Logic for the Struggling Learner

Many children have difficulty getting information from Point A to Point B. There are things inside their little brains that just don’t seem to get expressed coherently or appropriately. Earlier this year, I stumbled upon something that has become a light bulb moment in speaking to this issue.

LOGIC

I was pretty sure my children only needed logic if one of them planned on being a lawyer, and only then because some Ivy League school told them they needed it. But, since so many homeschooling catalogs suggested Logic, I decided it was worth looking in to.

Never did I expect it to help my child who struggles to express what is in her head. I actually felt logic was more for the child who was already verbally gifted.

Silly me.

After researching several products, I purchased one. My daughter found the book and ended up bringing it along on a road trip. I could hear her working over and over again to explain the shapes in the book, using the example as her model. She would occasionally get frustrated, but for the most part, she just kept working at it. I realized she was explaining things in a way I had never heard her explain them. It was incredible!

That is when I realized logic isn’t just for the verbally gifted child. Logic is for all children. I would even go a bit further and say that Logic is especially helpful for those children who need practice in getting information from their brains into written or spoken word. They get a chance to practice this in a non-threatening, simplistic manner.

Even if you don’t purchase a full-blown logic curriculum, one simple thing you can do for your verbally challenged child is have them work on describing pictures or household items. Show them a picture of something like a flower:

Ask them to give you 3-5 words that would describe the picture. In the beginning, the child who struggles with this kind of thing will possibly balk at having to give you so many words, and once they get started, they are likely to give you some rather interesting descriptions. (When my daughter first looked at this she said, “rose.”–Nothing like stating the obvious, huh?)

Prompt your child to move past simply stating the obvious. Ask them if the rose looks soft, what general shape it is, how would the leaves feel if they touched them, etc. This is a crucial step. It teaches the child to express themselves in a deeper way.

Children with a disconnect from mind to mouth often find themselves expressing themselves in inappropriate ways. Even the obvious is often difficult for them to explain, but if you help them to explore the world beyond the obvious, you give them a treasure trove of language to help them express themselves more fully and with less over-the-top emotion (which often happens simply because they can’t get their point across to you). It teaches them to verbalize precisely, which is something we all need practice in!

It has been so interesting to watch my daughter work at giving more precision to her thoughts. Yes, she still gets terribly frustrated when she can’t fully flesh out her point, but it is getting better as she accumulates more practice at verbalizing in a logical manner. I am so glad I didn’t brush logic off as a waste of time!

Is there any subject that you didn’t think would be worth studying that you’re glad you did end up studying?

Amy can be found writing at Raising Arrows.