frustrated!

Can you give specifics as to how he is hitting the wall 40% of what and what grade is he in? Does he happen to have speech and language issues? could it be related to logic and reasoning, sequencing? Does he have his math facts memorized? Maybe he doesn’t understand the language of math. Another thought could be that he has anxiety about math, hence the headaches. I need more specifics to help.

Thanks for offering to help. His average right now on tests, quizzes, assignments etc. in the grade 9 special education math course is 40%.

He definitely seems to have language issues; great difficulties with spelling, and also seems to be completely confused about the language of math. Although as I said when I work with him consistently on it for two hours a week, for a few weeks in a row, I do see some improvement.

He seems quite good at basic math: integers, fractions, multiplication,division etc. and has no problem using a calculator for these operations if necessary.

I don’t think he has math anxiety in particular, but I do believe he has a high level of anxiety about school in general, and the fact that he is struggling to pass most of his classes at this point. He is clearly overwhelmed by his work load at school as well. I do believe that this anxiety is contributing to the headache problem. His parents have taken him to see several specialists who found no solution for the headaches at this time (and in fact his father is a doctor as well).

Thanks again for offering your help.

I would look at that 40% and see where the biggest trouble is. tests ?, homework ?. If it’s homework look at his organization and if he knows what to do and when it is due. If if is tests spend some time on test taking strategies and perhaps see if the math teacher can modify test time or break it into smaller pieces. You want him to learn what works for his learning style and learn to advocate for himself. I would also do some thinking about the stress he is under. Is his schedule reasonable for a 9th grader with learning challenges? Is there a class that could be put off for another year or summer school, instead providing an enjoyable elective or a study hall type class. Since his absenses make it hard for him to retain skills that he seems to understand, can you make up a few sample problems that he could review on the days he is not with you? Hope these ideas are of some help.

I would go way back in the math curriculum, specifically to see what he understands with the language. This is a HUGE piece of the puzzle and his anxiety should be addressed if it is impacting his life this much. I wonder if he has a lot of expectations for himself adn feels a lot of pressure from his parents, to do better and he feels he can’t pull it together, this could be ADD related and he has anxiety because he can’t focus…..

I am sure you are famililar with Its Elementary by M. J. Owen that teaches math word problems… from EPS. I like it because it teaches the language behind math concepts in a multisensory and fun way and gives them a way to organize and solve the problem by teaching them what needs to be solved and what he can eliminate to solve the problems. Another thing you may try is On Cloud Nine Math by Lindamood-Bell. I would bet that word problems are a nightmare for him too. It’s Elementary teaches one how to do word problems,

For instance when solving addition word problems these are the words they need to understand that mean to add: In all, sum, added and add, altogether and total.

Subtraction he needs to understand these words mean to subtract. left, give and gave away, difference, how many more, how much more, subtract,

Multiplication he needs to group things…batches, bunches, bags, litters, groups,
each is a word that can go either for division or multiplication. it needs to show up with each batch, or altogether, in all or total.

Division words are divide, equal, equally, separate, and evenly.
Each should appear with divide or equally if it is a division problem.

What type of math class is he getting 40% in? is it a pre-algebra class? Another fun method to teach algebra in a hands on fashion is Hands on Equations, perhaps this will help you break through where he is stuck.

Additionally, if he can’t get a handle on his focus and anxiety this creates a problem with his limbic system which essentially exasperates the problems and he won’t progress no matter how much you do. The anxiety and language confusion are overwhelming him and he shuts down…

I think if you back up teach him the language with hands on manipulatives and drwaing out the problems like It’s elementary does…he may just understand what those tricky words mean and what he needs to do to solve the problems..

Pattim,

My son just finished fractions at school. He is in fourth grade. He flunked or got a D on every quiz or test, even with a tutor. I bought Marilyn Burns book on fractions, but it didn’t come until we moved on to division.

I was wondering what you thought. I looked at his chapter test. He got about 50% right. He didn’t seem to understand proper versus improper fractions, couldn’t reduce, but could find common denominators, didn’t always add or subtract correctly, and got 1/2 the word problems right/wrong.

Do you think something like LMB Cloud Nine would help? We are working on visualizing for reading comprehension right now.

Now they started on long division and he completed the HW in just a few minutes and got it all right. We haven’t got to remainders yet… but still I was relieved to see we weren”t at a total impass with math. I think here we are seeing the effects of all the work we’ve done automating multiplication.

