SAT score in

Trevor got a total of 1630 for his SAT score. According to his English teacher last year, 1400-1500 is considered "good" altho there's debate over that. Still, I'm very happy with his score.

There are 3 tests now, vs. the two that I had when I took the SAT. Trev did well with the verbal & math, but the essay sunk him a bit. He had already told me he ran out of time with it. In working with him last year with his English assignments, I could see he wasn't getting the idea of the essay. To me, it's a simple formula for presenting your arguement - introduce the idea, 3 reasons to agree, and summarize.

One aspect of Asperger's Syndrome autism is a lack of having another person's point of view. It's very difficult for Trevor to imagine someone not thinking the way he does, so the skill of debate is very hard for him to acquire. You need to prove him wrong to get him to accept something other than the idea he has. And if he's trying to convince you of something, he has no tools other than "I know I'm right!" Obviously, this makes it hard to write an essay.

Most of us would take different points of view, and then take them apart to prove to the reader why they don't hold water. Trevor will just go on and on about his point, but never provide the proof because in his mind, it doesn't NEED any proof. He's right, and that's all there is to it.

I can explain this to him over and over, but here's a quick little example. Over the last couple of weeks, Connor has been having fun reciting, "Snap, Crackle, Pop - Rice Krispies; Snap, Crackle, Pop - Cocoa Krispies; Snap, Crackle, Pop - Berry Krispies!" Connor likes to also just say the beginning part, and then whomever he's playing with is supposed to put in the "Rice, Cocoa or Berry Krispies" part.

With Connor's form of Autism, he currently doesn't have the capacity to make something up. He's 8 years old now, and pretty much every idea he has is somehow connected to something he's seen or read. There are no original ideas - he can change a phrase he learned to fit what he needs, but the rest of the phrase will be identical to how he originally learned it. Everyone in the family understands this except Trevor.

So we're shopping for groceries yesterday. Connor wants Berry Krispies. None of the rest of the family has ever seen Berry Krispies and Trevor says there's no such thing, but since we know Connor, we can accept there are Berry Krispies out there somewhere. But because Trevor hasn't seen them, for him, they don't exist. Diana was trying to convince Trevor that Connor wouldn't (couldn't) just make that up. No go. It wasn't until Trevor saw the box himself that he could accept there were Berry Krispies. He just can't factor in Connor's perception and accept it.

Yes, he can be taught all the rules of writing an essay, but if he can't create an arguement to support his thinking other than "because I know it's true," it's just going to be really hard for him to ever be able to write an essay to convince anyone else.

Which is why he has been taking Drafting, 3-D Animation, and hopefully this year, Welding. No essays required. Ever. We're focussing on the strengths here ;)

I am extremely happy he was able to sit thru the entire SAT test. Other parts of his autism are that he writes very slowly, using too much pressure, and that he has a tough time sitting still for an extended time. If he gets upset or nervous, he will feel sick to his stomach, and often, that means using the restroom (he did this during the PSAT and missed 20 minutes). We did do a practice test at home as well - the College Board site lets you download 50 pages of SAT style questions. I think he was pretty well prepared. I don't know that he needs to do the SAT again. And we could have asked for special consideration because of his autism (they would have given him more time on the essay, for instance). I'm very proud he was able to do well in the standard setting. :)