Any tips for helping memorize and transition between coins?

This is just an idea, not anything I’ve tried, so it might just add to confusion - but what if you used nickels, and counted all the way to thirty, and left them there… and then substituted a quarter for the five nickels?

I have a student with Down’s Syndrome who has difficulty with the same thing. We have taught her to break quarters and dimes into nickels so the transition to nickels is easier. We also practice this every day. She is starting to do better. Sometimes she can count the amounts correctly without the transitions. I think I’m probably just going to have to teach her to memorize certain amounts. For examply, 1 quarter and 2 dimes is 45 cents. That seems to be the thing that works for her. I, too, would like to hear any other startegies that would work. I think the main thing is practice, practice, practice. We have been working on this skill for at least 2 years, and we work on it every day.

My son who falls on the spectrum “remembers” something unique about each coin and uses it as a cue in his mind to transition. For example the quarter is the coin with with rough edges with the guy in the pony tail on it, the nickel also has a guy with a pony tail but the coin is smaller. The penny is a different color and the dime is the smallest. He is very good at counting money. My son is very visual and this type of visual cue is very helpful to him.

This doesn’t help with the transitions so I didn’t mention it before, but as for the values of the money, on most American coins it’s written right on them! Look - you’ll see “one cent” and so forth. Kids like this solidity and verifiability.

Have you tried using Touch Money? Actually you don’t need the program to use this method. It teaches all coins as a multiple of 5. You mark the coins with a dot for each 5. A nickel has one dot, a dime has 2 dots, a quarter has 5 dots. I did not do the double dots for 50 cents. I just taught them to start with the 50 cents and count by 5. The advantage is that you teach counting by 5 and then just teach the value for each coin as the numbe of 5’s. Then add the pennies. I have taught many children to count money and to make change using this method. It is quick and easy.

Try using a hundreds board when counting coins. I have my students start with the largest coin, place it on that number, and then continue with the next highest. (Example: for a quarter and a nickle; have them start with the quarter and put it on the number 25, then count five more and put the nickle on the number 30). It might take a while at first, but once they get the hang of it they will begin to see the patterns. It works great for students who are visual learners. It also helps students see when the coins add up to a dollar (100).

I have used the same method as Nan, and it worked. My son is severely dyslexic. He is able to grasp advanced math concepts, but numbers seem to elude him. Three weeks ago, I tried a new approach—counting all coins by 5s. He can count by 5s fairly well. We count a dime as 5-10; a quarter is 5 5s; then we add the pennies. He got it in a couple of days! Now I can give him 2 quarters and a dime and 3 pennies, and he counts 50-55-60-61-62-63. Touch Math has helped my son in addition and subtraction. You could use it for money, too. Hang in there! Val

Thanks for the touch money tip. My daughter know touch count so it will be easy for her to learn