TLDR: My niece is likable and friendly, good at performing arts, but is a bit ditsy. She can’t think/imagine for herself. If she’s at home and with just 1 other person to “entertain” her, she always has to ask that person, “What can we do?”
She can’t come up with something from her own thoughts, even if we ask “What do you want to do? (Or feel like doing?)”
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My niece (let's call her Sam) is 10 years old, an only child, and is a bit of an airhead/ditz (sorry for the term; I really couldn't think of anything else that sounded better). Her mom has taken her to the doctor and ruled out dyslexia, ADD/ADHD, autism, and other disorders/conditions.
She and her parents (my brother and his wife) live with me and my parents; they, like me, are dependent on our parents for the basics (food, shelter, etc). My brother's family all sleep in 1 room, so they're together in the same small space a lot of the time. Sam's days have always been scheduled by her mom, and Sam has never learned to keep herself entertained. When we hang out together, she always asks me, "What can we do?" and if she's by herself, she just watches YouTube or TV (her parents have limited this since they noticed her inability to focus on non-video related things). In short, she hasn't really developed the ability to think for herself.
Sam hates reading, even when it comes to things she's interested in like making slime, or building Legos or other toys that need to be assembled. Now, I'm not against people who dislike reading, but it has become a problem with my niece and her academics, which of course require a lot of, well, reading. One time, when Sam needed to read an entire page full of text (no pictures or anything) for her to study, she completely broke down crying and just said she wasn't "a reading person." She can only stay interested when it's a comic book, a book with lots of pictures, or a book that has huge text ("because it's shorter").
Why do I say that she is a bit ditzy? I can list down a few things (that her parents have mentioned to me as "slow" moments for their daughter):
Sam's mom thinks that one of the remedies is to teach Sam how to focus more on reading comprehension (so she can get the "nuts and bolts" working, I guess). Her mom approached me and asked if I could help with this since I'm a writer and avid reader.
What I did was to first play pictionary with Sam, and then I had us write a story using the words/drawings that came up in the game. I don't know if this is helpful, though, since we only did it that one time and it didn't keep her interest after we'd done it.
Any advice would be great!
She can’t come up with something from her own thoughts, even if we ask “What do you want to do? (Or feel like doing?)”
————
My niece (let's call her Sam) is 10 years old, an only child, and is a bit of an airhead/ditz (sorry for the term; I really couldn't think of anything else that sounded better). Her mom has taken her to the doctor and ruled out dyslexia, ADD/ADHD, autism, and other disorders/conditions.
She and her parents (my brother and his wife) live with me and my parents; they, like me, are dependent on our parents for the basics (food, shelter, etc). My brother's family all sleep in 1 room, so they're together in the same small space a lot of the time. Sam's days have always been scheduled by her mom, and Sam has never learned to keep herself entertained. When we hang out together, she always asks me, "What can we do?" and if she's by herself, she just watches YouTube or TV (her parents have limited this since they noticed her inability to focus on non-video related things). In short, she hasn't really developed the ability to think for herself.
Sam hates reading, even when it comes to things she's interested in like making slime, or building Legos or other toys that need to be assembled. Now, I'm not against people who dislike reading, but it has become a problem with my niece and her academics, which of course require a lot of, well, reading. One time, when Sam needed to read an entire page full of text (no pictures or anything) for her to study, she completely broke down crying and just said she wasn't "a reading person." She can only stay interested when it's a comic book, a book with lots of pictures, or a book that has huge text ("because it's shorter").
Why do I say that she is a bit ditzy? I can list down a few things (that her parents have mentioned to me as "slow" moments for their daughter):
- One time (she was 8y/o I think), she had a pizza she needed to share with her classmates the next day. She wanted a piece and said that she could take one slice, and bring the surrounding slices together so people would think it was still a whole pizza. Her dad pointed out that if she moved the slices, the other side of the pizza would have a missing slice. She said, "Oh, yeah..." like she never considered that.
- When she was 9 y/o or so, she wanted to run for class president. Her mom tried to explain to her that she'd have to make decisions that would affect more than 1 person. Her mom gave her the following scenario: There are some leftovers from dinner. We have to finish the leftovers tonight. I don't want to eat any more of the same food, your aunt is full and doesn't want to eat more, and your uncle says it's OK with him if he eats the food. What decision do you make? Sam's answer was, "Put it in the refrigerator for tomorrow." Her mom stated the scenario again, emphasising that we had to finish the food that night. Sam kept insisting that we could just put it in the refrigerator, even after the third time her mom repeated the scenario.
- Another scenario: It's dinner time and you see that there is steak and mashed potatoes on the dining table. When you go upstairs to call your dad for dinner, he asks, "What's for dinner?" She answered, "Let's go down and eat." Again, she repeated this answer even after we repeated the scenario for her.
- When things get "hard" for her, she just quits or takes the easy route. For example, we were in a museum and there was a part where you had to find a specific pattern in the sculpture, which was carved intricately. Instead of actually looking, Sam just flipped over the instructions to find out where the pattern was "because it's easier." She even quits playing video/mobile games the moment they become a bit more complex a few levels higher, and then opts for an "easy game."
- When she was in Grade 5 and it came time to choose clubs to join at school, she picked the "Business Class" club because she thought it would be about the business class section in airplanes (which she has always wanted to experience). My sister was perplexed and said, "She's 10, right?"
Sam's mom thinks that one of the remedies is to teach Sam how to focus more on reading comprehension (so she can get the "nuts and bolts" working, I guess). Her mom approached me and asked if I could help with this since I'm a writer and avid reader.
What I did was to first play pictionary with Sam, and then I had us write a story using the words/drawings that came up in the game. I don't know if this is helpful, though, since we only did it that one time and it didn't keep her interest after we'd done it.
Any advice would be great!