Beth

I am so frustrated because my 8 year old son has been struggling since he was in pre-K.
I have been working with him at home and he understands but when he is in school his teachers
just give up on him. This makes him so frustrated that he just gives up on himself.
Is there a special school where the teachers are trained to deal with children with LD problems?
If so where. I live in Atlanta, GA. HELP

Fractions will be revisited every year, so he’ll have more time to master these skills. In the meantime, practice each little step and use as many manipulitives as possible. Two chocolate bars (all those great divisions on the bar) 1/2, 1/4, 5/4=1 1/4. Do lots of meausuring and bake and cook this summer. These activities are fun and will give him solid visual practice. Oh, and pizza. (We have 10/8 left over ((not at our house)). That’s an improper fraction, let’s simplify, reduce…)

Fractions will be revisited every year, so he’ll have more time to master these skills. In the meantime, practice each little step and use as many manipulitives as possible. Two chocolate bars (all those great divisions on the bar) 1/2, 1/4, 5/4=1 1/4. Do lots of meausuring and bake and cook this summer. These activities are fun and will give him solid visual practice. Oh, and pizza. (We have 10/8 left over ((not at our house)). That’s an improper fraction, let’s simplify, reduce…)

He had a really rough time last year in third grade too. Then we were dealing with him understanding basic things like is 1/3 or 1/4 bigger. So he has come a long ways but not nearly as far as the circul! Guess I am just trying to sort out whether there is an underlying skill he is missing or whether he just needs more repetition than other kids.

He had a really hard time with elapsed time too.

Don’t know if the two are related.

Beth

I e-mailed you a list of schools. Good luck!

Those type of errors are somewhat inattentive in nature. Perhaps he needs to be taught to hi-light the instructions so he knows what he needs to do, to reduce, or add or subtract etc. But I agree with Angela’s recommendations. On cloud Nine would be good for him, it uses lots of manipulatives and language.

At this time of the year, it is too late to do any work in depth. I wouldn’t put any more pressure on the poor kid at this point.
Even if you did find some way to scrape him through the exam this year, then what? He would go into an even higher level class next year, be totally lost and even more stressed.
Sometimes you fail a high school class. The advantage in high school is that you can retake the one class and have a chance of doing better, while moving on in the ones you can succeed in.
My personal experience in tutoring is that usually the problems go back very deep, usually years. I’m surprised that you say he does well on fractions — that’s usually where my students got lost for good.
I would suggest taking some time and going into what he really understands and what he doesn’t; what kind of number sense he has and how much he is doing purely by rote. This is the problem with rote drill alone without comprehension work, and with quick trick methods — in middle and high school and high school the problem comes back to bite you ten times worse.
Definitely he will need work on his language disabilities in order to succeed in high school in all classes. I’d say you should start there.

I am not sure these errors are inattentive. Looks more like he doesn’t know the processes well enough. He didn’t reduce any of the fractions, for example. He subtracted some right, some not—but it wasn’t like he was adding when he got them inccorect.

We used to deal with more errors like this. H e was evaluated in first grade and all the math facts he got wrong were ones he added instead of subtracted and vice versa.

We’re debating about moving him to a parochial school next year (where his siblings are) and having him repeat fourth grade. I don’t want to do that (which is what he wants to do) if there is something more than needing repetition going on here. We are also looking at some private LD schools but seems like he is doing too well for them. His reading is close to grade level and math was at grade level until we hit fractions!!!

Beth

The fact that fractions will come around every year has a good side and a very very bad side. On the good side, there is always the hope that repeated exposure may help him catch it; on the other hand it isn’t the flu, and hoping someone will catch things is lousy pedagogy and planning, isn’t it?
On the terrible side, this spiral curriculum has always been and continues to be a disaster. Each topic is seen every year in hopes it will be contagious this time; and seeing twenty topics every year means, as you noticed with division, that there is no time to spend actually learning anything — no time to ask why or how it works, no time to delve into the applications of why you might actually want to use this stuff, barely enough time to slam through the worst kind of rote recipe learning and then on to the next half-understood topic. This is NOT what real math is about. The Third International Math and Science Study (TIMSS) came up with a lovely euphemism - they mentioned that teachers in North America tend to hand out formulas and give worksheet assignments, while in every other developed country they spend time “developing concepts” — what I would call actually teaching.

