'Chelle, you said, "or example if it had to do with prejudice or bigotry, we might infer from a character saying "they should keep to their place" that the character held a prejudice for a certain group of people. difficult child more than likely wouldn't get that until you pointed it out. He would likely take it to mean that everyone had assigned areas or seats or somewhere they were supposed to stay that had nothing to do with race etc. I just don't see any kind of mapping helping him to understand those things until someone tells him what it's supposed to mean."
This is exactly how difficult child 1 was, at the beginning of that subject. And so many other 'normal' students too (the bottom of the class ones especially - and teachers often teach to the lowest common denominator). And remember, I said that even the playwright himself could not answer that question.
But in this case, the answers ARE explained to the kids, it is rehearsed thoroughly, discussed, talked through etc.
And with difficult child 1, I went through all the work with him as if I were studying it too, so I could understand and help him. He had the teacher working with him so intensively because as things turned out, he only had six weeks in which to completely learn a year's work (thanks to mainstream's stuffup).
If you talk to the teacher and explain that in this subject, he needs a lot more intense explanation (in detail) and support, plus YOU put in most of that effort (sorry) then maybe you and the teacher can cooordinate.
difficult child 3 also hates having to read a book for school. He will do it but very like your son. I read the book also (I usually grab it after he's gone to bed) and together we talk about it. If he doesn't 'get' something (a common problem" we talk it through. I do it as a discussion, I ask him what he thinks and then say, "What about [x]?" If he's still not 'getting' it, I will eventually say, "I think what the teacher wants you to notice is [x]."
Often with difficult child 3 he says, "Surely not..." and wants to talk to his teacher to confirm it. If we can simply note it down on a question sheet, we do (for later conference with teacher) but if he has to understand before he moves on, we TOGETHER talk to the teacher about it at the next opportunity - next day if possible. And this is why the teacher needs to be primed - she needs to understand that this is not a stupid child, or a child being naughty, it is a child who wants to understand but simply lacks the ability to see anything not immediately obvious.
If you can do this though, the benefits go way beyond the academic - he will rapidly progress in his social understanding. But if the teacher will not make herself available to answer these questions as they arise (and take his need for this seriously) then you have to find another source of information. We often can buy crib notes - 'cheats' if you will (difficult child will know what I mean by this) which will help him shortcut his understanding. A teacher is one authority on the subject; printed material such as crib notes are another he would believe.
With the "inner journey" stuff, this gets thoroughly explained to the class. They spend most of a year on it in various forms. They get asked, "What do you think we mean by 'inner journey'?" The kids hear the discussion on it, they write essay after essay on it, they are told to find material of their own with a similar theme. difficult child 1 used "Star Wars". They get thoroughly drilled.
It can be done. With the example you gave, "they should keep to their place" as a hint that the speaker is bigoted, I would also have to explain that to both boys because yes, their first reaction would be the literal meaning. Colloquialisms are really difficult for our boys. But once explained (not only what it means, but how it came to be used in that way - a good dictionary will give you the origins for things like this, so will the 'Net) then the information sticks in their heads.
That's why the mind mapping has to be done with help, for a lot of the time in the beginning. Only when they've had practice with someone's support, can they have a go for themselves. But without the mind map, even with my help difficult child 1 couldn't write a thing. With it, and with my help, he could do some quite abstract tasks AND understand them to a certain degree. If the task were fairly concrete then a mind map would make it possible to manage entirely on his own.
With reading a set book, we've often read it together. Maybe difficult child 3 or I will read the dialogue (putting on different voices maybe) while the other reads the plain text. Or if it's two characters talking, we might take turns. We act it as we go and make it as fun as possible.
Also, you won't get far trying to get him to do this at the end of the day. We have had to make after-hours work sessions very short. But weekends - we set aside a few hours on a weekend day and work intensively with the boys to help them get assignments or homework done. We always then had a big reward to follow - go out for ice cream, or a swim, or a parent-child play session on a computer game. We aimed to do the work early in the day and get as much done as possible, quitting before he got too distressed if we could.
The language study - we've bought cheap CDROMs to help with language study. difficult child 3's 'thing' is German and when I can, I get him to do the CDROM study to give him a bit of an advantage. But with a lot of his study, especially the subjects he has most trouble with, I learn them with him so I can support his learning.
It's very intensive at times, and sometimes we buy aids for him (like crib notes and the DVDROM, although THAT was only $10) but we figure it's worth it to get him past the post.
And remember, you have easy child coming up through the ranks. Whatever you buy for difficult child you can either sell to a student the next year, or keep it for when easy child is studying the same subject later on.
I bought a lot of art supplies when difficult child 3 was studying art earlier this year. He would get assignments using oil pastels, for example, and not having any in the house made it difficult. He had an assignment using wet paper and watercolours, so while he painted his, I did my own artwork - very different but using similar techniques to the ones set for difficult child 3, but which I'd never thought of trying before. We didn't do it in any sense of competition, more like fellow students working in the same class but each on a different image. And now he's not doing art, I can still dabble because I'm well supplied.
difficult child 3 said to me one day, "Why are you buying these supplies and doing all this stuff with me?"
I told him, "Because you're worth it - and because I want to find out about it too."
I would suggest you book a Learning Team meeting NOW for the new teachers next semester. Maybe book the appointment for the second week of the new semester (or book a second appointment for then) because they need to know FIRST, of his condition and what this means to them as teachers, and SECOND, what to expect and what is expected of them. As part of this, also explain to them your role in working with both your son and the teachers. You are a vital part of your son's Learning Team. So is your son.
I presume he has an IEP - because if he hasn't, then he should.
Having to break in new staff is always a steep learning curve, but if they're good at their job they will put in the effort once they understand the need.
Marg