with a particular concept, or unsure in other ways, it can be a barrier to learning, and a crushing experience for their self-esteem.
Just as being included in family chores and activities can boost children's self-esteem, so students can gain confidence from a sense of being part of a learning community (cf Fisher, 1991). Students who have regarded themselves as being 'special' or 'different' may be better able to accept their relative strengths and weaknesses if the group as a whole is prepared to discuss difficulties and fears, as well as successes, and support each other. The emotional impact of believing oneself to be the only person who is finding something difficult may prevent even the most able students from fulfilling their potential. In individual interviews at the end of an undergraduate course, several non-disabled students from the same seminar group each explained how terrifying it was to speak out in a large group. One said: I'm probably more afraid of saying something really stupid and then somebody will point it out "that's crazy - what did you say that for?" (Johnston, 1997).
So, in order to appreciate fully their own worth, children may also need to learn to recognise the weaknesses, strengths, and need of support that other children have. Sometimes poets can capture complex ideas much more immediately than is possible in rational argument, and Gerard Manley Hopkins' poem, which begins 'As Kingfishers catch fire', communicates many important concepts. A personal interpretation is that this poem is not only about differences. The key idea, for me, is that we find ourselves through the process of socialisation 'Selves - goes itself', and the 'self' that then exists is (ideally) a self with purpose 'Crying What I do is me; for that I came.'
Summary
Young people need to be able to take charge of their own lives. This is not the same thing as taking charge of their educational courses. In order to provide effective learning opportunities, it may be necessary to:
References
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