I have a 7th grader with LD and ADHD who moved from self-contained classes to collaborative classes this year. His disability is primarily in writing and math has historically been a strength. Math was the one class where we did not have any doubts about placing him in a collaborative class. But now it’s the only class he is flunking. His IEP modifications primarily relate to writing. Any suggestions on modifications for math that might be helpful would be greatly appreciated. I feel like he’s panicking and I’m not sure how to help him.
Re: math modifications
Currently he is transposing things such as interpreting the sign for
8 divided by three as three divided by eight. I’m not sure how to address
that. He’s having trouble adding, subtracting and multiplying decimal
numbers and I’ve requested that he do that on graph paper so he can line
that up. That seems to help. He’s having difficulty grasping the
distributive property. Almost every time he works a problem that’s been
taught in class, it’s graded. So when he doesn’t understand it, he ends up in
a downward spiral. He’s not a child who will ask for help or help identify
what can help him. He just shuts down when he gets confused. Math has
historically been a strength so he has really freaked out on this. Any
suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!
Re: math modifications
It sounds there is a combination of things going on here. First, the things that are confusing your son are sequential/conceptual/language things. I am going to guess that he is one of those kiddoes who has difficulty in this area and tends to acquire new knowledge slowly. It is likely that the other math class accommodated this relative to pace and materials without too much difficulty- that is one of the beauties of self contained- and in a way one of the disadvantages too. A collaborative class will have a pace that is a bit faster and kids with more variety in their skill levels. This is confusing in and of itself- he was a bit of a star in the other program I am guessing and now he is not-and he is also a seventh grader with all the attendant ego stuff…blechhh. You gotta love them though.
I would meet with his teachers and the special educator first I guess, and talk about what you are seeing. Based on what you have said, it would seem that the language stuff that affects written language (he has an SLD yes?) is impacting math and he will need some support-possibly some reteaching of conceptual stuff. If he will sit still for it at home, I would try to use manipulatives to demonstrate things like the distributive property, as well as how to read a division equation. Then work with him to develop a model on paper that he can use on his own- including color coding or whatever makes it work. This could be the beginning of a math resource notebook- kind of like his own personalized math encyclopedia. If he doesn’t want to carry it around- then keep it at home. The more he finds it useful, the more tolerable a strategy it will be. His teachers may have some suggestions too.
Good luck!
Robin
What is different about Math now? It may be that the issues that make writing difficult are also affecting math- quantity etc. Or- it might be something in the teachers presentation style. Or- the abstractness of the material. My eighth grader is usually pretty capable of explaining what isn’t working when things get tough- you could ask your son what he thinks. It is hard to recommend modifications/accommodations without an idea of where the breakdown is.
Robin