“Where’s the other cake, Aunt Gail?” my nephew’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. That day he turned seven years old. Together we sifted the flour, beat the eggs and butter, and folded in the vanilla and chocolate. We poured the batter into TWO nine-inch round layer pans and pushed them in the oven. In his little 7 year-old-mind, TWO pans meant TWO cakes. While he rode bikes with his cousins, I stacked the layers on top of each other, swirling them with homemade frosting. Finally, I planted seven candles and shook brightly colored sprinkles on top. (Now does that sound like an aunt who would pull a fast one, who would perhaps hide the other cake in the dishwasher, or who would eat it all by herself?). But my little nephew accused me as if he had been betrayed, “Where’s the other cake, Aunt Gail.” I explained about layers and putting layers together. But he wasn’t buying. “There were two cakes, Aunt Gail.”
Now the problem was that my little nephew had learning disabilities. One of the manifestations of learning disabilities is the difficulty of making connections. When other kids understand verbal explanations, my little nephew struggled concept presented in that manner. What this means is that some children (and some adults) need to see the connections explicitly. This is where direct instruction is so valuable. If I had been able to anticipate the misconception, I could have prevented it altogether by directly connecting two cakes into one as he looked on. Now I present this scenario to share with you when direct instruction is most valuable for children. If children have learning disabilities, direct instruction can be very helpful. So, this is in partial answer to ThirstForKnowledge’s question about when different methods of instruction are most beneficial. If I had used the appropriate method of instruction, my little nephew may have recognized all the love that went into that cake and remembered the event more fondly. Two cakes, indeed! (Now I am capable of eating a lot of chocolate cake.)
What about his cousins? Did they need to see you put the two cakes together and ice them in order to understand?
ReplyDeleteHow is ZZ with Piaget's conservation tasks? Can he see that a certain quantity will remain the same despite adjustment of the container, shape, or apparent size. Perhaps he is just developmentally delayed and not disabled? His seven year old mind needs a little more time and experience to understand. Showing him may not make a difference after the icing is applied. He'll still look for the other cake. I'm with ZZ because I know his Aunt Gail. I think she ate the other cake!
Hi, Anonymous! Nice to hear from you. First, this article is not about ZZ (He is four and is very smart and probably could make the cake himself!) This article refers to my nephew and this incident happened some years back, long, long before Z was born. I just used ZZ's picture because it was so cute and we were baking his birthday cake (seemed to fit). Second, the cousins, my sons had hung around the kitchen for years and had seen me make cakes. Yes, I'm quite familiar with Piaget' conservation tasks. Whether the child was developmentally delayed or had a learning disability, doesn't really matter because for whatever reason, he didn't get it. When we teach we are speeding up experience. In this case, I've watched the education of my nephew for many years. Direct teaching was very effective. Once relationships were pointed out. He got it! So, in effect, he would not look for the other cake. And, finally, you DO KNOW me. I'm very likely to eat the other cake! Funny. Talk to you soon, glad you responded. Enjoyed.
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