Currently, I am teaching students who possess a wide range of disabilities. My school is considered a non-categorical school where children with mental retardation are put in a resource class with learning disabled children and emotionally disturbed children. I am new the teaching arena and I am looking for tips on how to appropriately address the needs of my learning disabled students. How do I zero in on the type of learing disability that one student has? What type of strategies can I use to teach a 4th grade student how to add with regrouping? What type of strategies can I use to teach a 4th grade student how to multiply one digit by one digit when traditional methods don’t work even in a 1:3 situation? Please, I will take any suggestions anyone has.
Thank You
CG
Re: Math strategies
Thank you very much for your input on math strategies for fourth grade learining disabled students. It was really encouraging to receive a response from someone concerning this matter. Again Thank You!
Re: Math strategies
Just to agree w/ A.T. — and I think fourth grade is a critical time to try to get them to make that mysterious connection between the symbols and concepts… and maybe they’re behind because developmentally they weren’t ready (or the teaching didn’t facilitate it), so you could make a huge difference here. Don’t be satisfied until they can not only get stuff right, but know why they got it right ;)
Re: Math strategies
I second and third those comments — use concrete, get it right, practice and overlearn until you are positive, and know *why* it’s right. Anything else is just faking and flash in the pan and will disappear as soon as you blink. And start where the student is unsure and work up gradually and step by step.
>How do I zero in on
> the type of learing disability that one student has?
Does it really matter? You know where they are in the sequence of instruction. If they cannot read, you know you must do some extra work for applied problem solving.
>What
> type of strategies can I use to teach a 4th grade student how
> to add with regrouping?
If you took elementary math methods, you would use the same strategies. Ask your 2nd grade teacher for base ten materials and place value materials. (they love it when you ask ‘em stuff anyway!) Don’t take away manipulatives too quickly. Let students explore manipulatives. Demonstrate what they are really doing with adding/regrouping with ones/tens/hundreds. Does the student really understand place value? Conference with teachers—you aren’t expected to know the entire elementary math curricula.
What type of strategies can I use to
> teach a 4th grade student how to multiply one digit by one
> digit when traditional methods don’t work even in a 1:3
> situation?
Again, demonstrate with manipulatives what is really happening. Let that student, especially EMH kids, use them for a long time. Demonstrate the process of how multiplication is like fast addition. Use manipulatives.
You are not alone, nor an island. Use your other teachers. Elementary educational methods are important in trying to teach these skills. I’ll bet someone would give you a quick demo.