Here’s a good one. I’m a 30 year old who has decided to change careers. I would like to teach special ed. I’m so excited by the possibility of helping children through their weaknesses for I also have a learning disability. Here’s the tough part: the CBEST and MSAT. I have never been able to acheive in math due to my learning disability. I purposefully took as few math related classes as possible in high school and college. My last math class was over 10 years ago. I am so scared of these tests. I know I will do fine on the written and verbal portions of the test, but the math, is a loosing proposition. My disability has worstened over the years. My ability to remember the basic multiplication table has come down to me having to multiply 9x2 = 18 and then add 18+18 to come up to the answer for 9x4. I have no ability to remember these basic computations.
I understand that these tests can offer longer time for taking the tests but your LD needs to be recently documented. I graduated from college 7 years ago and have no current diagnosis (other than my clearly obvious inability to compute basic math). How does one get tested with out being enrolled in school for a LD? I called a few places here in LA but was being quoted $1500 plus for an exam. Does anyone else have any ideas?
Re: Scared to death - almost...
I just bought Math Facts The Fun Way for my son. I was going to have my daughter do it too—she tends to be slow, although accurate. It uses visualization—pictures and stories to teach math facts. It has been very successful with LD kids. You might look at it. There are some posts down below that describe it too.
You might just have to go back to some of the basic things. The advantage is you might learn some ways that will help the kids you teach someday. That is no small thing.
Re: Scared to death - almost...
Thank you both. I am dedicated to re-learning these basic math skills before I persue my credential. I think I just got a little scared when I realized that I would have to go back through so many years of information. BUT, I can do it and I will. Thanks for your support.
Go to the school and see what they can offer you, andalso check out what different advocacy groups suggest (go to “finding help” on this site to get their contact information).
My best advice if you’re still ‘way back at the “what’s 9 x 4” stage is that you practice that stuff until it’s a bit easier. That will take discipline but it’s something you can start now. (Actually there are lots of practice exercises online at my site at www.resourceroom.net and you might find that approach works for you… there’s even a book & workbook to go with it that you can get off amazon.com or from my site if you need more than rote practice, that emphasizes the concepts). Then get a hold of some of those books full of practice tests of every kind.
How did you get through those “minimal” requirements for math for your college degree? What worked for you then might well work for you now, though you might have to tweak it to make it work (unless you did something totally radical like cheated… or were like some of my coworkers who were given passing grades if they promised not to teach math… though they were teaching math…)
I would beg you to get to a point where you are not afraid of math before you become a teacher. An awful lot of people who think they are “disabled” in math (not all, quite possibly not you) were disabled by teachers who passed along their fear of it, even if they didn’t know they were doing it.