Hi -
My 8-year-old daughter recently completed about 3 months with a speech therapist to work on auditory processing problems, specifically auditory memory, decoding and auditory organization. She improved a good bit in most areas but made no progress whatsoever in the area of auditory number memory. Her scores on the TAPS-R test in this area were in the 5th percentile, while in other areas such as auditory interpretation of directions, she was in the 90th. Could she have some kind of numbers/math learning disablility?
She has great difficulty with her math facts. She learned all of the addition and subtraction facts up to 18 in the first grade. Now, after completing second grade, she can remember about half of them. We go over them and over them and over them some more and she’s just not getting it. What could be going on?
On the Woodcock-Johnson Test back in May, her math scores seemed pretty high. 113-Calculation. 105-Math Fluency. 115-Applied Problems. 115-Overall. All of this indicated that she was performing well above average.
None of this makes any sense. I would appreciate any input.
Re: Poor Auditory Number Memory
Roger,
Isn’t that how the the brains interprets what it hears from the ear? A lot like Auditory processing? Like the ear will hear the number 4 but time it sends the message to the central nervous system extracts the meanful information from that message and eventually comprehending 4 the brain perceives it as 14? It works a lot like speech also where the ear hears one word but time it gets to the brain it’s totally something different.
Re: Poor Auditory Number Memory
My 10 year old son has the exact same problem.. He is in 5th grade and can not even retain simple addition and subtraction math facts.. I fear he will fail the 5th grade., he still relies on using his fingers to count. As far as multiplication. .. He knows his zeros and ones.. and some 2s.
Teresa
Re: Poor Auditory Number Memory
Hi Teresa,
I had a horrible time while I was in school ( and still do)with math and also spelling. I am a substitute teacher also. I have been substituting for 4 years now for two school districts. I am lucky enough that I am requested for all the Special Ed and resource classes usually weeks before the teacher or aid needs that day off.. I work with all kinds of kids. Plus I have a little girl that is mildly autistic and also a 19 year old daughter that has a memory disorder also. Let me tell you what has helped me and my children. I use a lot of Leap Frog products. Hillary has math timings daily at school. She had a hard time passing them off last year until I bought her the Turbro Twist Math Electronic game. The very next day she passed off her 2+ and every day after that she was passing off the next number up. Her teacher called me ask what I was doing at home. I told her what I got Hillary and she has been doing every nite. It’s fun to do and if it’s fun to do usually (but not all the time) it’s retained. Believe it or not it helps me also. Nothing is wrong using the fingers, or a caculator. When I am substituting and I see a child struggling I pull out a very small caculator that I carry and sneak it to them where the other kids don’t notice. I had a high school math teacher(actually he was a PHD and he taught math teachers how to teach math but the school district manage to get him for one class) that came in special just to teach the slow learners in math how to cope with basic math and showed us some tricks in helping remember certain multiplication.
Have you had him tested? Is he in any resource classes or special ed classes? In the state where I am located a teacher can’t fail a student unless he is failing 3 or more subjects. You might want to call your school district and ask about that. One thing I have found out you have to fight with all your might for your children in the public school system.
Can't Visualize Numbers-Nothing Meaningful to Remember Them
I think of poor auditory number memory as the inability to attach meaning to the symbols, therefore nothing to hang on to in the memory. We can make pictures in our brain of ideas - words and stories, etc., but a number is something so abstract that sometimes one can’t “see” it.
I use a combination of repeated drills along with the “Memorize in Minutes: the Times Tables” (www.multiplication.com) program for multiplication facts. For the drills, I have children skip count up the multiples (sing-songy)and then back down again. We repeat it every single day for weeks. Even those with poor auditory memory will eventually get there if they do this consistently. I’ve found that I can boost that memory by using the Memorize in Minutes program for the facts they continue to struggle with.
Could some one explain to me what “Auditory Number Memory” is please?