Grade 4 is rather early to master fractions. In the classic traditional curriculum, Grade 4 was spent mostly on multiplication in all its ramifications, mastering it, doing multi-digit, learning applications and actually using it; and just starting division and fractions as the opposite of multiplication. Fractions and division were the topics to be mastered in all their ramifications and applications in Grades 5 and 6. The new spiral curriculum introduces fractions and division as early as Grades 1 and 2 — Wowie zowie, we are SO much smarter than those old fogies! — and continues to try to teach them right through Grade 8 and often later — Who did you say was so smart again??

Fractions are THE, repeat THE point of failure for my high school and college and university students in algebra and advanced algebra and calculus. In fact I’m earning $200 this week from a suffering adult student trying to cram for a university final, and guess what section is causing her the most difficulty? I have had more algebra and calculus students fail because of weak fraction skills than I can describe here.
You can sort of kind of get by with some guesswork and rules of thumb and cheating with the fancy calculator and conning the teacher to throw out the lowest grade (a mistaken kindness that is actively counterproductive, by the way) and you can just barely know how to add 1/2 + 3/4, or multiply 2/3 x 3/4 the hard and long way; but when you get to simplifying (x - 5)/(125 - 5x2), or multiplying two fractions of that sort, if you don’t really know what you are doing you are sunk. No chance. And since division is a fact of life in real life as well as algebra and the basis of the whole calculus course, if you just skip those questions and try to get the college instructor to throw out the fraction grade, you find yourself with a final exam mark in the 20% range. I know, I have several students in exactly this place in every class I teach.
This is another strong argument against teaching kids by quick tricks and rote recipes — it may seem quick and easy in the short run, but it’s a dead end in the long run.

So, my advice would be to get that Burns book, or any other that actually shows the *why* and *how* of fractions (not just a bunch of rules and recipes), preferably with oodles and oodles of visual diagrams — and exercises for the student to do with concrete objects and diagrams — and spend the summer really learning how fractions work.
BTW, food games are extremely limited and the distraction level of the food is so high that the learning level is questionable. Also rectangular diagrams are far more useful than circles.A kid should do ten or twenty concrete examples in a row, and there’s no way he can eat that many pizzas.
Then next year (and every year thereafter, if he really learns this stuff) he will be ahead of his class and able to do what he needs to do.

My sister said much the same thing—that fourth grade was really early for fractions. I really don’t remember when I learned but I don’t recall feeling like it was difficult. And math was always my weakest subject. I find that I do best with my son when I have other materials on hand. We got through elapsed time because I had Singapore math books that covered it. The circul. goes too fast for him often times, without enough repetition.

And yes, I have told him we are going to do fractions this summer. I have purchased lots of manipulatives as well so we will try to make it all make sense. My son is not great at memorizing things to memorize them, if you know what I mean, so I will not get anywhere by the rote memory route. He is going to have to understand fractions—which I guess, in the long run, is better.

Beth

Well, Victoria, you make sense - that’s one of the things I like most about you. Wish you lived in the US - maybe you could have even taught ME fractions and word problems :-).

My daughter currently made an A in Math on her progress report; however, she brought home a “C” and a “D” on a worksheet recently. Fractions, of course. We are already doing assistive tech training and OG tutoring this Summer, so I am worried about WHEN and IF I should push her with fractions this Summer as well. She is a 4th grader.

Besides Marilyn Burns’ book, any other books you can point me too? I am the LEAST LIKELY to teach this b/c I always struggled with fractions.

On another topic, yesterday we were working on a research paper and she told me, “Mom, I have half as many reference cards as I need”. I said WHAT??? (We’d been working over 2.5 hours). She said, Yes, I need 5 and we have 10”.(with a BIG smile on her face). I wanted to cry! I explained over and over that she had TWICE as many, not 1/2 as many and she got very angry and said, “MOM, to have twice as many I’d have to have 11”. We still had the research paper to work on, so I let it go (sometimes no one can convince her she’s wrong). But I realized THEN that we are headed for some real trouble in Math in the future.

What would be your suggestion? I note you don’t like the “Math Strategies”. The nearby childrens’ hospital has a “Math Strategies” class for LDers who basically won’t ever get the conventional way (their words)

Again, please give me your thoughts - I KNOW you’ll be straightforward (one of the things I like about you) and also, thanks for the numerous hours you spend helping us moms.

So, Beth, did they spend 3-4 weeks on fractions, if that?

