Multiplication Tables for LD students - Research Based

I am not sure if this is anecdotal or not but I almost always have excellent results with this approach. Here is a post I posted over at teachers.net where there is this same question posted by a Chuck on the special ed. board. If that is not you (under another name) then you might see what others suggested over there as well:

Make it multi-sensory, that is what the research says. I don’t have a formal program that you can buy, just one I found in my district which I have added to. Kids will take a math facts chart and color in the facts as they memorize a group listed below. When they learn 6x8 they see they have also learned 8x6. Coloring in the chart helps them to see there is an end in site. I feel it motivates them..

Here’s what I do. First, I assign the kids 10 minutes of Math Card Practice each night. (most don’t do it, I have to be honest, but for those who have parents involved….they do). Next, we have 8 minutes of whole class practice each day of Multiplication Fact practice. Then I have each kid do a math fact practice sheet with 36 problems of a specific group of 10. The children self graph to see results visually. They get a treat if they go up. Now, I’m not big into rewards, but this really helps. It is instant and I’ve done it both ways, with and without and I have to say the treats do help quite a bit.

We start out with the 10 memorized facts early in the year while they seem more motivated.

!0 Memorized Facts

6x8=48
4x3=12
8x4=32
6x3=18
6x4=24
8x3=24
7x8=56
7x3=21
6x7=42
7x4=28

These seem to be the hardest for the kids. For these 10 facts I have a rhyme, a motion, and a beat. I go over them every day.

Next, I teach them the 9’s

I tell them about story about how a guy went in to apply for a job. He really wanted the job to have money to help pay his bills. The guy hiring the man said, no, I don’t think you can have the job unless you know your Nine Multiplication facts. The guy said, “Oh, no, I didn’t study them too hard back when I was in 5th grade. I’ll try though.” So he began to write 9 x 1 and 9 x 0 . I do remember those. Anything times 1 is like looking in the mirror and anything x 0 is always zero.

Um.

He writes all the facts.

9x2
9x3
9x4
9x5
9x6
9x7
9x8
9x9

Oh, geeze, I can’t remember. Oh, how I wish I had listened to my 5th grade teacher.

How many don’t I know? Oh, goodness, let me see.

9x2= Here’s one I don’t know (and write the digit one)
9x3= 2 I don’t know (write the digit 2 and so forth)
9x4= 3 I don’t know
9x5=4 I don’t know
9x6= Here’s 5 I don’t know
9x7= 6 I don’t know
9x8= 7 I don’t know
9x9= 8 , oh my 8 I don’t know.

Now, let me count just one more time, just to see again how many I don’t know. (write as you go acting dramatic , the kids like this joke and it sticks even years later kids tell me they remember the 9 story)

Ok, let me see, how many again don’t I know???? (This time start at the bottom and add a digit going up, This is what you have: and then add a 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 next to the digits counting up Start with 9x9

9x2= 1
9x3= 2
9x4= 3
9x5= 4
9x5= 5
9x7= 6
9x8= 7
9x9=8

9x2= 18 I don’t know…..well, I’ll turn in this application now….DID HE GET THE JOB CLASS?????
9x3= 27 Idon’t know
9x4= 36 Idon’t know
9x5= 45 Idon’t know
9x5= 5 here’s 4 I don’t know
9x7= 6 3 I don’t know
9x8= 72 I don’t know
9x9=81 I don’t know (start here and write the one digit after the 8 digit and move up)

I also show them the 9 trick with the fingers as a back up.

Next I teach the 5’s. Most know these.
Next the doubles.
Followed by the 2’s,
The 1’s and Zeros.

All kids are at their own pace. I have 36 problem half sheets with these problems on. The kids get the sheet from a Math Facts Organizer. They can take stacks home for practice. I have an egg timer from Target that counts up or down. Kids can practice on their own. I do let them go ahead once in a while to try another test if they want just to get their math facts done faster. But they have to try it on their own first.

