I am tutoring a child who suffers with math anxiety. He is very negative and unsure of his responses to math. He is 12 years old and has difficulty recalling basic number facts.This therefore affects other areas in his math. Given plenty of time and support he usually comes up with the answer. Unfortunately, classrooms don’t supply the time he needs.
I was wondering does anybody have ideas for real life experiences that will help build his basic number facts and his confidence without letting him feel as if he is doing ‘baby work’ as he calls it?
Get a better handle on his learning style
It is very important to tailor learning to the child’s style - espec with math anxiety. For examplge, if the child is kinaesthetic then let him move when learning, if auditory then chanting little rhymes to help remember. Don’t forget to chunk down the information - he probably cannot do this for himself. Teach him tactics to do this when you are not there.
These worked for me. Good luck. :)
Check out On Cloud Nine (from Lindamood Bell)— www.lblp.com
She approaches math a whole new way and actually did have math anxiety/math disability herself. It’s really an awesome book, for about $45-50.
—des