kitchen table math, the sequel: Andrew Googles YouTube

Monday, January 22, 2007

Andrew Googles YouTube

Speaking of IQ & teaching, last night Ed came upstairs and said, "Andrew* found some kid videos on YouTube."

Me: "He's watching YouTube?"

Ed: "Yeah. He found some kid videos. He must have Googled them."

Me: "Andrew Googled YouTube?"

Ed: "That must be how he found them."

Me: "Andrew can Google?"

Ed: "He's been Googling for a long time."

This child scares me.

_____________

* nonverbal, God only knows what his official IQ is

9 comments:

Catherine Johnson said...

Andrew has not, by the way, been Googling for a long time.

He started using Google on his own while I was home the 2nd week in January.

Just a little case study in the way legends are born!

Me said...

Catherine, thank you so much for sharing this!

This is a bit OT but are there any explanations as to why some apparently intelligent autistic kids are nonverbal?

Catherine Johnson said...

You know, I didn't actually KNOW there were intelligent nonverbal autistic kids; I thought all the normal-IQ autistic kids spoke.

In fact, I still don't know anything about this aspect of autism.

I'm sure Andrew's measured IQ is low, but he sure doesn't seem "retarded" in the conventional sense of the word.

Nor does he seem "retarded" in the more autistic sense of the term, i.e. a child who has "islands of ability."

Andrew acts like a child who has normal "g" - g meaning general intelligence.

We really don't understand him at all.

Anonymous said...

Hi Susan and Catherine,

"Dr. Jim" (James MacDonald) is a researcher in the area of communication and language delays, especially in late-talking children. I think he might even be the retired head of the Speech/Lang Department at OSU. He's now in private practice.

If you ever get a chance to speak to him personally he's a wealth of information about what works and what doesn't with these kids. (I have a child that didn't speak at all until the age of four and still has serious speech and language delays)

Stephen Camarata at Vanderbilt is another researcher specializing in this area. Both of these guys have email loops in yahoo where they personally respond to the questions of parents and the general public.

Here is Dr. Jim's website:

http://www.jamesdmacdonald.org/Articles/FAutism/CaseStudyVerbal.html

If you guys think math education is messed up, wait til you hear what some of the shenanigans are going on with speech/lang services.

KathyIggy said...

Myrtle

I'll have to check that link out; my 11 yo has high-functioning autism--she's verbal but has both receptive and expressive speech delays. Her IQ is at least 20 pts higher on a non-verbal test, but IQ tests are very unreliable with ASD kids. Luckily, we've had some very good teachers who recognize her potential and realize we'll probably never get an accurate IQ measurement. Megan loves the computer and has been able to figure out lots of complicated games, and Googling is one of her favorite pastimes--we have to always make sure "safe search" is at a high level.

Me said...

Myrtle thanks SO much for the link to Dr. Jim's site. I couldn't stop reading.

Because of my interest in braille transcribing, I lurk on a list for parents of blind and visually impaired children. These parents seem to spend an above-average amount of time teaching their children, which, of course, isn't surprising. But after reading Dr. Jim's site, I got a big "aha" and realized that too much teaching and too little partnering -- rather than the vision problems per se -- might account for some of the communication difficulties they are seeing.

I've posted the link over there.

KathyIggy said...

I think it's easy for parents of developmentally-disabled kids to fall into the "too much teaching"--you get frustrated at what they don't know and you feel better when you can say, "look--she knows her colors, or numbers, or can read, etc." My "teaching" works best when I can make a connection with her world and indeed be a partner, rather than just someone waiting for the "correct" response.

Me said...

Kathy, I think you are right.

Yet I'm still often surprised by interactions between parents and their children who are developing normally. There's their baby or small child happily exploring a new-to-him or her toy (either a gift or something I've retrieved from a box of my own childrens' old toys) and the parent quickly interferes and shows the child the "right" way to play with the toy. (In other words, while I'm not at all an advocate of discovery math, I think discovery playing -- as long as the child is happy --is neat.)

Catherine Johnson said...

you have to have four kids in 8 years to get it right!

(my mom had 4 kids in 8 years. you definitely don't overdo the Parent As Teacher aspect of things with that many kids and no household help)