I use the Math The Fun Way at www.citycreek.com for visual stories. Some are crazy or weird, but they remember them if they are visual learners. We also write our own. Check out the site. Good stuff. For certain kids, it is awesome. In fact I used them with my own son, not LD. This year I was amazed that he remembered some of the stories I had told him in 2nd grade. He is in 6th now. The power of a story is really something.

For example, they have a story about two 6’s that are twins in the Sahara desert. They are looking for their cousins. There is a picture of two sixes with eyes and tongues hanging out. They are THIRSTY SIXES. Get it? Thirsty six sounds like 36. The kids remember the fact.

I also have a skip counting CD and Math Facts CD I play from time to time.

I’d say the best thing I do is make a rhyme and beat. For example we chant…..6x8is 48….don’t forget to shut the gate. Then I have them fold their thumbs and only use fingers. They make a gate with their fingers and open and shut it first with 4 then with 8 fingers showing the number 48. I use a sing songy chant and a different one for each. I do this over and over and over till I’m blue in the fact but all my kids know most of their facts by now. I still have some on the 9’s. But after they pass the 9’s it goes pretty fast. The longest ones are the 10 memorized facts.

I tell them over and over. There are certain ways to get information into the brain. We can get it in through the eyes, the ears, the mouth, the nose, and the skin. The more senses we use, the better off we are. If we just use one sense, it is not as strong. I tell them, “You know those stupid little jingles that can get stuck in your head from a TV commercial? You know how you can learn versus to songs easier? Well, we will do that here. It may seem silly, but actually, the sillier the better we can make it stand out in our brains. People, I can’t just go and cut open your brain and stick these math flash cards into your brain and sew up your brain. ( I walk over to a kid and pantomime this) I can’t give you a pill to make you remember these facts. You need to put them into your brain over and over. Little practice over time is better than studying all day on Saturday. I’d rather you did 10 minutes per night than an hour on Saturday. So, my friends, you have to put in some effort. You must get these down before the end of the year. Folks, you will not just wake up one day and the facts will just magically fall into your brain and you will some how just pass the test because time has passed. You actually need to put them in over and over. Look at them with your eyes, listen with your ears, and write them with your hands. Now, we don’t really taste or smell them. If you can find a way, please share.” You get the idea. I do this speech several times.

Now, there are some kids who never can write the facts within 2 seconds per problem which is my goal. I will let these kids do an oral test. I have no problem with oral tests. My whole goal is to have them learn the facts not just write them.

I also won a cool math facts program at the IDA conference silent auction. I don’t have the name here at home but it is helpful and has a multi=sensory approach. It has to do with teaching skip counting.

Michelle AZ

www.citycreek.com has some nice visual (researched) appoach. I will say that for some kids it works quite well.

You might also be interested in looking at Dr. Steve Chinn’s times tables book, “Tools for the Times Tables” (or ifyou’re in the UK, “What To Do If You Can’t Learn the Times Tables.”) He has done a lot of research on what kinds of instruction work with students with dyslexia, and the different approaches different kinds of learners tend to take when doing math problems. (Full disclosure — I edited the U.S. version).
http://www.resourceroom.net/Products/toolstimes.asp has sample chapters and mroe information.

And Chuck, I’ll have to refer you back to the On Cloud Nine Math manual for teaching of math facts in a multi-sensory way. It basically helps the child learn to image the facts in his mind to help commit them to memory. I think you would enjoy having this manual for things such as this even if you use another complete math curriculum.

Janis

Buckeye,

I’m not sure if this falls into the category of “suggestions” but it’s yours for what it’s worth. Also, I’d like to provide you with “research”, however even getting anecdotal feedback from users is difficult. Yours is actually a pretty tall order.

If you want you may download a couple of my free programs, produced in MS Excel, at:

www.geocities.com/ldprograms/arithmetic101

I know they work for LDs and everyone else where medium to long term memory failure (and not concept) is the problem. Why don’t YOU do the research and send it back to me?

Brian