#886 Thursday 11 April

In previous blogs I've spoken of Kaylia's absence of imagination ...... yesterday we had a demonstration of this and of just how difficult it is for normal adults to comprehend the depth of this problem.

School were stern with us about the homework not being done lately .... (now I wonder why that is???) ..... so Naomi sat down at the table with "bookers". The exercise was to draw a picture of the story subject. Usually I coax her through this hand over hand. Naomi wanted to see what she would do.
(Background ....she knows what 'draw' means .... and she has just finished the illustrated story.). .... Instruction ...."Draw Ben in a tent"..... She writes "Ben in a tent".
The usual conclusion that we adults would make is that she has confused 'draw' with 'write' ... but .... we know that she can understand the difference between the actions of draw and write ..... and we're familiar with her absolutely literal interpretation of a sentence. So my interpretation is that the exercise is beyond her!! When she reads a story, the pictures mean nothing .... she cannot build a mental picture that she can mentally attach a name tag to. When we point to a picture of a dog chasing a ball .... it's a complete blank to her. She must be wondering "What are they talking about now?"
When asked she can attach a mental tag to some squiggly lines and say "Ben" .... because that's what we've been talking about..... but is there a picture of Ben in her mind? ... No! ...

The frustrating thing is that the homework is professionally produced material that's supposed to be spot on for Kaylee type problems ... in reality, the work is a complete waste of time .... it just flies over her head at a great altitude!
I can't get upset at school staff either because the comprehension of this problem by a person who can "imagine" is a bit hard ... it involves very convoluted thinking. ......trying to imagine how an absence of imagination would imagine an imaginary concept! Phew.

So .... for years we have tried to "turn on her imagination" .... without success. Perhaps we should try to build an artificial imagination as a sort of replacement? I'll think about that as I lie here in recovery mode.

Later:  Naomi has pointed out that Kaylia's imagination has begun ..... in the past 2 years she has learned to imagine real things .... things that she has experienced.  She can imagine being at the dentist ..... or going to Bali ..... or going to the shops.

But she still can't imagine things she hasn't experienced.