my husband and I have legal custody of a 16 yr old male that has an IEP currently for reading/writing. However, he hasn’t been tested since 4th grade, and we are concerned that he is not prepared for Alg I. He was a 9th grader this past school year, and took pre-algebra….but there are some fundamentals of arithmetic that he doesn’t have, but will need for Alg I. So far this summer, we have been working with flashcards for simple multiplication/division/addition/subtraction, #s 0-12. Are we going about it the right way?….my husband is a middle school teacher, but we new to understanding LD and IEP’s.
Any advice would be great!
Thanks,
Re: 16 yr old needs math help
In order to have a starting baseline you need to have him tested to get his present levels of performance. If he has an IEP they should be testing him with some form of objective testing. I would have him tested to see where he is most deficit. Make sure you get the breakdown of the testing, ie: subtests to be able to see where he is struggling the most. Schools love to give test results with average scores. To see the subtests scores would provide you with a more comprehensive view of his abilities. I would then provide his goals and objectives based on the standards and benchmarks for the class. Make sure you get assistance from the school personnel. To provide extra assistance at home is fantastic, but the school site needs to provide assistance as well.
If he doesn’t understand the math, all the flashcards in the world will not help him get it. Flashcards *might* work for non-ld kids with no particular
memory problems. If he is ld and has memory problems, flashcards will do nothing.
I haven’t actually used it but looked into it. Math-U-See looks like it could teach him the basic concepts in an age appropriate way. (http://www.math-u-see.com). There is also high praise hereabouts on Saxon math.
These will get back and into the more conceptual problems. I think most kids that are quite delayed in math, don’t understand it. The usual teaching methods jump way too quickly into abstract concepts.
—des