Brittle Intelligence #1: The Problem

My intelligence is brittle.  It may be strong, but my knowledge is inflexible.  I may know more facts and details about a subject than even you do, but that does not mean I comprehend them.  Like the Star Trek android Data and his antecedent Mr. Spock, I combine voluminous informational capacity with spectacular emotional ignorance [immaturity].  I think and learn in ways that are so rigid they become irrational.  I may know every math fact on the timed test, but if you change the color of the paper on which it is printed, I lose composure and can’t concentrate.  My speech seems unusually adult, because I hear and mimic phrases and intonations perfectly.  Then, when I go off script, my literal thinking and failure to grasp idioms make me seem like an English language learner who lost his phrasebook.  Not only can I not think “outside the box”, I spend most of my time trying to figure out the box.  There is safety and predictability in the box.  If I can only figure out the size, texture, social rules, schedules and dozens of other characteristics that govern the box called your classroom then maybe I can get through another day without a major meltdown.  If not, watch out.  Fortunately, there are specific strategies you can use to scaffold my brittle intelligence:

Tomorrow: Three steps teachers can take to scaffold my intelligence.