SHEILA KING spoke of Spelling By Routman to DAN TRIPLETT on 12-30-96
SK>I get the impression that what you are saying is that the
SK>developmental phase that the child is at is INDEPENDENT of any
SK>tutoring or environment. 
If I have implied or even said that, then I would be wrong.  I am trying 
to clarify my thinking here (maybe even to myself....)  There is one 
idea I have regarding developmental readiness.  It has to do with 
concepts that are too advanced for a child.  So for example, I wouldn't 
teach adding in kindergarten (as a rule) with the expectation that most 
would learn to add single digit numbers.  I realize that some 
kindergartners can add (and surprisingly well...and they learned it on 
their own!!) but the many are still learning counting and one-to-one.  
So I think it is correct to say that 5 year old children are not 
developmentally ready for addition.  
But, if I were to leave out the environment or tutoring/teaching (we 
count every day for example, and we do simple addition throughout the 
day) then I would be doing a disservice to my kids.  You are right to 
say that this developmental phase is NOT INDEPENDENT of tutoring or 
environment.  
The child can learn only what s/he is
SK>developmentally ready for, and that somehow the child's developmental
SK>stage may have progressed to a certain point such that even though
SK>the child is not performing a certain task in school, tutoring may
SK>help him to very quickly gain that skill because s/he was
SK>"developmentally ready" for that skill. OTOH, if the child were not
SK>"ready" to learn that skill, the tutoring would not help that child
SK>to learn it.
I guess that's what I am saying.  But perhaps what I mean by that is 
unclear.  I do agree that experiences do help move a child along the 
developmental continuum.  Conversely, lack of experience can keep a 
child from making much (if any) progress.  
SK>I'm not sure that I buy into such a simplistic scheme of the whole
SK>thing. The idea that the child's developmental stage is INDEPENDENT
SK>of his/her environment or tutoring gives me a great deal of trouble.
Yes...and I agree with you that it is not.  I do not believe that we 
have a built-in pace of intellectual development.  I can see how you got 
the impression that I did though.  What I was reacting to here was the 
idea of tutoring a child who lags behind his/her classmates.  Say this 
child is struggling with a certain concept.  Going over that concept 
(tutoring) may not help at all for this child.  Something else (further 
back) may be missing.  It has been said here that we need to make our 
standards higher in education.  And that children who lag behind need to 
be tutored and brought up to speed.  I have trouble with that idea 
because it is not that easy.  
SK>-> Yes we can increase a child's understanding (if they are
SK>-> developmentally ready for it) by providing the child with many
SK>-> experiences with a given concept.  I think that this is what you
SK>-> have described.  The student's had the developmental ability but
SK>-> didn't have the pre-requisite skills (or experiences) to
SK>-> understand the concept.
SK>Again, I think that the experiences actually DO move the kid along
SK>through the developmental phases.
Yes....agree agree agree.....
Take Care,
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   |       Dan Triplett      |
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