I have been teaching fractions for over 2 months to my upper grade resource math group. I have covered adding and subtracting like fractions, finding the least common denominator, adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators (they have not all mastered, though) and I am now teaching improper fractions/mixed numbers. I am going slowly, very slowly. I can add a new concept every 1-2 weeks, best case.

I won’t get to multiplying and dividing fractions at all this year. I don’t really plan to get to adding/subtracting with regrouping, either, though I’ll probably introduce, it is not on anyone’s IEP.

I try to teach for understanding and mastery. We don’t achieve this in the standards rat race.

Anitya,

I don’t think it was any more than three weeks, if that. They didn’t get into multiplying and dividing fractions though. It was adding, substracting, finding common denominators, reducing, proper and improper fractions.

As I said, he got about 1/2 the chapter test wrong. I think it just went too fast for him.

We are thinking of switching him to a parochial school next year and having him repeat fourth grade. He is all for it, because his siblings are there. It has a far less spiraling math circul. and no FCATs!!! No IEP either…but there is a resource room and a supportive administration who knows he is LD.

Beth

Thank you for the kind comments. It’s nice to feel appreciated.

I don’t really know any good new books. I have some excellent ones, out-of date, that I learned out of, and I’ve never seen anything better new.

The main thing that’s important is to keep it real.
2/3 means cut the chocolate bar in three pieces and then take two.
Equivalent fractions are *equal* and equal means *exactly the same size*. If you draw an accurate diagram you can *see* that they’re the same.
The bottom or denominator tells you how many pieces to cut the object into and therefore how big the pieces are. The top or numerator tells you how many. These two rules make addition make sense!
Multiplication can be done by taking an area 1/2 mile by 1/2 mile and *seeing* that it’s 1/4 of a square mile, and so on.

If you work with a book that does reality first and manipulation second, you will get somewhere. If you have a book that teaches the manipulations as the “meaning”, you’ve got trouble.

Grade 4 really is awfully early conceptually. I’d normally say let it ride for a year or two. Unfortunately you have to inoculate your kid against the misteaching that is coming out of the school. If you could get a good workbook with lots of concrete things in it, then in addition to your other work this summer you could add maybe one page of the workbook, ten minutes a day. Slow but sure is the ticket.

Back in the dark ages, we had a standards-based curriculum which was made up by real teachers with some idea of pedagogy. I’ve collected copies of the books we used back then (light years ahead of anything I’ve seen now). Back in the dark ages, fractions were barely introduced in Grade 3 and 4, mostly just recognition and naming and measurement. In Grade 5, we spent *half of the year* on fractions — equivalents, measurement, addition and subtraction. Decimals were barely introduced in Grade 5. Then in Grade 6 we did more work on long division of whole numbers, and did multiplication and division of fractions — again half of the year, and more work with decimals. This was the *regular* curriculum, for all students back then. Funny thing about starting so late — we finished a lot earlier. While my present-day students are all having trouble with fractions throughout high school, college, and university, we finished the topic in Grade 6 and just had a light review in Grade 7; then started basic algebra in Grade 8 (again, regular curriculum, all stidents.) Amazing how the tortoise and hare system works out.
I do agree with standards in education — with the very strong proviso that the standards have to be sensible and based on real pedagogy.

Beth, look at the Landmarkschool.org site and click on publications to see their book on Arithmetic; this is a famous LD school in Mass. and I found this book very helpful. My son’s 4th grade is doing fractions now, but it’s really an introduction to fractions, and extension of division. The math standards in Mass. are very ambitious leading to fast-track algebra in 8th grade. After a year off from tutoring my ld 6th grader has agreed to math tutoring this summer so he can try the “higher”(each grade has two levels of math-reg. ed.) math group in 7th grade. I think tutoring, not special ed. is the way to go.

Thanks for the suggestion. He had a tutor help with fractions—she thought he was getting it!! I think it just moved too fast for him. Too much in just a couple weeks.

He was in sp ed math for two years. The Neuronet therapy we did seemed to make a big difference—his teacher commented how much he had improved the second semester of second grade—which was when we started therapy. He moved into regular classroom in third grade but barely held his own. Then we did IM and again he made a big jump—he had got A’s and B’s in math in fourth grade, until we hit fractions.

