Teaching "Like" and "Do Not Like"?

[Anita]

Advice welcome for my Struggling Learner -- speech delay, receptive language disorder. He is 6 but his receptive language comprehension is at about a 2-year-old level (all other levels, except perhaps expressive language, are "good" to "very good"). In regards to "Green Eggs and Ham" (currently reading for Level C, Struggling Learner Curriculum):

This is a book we have already read several times since W was a wee one. He loves the look of it and the cadence of the rhymes. He also likes the trains, cars and animals. However, the "story" is slow to process. He understands that Sam is trying to get the unnamed character to eat green eggs and ham (things he has experience with from many, many breakfasts). However, he doesn't understand why this is a problem for Sam since the concepts of "like" and "do not like" don't quite register (odd, I realize).

I have tried asking him if he likes eggs (he doesn't) to establish "do not like" and contrasting that with things he does like (ie juice, honey-butter, ice cream). But to no avail. Still a "blank". We know the ASL signs for like and don't like and I have even tried asking him if he wants some eggs (he says "no thank you") to highlight that he does not like eggs (an if-then kind of relationship). Again, blank.

Thoughts? Or should I just keep plugging away at it until he has a light bulb moment?

[cherylswope]

Advice welcome for my Struggling Learner -- speech delay, receptive language disorder. He is 6 but his receptive language comprehension is at about a 2-year-old level (all other levels, except perhaps expressive language, are "good" to "very good"). In regards to "Green Eggs and Ham" (currently reading for Level C, Struggling Learner Curriculum):

This is a book we have already read several times since W was a wee one. He loves the look of it and the cadence of the rhymes. He also likes the trains, cars and animals. However, the "story" is slow to process. He understands that Sam is trying to get the unnamed character to eat green eggs and ham (things he has experience with from many, many breakfasts). However, he doesn't understand why this is a problem for Sam since the concepts of "like" and "do not like" don't quite register (odd, I realize).

I have tried asking him if he likes eggs (he doesn't) to establish "do not like" and contrasting that with things he does like (ie juice, honey-butter, ice cream). But to no avail. Still a "blank". We know the ASL signs for like and don't like and I have even tried asking him if he wants some eggs (he says "no thank you") to highlight that he does not like eggs (an if-then kind of relationship). Again, blank.

Thoughts? Or should I just keep plugging away at it until he has a light bulb moment?

Hello, Anita.

Your little boy and his "no thank you" are far more polite than the unnamed character who refuses Sam-I-Am, his host!

In fact, when teaching manners, we often do not encourage our children to express strong "dislike" at age 6, especially to the foods we serve!

However, if you wanted to pursue the concept for its language value, you might do so with a poster. We used posters to teach many things. You could divide the poster with a thick vertical line. On one side write, "Like." On the other write, "Do Not Like." (As a young reader, he might distinguish "Do Not" more easily than "Don't.")

Then take magazine pictures of items you know he really does not like. They could be spiders, loud noises from airplanes, or specific foods. Place them on the "Do Not Like" side. Do these first, because if he is an agreeable child, you will likely find many things you can place in his "Like" category. When you finish, present the poster as a whole. You can use full sentences with his name to teach the concept item by item. "_____ likes apple juice." "_____ does not like tomato juice." "_____ likes bananas." "_____ does not like mushrooms."

If, as with more conversational approach, this still too difficult, he might be having trouble with the abstraction or even with self-awareness. (This is difficult to determine from here, of course.)

To work around such challenges, you might consider teaching from a taste test. For example, purchase small bottles of apple juice and orange juice, if he likes these. Purchase another bottle of tomato juice and something tasteless or bitter, such as clam juice or unsweetened green vegetable juice. Place two index cards, "Like" and "Do Not Like" on the table. After he tastes apple juice, ask, "Do you think this tastes good?" If he says yes, instruct, "You LIKE this." Place the bottle by the "Like" card. After he tastes the clam juice, ask, "Do you think this tastes good?" If he says no, instruct, "You DO NOT like this." Place the bottle by the "Do Not Like" card. If you did not wish to purchase items you would never use, you could try this with items such as chocolate milk vs. unsweetened black tea or honey vs. minced garlic.


These are only ideas. You have already tried several approaches. Even after you try the above ideas, the concept may still take time to emerge, as you suggest. If this is the case, you could press on with Green Eggs and Ham without concern, but then interject the concept of "Like" and "Do Not Like" in various conversations or activities, as opportunities appear.

Btw, few of us here think any of this is odd.


If CelticaDea is reading, she will have good suggestions for you. Others may too.


Thanks-
Cheryl

Simply Classical: A Beautiful Education for Any Child
Cheryl Swope, M.Ed., with foreword by Dr. Gene Edward Veith

NEW Simply Classical Curriculum

[Anita]

Thanks for the input... When do you sleep?

Thanks, Cheryl!

You made me laugh out loud with the "no one thinks this is odd" comment. I find myself scratching my head a lot that W can count by tens to 100 (with no assistance); to 30 by ones; knows all the letters of the alphabet; what sounds they make (mostly); how many squares have stripes or dots or waves in math problems; his colors; shapes and can navigate us anywhere we want to go in TWO STATES by sheer memory, but doesn't readily understand "like" vs "do not like". He can ride a bike (with training wheels) and shoot a basketball better than his dad but his handwriting is poor and his language comprehension is low. But he knows all his major prayers, loves Mass and sings with me in Latin "O Salutaris Hostia".

He is polite by rote -- I taught him purposely to say either "no thank you" or "no ma'am". He is incredibly sweet and eager to please but, no kidding, the STRONGEST-WILLED CHILD ON EARTH (along with his sister and little brother). If he doesn't want to do something, no threat, bribe or wheedle will work. Lots of reading and research (along with the fact that my husband is an engineer and both of us are musicians) plus W's speech delay and left-handedness, indicates that he might well be gifted mathematically... but we will see.

In the meantime, basic language cognition is a slow climb. Relieved to hear that if he doesn't "get it" yet to just keep going. I am two educators striving for the soul of one. On one hand, I read more advanced material (that he enjoys and attends to) assuming he will absorb it on some level with his prodigious memory whether he understands it or not. On the other hand, I put the label of "Bad Mom" on myself all too often if he doesn't understand a concept perfectly before we move on to the next level or item to be learned. Thank you for helping me give myself permission to be imperfect! LOL! And for the suggestions. Would love to hear from anyone else who also has experience with this. W is a visual/concrete thinker. I find that if I sketch things on the white board (today I drew about 20 different faces and we learned "happy", "sad" and "mad") that he can understand them. "Like" and "do not like" CAN be visual... But not with quite the same simplicity as something like "bigger" or "smaller" (concepts he only understood a few days ago after I sketched them for him).

..... What did Temple Grandin say? "Trouble is opportunity in work clothes".

Thank you!

Anita