help! what can I do?

called “Fingermath” by Lieberthal to teach myself the system, so I can teach it to a student who has similar problems with math facts. Basically, Fingermath teaches you how to use your fingers as if they were an abacus. It is a very tactile approach to math computation and is very fast. I got my book on Ebay for under $10, but Amazon sells it new.

Fingermath may not solve all math problem, but it looks like an excellent approach for tactile kids who don’t seem able to memorize math facts in the traditional way.

Nancy

I’ve thought about getting this one, Anita:

http://www.touchmath.com/

And I bought this one (Math Facts the Fun Way) but haven’t used it yet:

http://www.citycreek.com/

Janis

I used Touch Math with my son several years ago and it was great!

Did your son get to where he wasn’t using his fingers anymore with the program?

Sorry, wrong program. I’m getting confused with all the math programs and meant to ask about the Fingermath program. I’m not sure which one I’m going to use. The Fingermath program sounds good, but I’m concerned about reinforcing the fingercounting instead of “breaking it” with that one.

I also am having trouble teaching math to the students in my classroom. I have found that I can use the Touchmath and have excellent results with my student population as long as the numbers are below 6, but the numbers from 6 to 10 are confusing and the students do not seem to grasp the circles, dots and counting of those numbers. Do you have any suggestions?

The only think I can think of is that they need more practice in counting those dots. It just has to become automatic that they visualize and count off the correct number of dots. That’s just a guess, but often, any skill that becomes more complex simply requires more practice to master.

Janis

I am not familiar with the Fingermath program. Touchmath uses touchpoints which are faded. My son still touchs the spots on the number where the touchpoints were with a pencil. He learned Touchmath at home and his teachers at school are not aware that he uses it. It has been a lifesaver for him.

I am not familiar with the Fingermath program. Touchmath uses touchpoints which are faded. My son still touchs the spots on the number where the touchpoints were with a pencil. He learned Touchmath at home and his teachers at school are not aware that he uses it. It has been a lifesaver for him.

I have just started this and have not used it with a child yet.

Fingermath begins with practice counting the numbers according to a system of touching fingers to a table. The next level practices skipping the counting part, so you just “feel” finger placement automatically for each number. Next, it teaches how to touch one number and then add another to it. Ultimately, one is able to perform all four operations on multi-digit numbers very quickly.

Fingermath is not a program specifically for LD kids (unlike Touch Math, which is specifically for LD kids). Fingermath is just a kinesthetic system for manipulating numbers rapidly and accurately — very much like an abacus.

I don’t know if this would be a good program in your situation or not. The child I am working with is 13 and not able to do any math without his fingers — and then very inaccurately because he miscounts, even when adding simple numbers such as 3 and 4. Fingermath seems like a system he can learn that will be very useful to him in practical life, and would take him a lot further than Touch Math.

Nancy

I suspect that you’re going to have to substitute another finger activity for the one she’s got, since she just automatically goes into “kinesthetic” mode. It could be something as simple as having make the sign language signs for the numbers and then the sign language for the answer.

I’ve seen this in use; in fact one of my students now uses it. I consider it a nasty dead-end. A kid can *apparently* succeed for a year or two, and you breathe a sigh of relief. Then the kid hits a brick wall where the trick is too slow, too inaccurate, or unable to deal with the complexity of the new problem — for example, he learns to do multiplication by fancy counting tricks, but when he has to learn division there is a gaping black hole because he doesn’t actually *know* the multiplication facts, and division is learned by “undoing” multiplication. Facing this brick wall at the end of a two-year-long detour, he has two choices — give up and never learn any more math (guess how many graduates of our school systems cannot understand even simple division or fractions?), or back up out of the dead end and re-learn two years worth of work, somehow. I would avoid it.

called “Fingermath” by Lieberthal to teach myself the system, so I can teach it to a student who has similar problems with math facts. Basically, Fingermath teaches you how to use your fingers as if they were an abacus. It is a very tactile approach to math computation and is very fast. I got my book on Ebay for under $10, but Amazon sells it new.

Fingermath may not solve all math problem, but it looks like an excellent approach for tactile kids who don’t seem able to memorize math facts in the traditional way.

Nancy

I’ve thought about getting this one, Anita:

http://www.touchmath.com/

And I bought this one (Math Facts the Fun Way) but haven’t used it yet:

http://www.citycreek.com/

Janis

I used Touch Math with my son several years ago and it was great!

Did your son get to where he wasn’t using his fingers anymore with the program?

Sorry, wrong program. I’m getting confused with all the math programs and meant to ask about the Fingermath program. I’m not sure which one I’m going to use. The Fingermath program sounds good, but I’m concerned about reinforcing the fingercounting instead of “breaking it” with that one.

I also am having trouble teaching math to the students in my classroom. I have found that I can use the Touchmath and have excellent results with my student population as long as the numbers are below 6, but the numbers from 6 to 10 are confusing and the students do not seem to grasp the circles, dots and counting of those numbers. Do you have any suggestions?

The only think I can think of is that they need more practice in counting those dots. It just has to become automatic that they visualize and count off the correct number of dots. That’s just a guess, but often, any skill that becomes more complex simply requires more practice to master.

Janis

I am not familiar with the Fingermath program. Touchmath uses touchpoints which are faded. My son still touchs the spots on the number where the touchpoints were with a pencil. He learned Touchmath at home and his teachers at school are not aware that he uses it. It has been a lifesaver for him.

I am not familiar with the Fingermath program. Touchmath uses touchpoints which are faded. My son still touchs the spots on the number where the touchpoints were with a pencil. He learned Touchmath at home and his teachers at school are not aware that he uses it. It has been a lifesaver for him.

I have just started this and have not used it with a child yet.

Fingermath begins with practice counting the numbers according to a system of touching fingers to a table. The next level practices skipping the counting part, so you just “feel” finger placement automatically for each number. Next, it teaches how to touch one number and then add another to it. Ultimately, one is able to perform all four operations on multi-digit numbers very quickly.

Fingermath is not a program specifically for LD kids (unlike Touch Math, which is specifically for LD kids). Fingermath is just a kinesthetic system for manipulating numbers rapidly and accurately — very much like an abacus.

I don’t know if this would be a good program in your situation or not. The child I am working with is 13 and not able to do any math without his fingers — and then very inaccurately because he miscounts, even when adding simple numbers such as 3 and 4. Fingermath seems like a system he can learn that will be very useful to him in practical life, and would take him a lot further than Touch Math.

Nancy

I suspect that you’re going to have to substitute another finger activity for the one she’s got, since she just automatically goes into “kinesthetic” mode. It could be something as simple as having make the sign language signs for the numbers and then the sign language for the answer.

I’ve seen this in use; in fact one of my students now uses it. I consider it a nasty dead-end. A kid can *apparently* succeed for a year or two, and you breathe a sigh of relief. Then the kid hits a brick wall where the trick is too slow, too inaccurate, or unable to deal with the complexity of the new problem — for example, he learns to do multiplication by fancy counting tricks, but when he has to learn division there is a gaping black hole because he doesn’t actually *know* the multiplication facts, and division is learned by “undoing” multiplication. Facing this brick wall at the end of a two-year-long detour, he has two choices — give up and never learn any more math (guess how many graduates of our school systems cannot understand even simple division or fractions?), or back up out of the dead end and re-learn two years worth of work, somehow. I would avoid it.