Beth

We also have to acknowledge that not all students learn math at the same pace. Just as we acknowledge that some walk and talk earlier and some later. If we don’t permit some flex in the system, then we create these problems you write about. On the other hand, we have been accused, too many times, of discriminating against “categories” of students when we provide a differentiated curriculum. I believe this is why, at present, all students are moved at the same pace through the same rigorous standards.

I am appalled that 4th graders are being required to master as many concepts about fractions as this. And indeed, they don’t spend more than 3 weeks on anything, because they have too many more standards to teach before the test.

Could I please have a copy of your list of special schools? I would appreciate it very much. Thank you.

My son would get awful headaches when he did alot of close work. He doesn’t anymore.
He also had math issues related to visual spatial and sequencing deficits. He has improved a great deal with remediation. The fact that this child does well with divsion and multiplication seems to lead to the idea it isn’t sequencing.
How is he with graphs?

Oh Victoria,

I remember the dark ages too, but guess what! I can do math, read, write so people can read it. I believe the education system has lost the importance of giving time to learn basics.

I do not understand the rush especially since people are living longer all the time. I know a lady who was educated in a one room school she is sharp as a tack at 80+. She said at her school everybody could read and do math, they helped each other.

It’s nothing special…this is just a list I gathered, primarily off the internet, but also through contacts’ suggestions, last spring when I decided that the time had come for me to leave public education. I’m currently teaching part-time at a private school and tutoring on the side, and life is much better!
E-mail me if you have any questions.

Atlanta Speech School
Address: 3160 Northside Pkwy., NW
Atlanta, GA 30327
Telephone: (404) 233-5332

Cottage School (The)
Address: 770 Grimes Bridge Rd.
Roswell, 30075
Telephone: (770) 641-8688
Web:
Enrollment: 67 | Grades: 6-12

Brandon Hall School. 770-394-8177. 1701 Brandon Hall Dr., Atlanta. College prep day & boarding school for bright students who are struggling academically.

Brimarsh Academy
Address: 1565 Holcomb Bridge Rd.
Roswell, 30076
Telephone: (770) 992-0416
Web:
Enrollment: 56 | Grades: K-8

Chrysalis Experiential Academy
Suite 200
1210 Warsaw Road
Roswell, Georgia 30076

Eaton Academy

Galloway School (The)
Address: 215 W. Wieuca Rd.
Atlanta, 30042
Telephone: (404) 252-8389
Web:
Enrollment: 243 | Grades: PK-12

High Meadows School
Address: 1055 Willeo Rd.
Roswell, 30075
Telephone: (770) 993-2940
Web:
Enrollment: 233 | Grades: K-8

Howard School (The North Campus)
Address: 9415 Willeo Rd.
Roswell, 30075
Telephone: (770) 642-9644
Web:
Enrollment: 103 | Grades: PK-8

Lindamood-Bell. Gwinnett 770-476-7066 Atlanta 770-850-0612. Remedial programs for reading, spelling, comprehension, critical thinking, math. www.lindamoodbell.com

Mill Springs Academy. 770-360-1336. 13660 New Providence Rd., Alpharetta. Mill Springs Academy is an acredited, college preparatory co-ed school for grades 1-12. Small class size. www.millsprings.org
Enrollment: 198 | Grades: K-12

Sophia Academy
Address: 1199 Mt. Vernon Rd.
Atlanta, 30319
Telephone: (404) 303-8722
Web:
Enrollment: 40 | Grades: 1-5

St. Francis Day School
Address: 9375 Willeo Rd.
Roswell, 30075
Telephone: (770) 641-8257
Web:
Enrollment: 454 | Grades: K-12

Woodward Academy
Address: 1662 Rugby Ave.
College Park, 30337
Telephone: (404) 765-4001
Web:
Enrollment: | Grades: PK-12

There is one small light shining in all this confusion.
All of his classmates who apparently know fractions now are going to look at next year’s fractions chapter as if these things are strange entities from Mars. The teacher is going to have to start right back at Day 1 again and again and again.
99% of his classmates have not learned any math; they have learned a quick verbal memorize-and-forget routine. After each test they clear the short-term memory buffers in order to have space for the next two weeks’ cram session.
If you spend the time and son actually *learns* something about fractions (and arithmetic in general) this summer, he will be ahead of the game in next year’s class. By Grade 8 he may well pull ahead in general.

We did fractions after the FCATs—but it is interesting that both Leah and I have fourth graders in Florida public schools.

Beth