I have a student with LD and who is possibly dislexic. He sometimes has difficulty recalling the name of certain numbers and has to look at the number line or count up to that number to say it’s name. He has not memorized math facts. He can solve addition problems of two 2-digit numbers with regrouping but is dependent on using manipulatives. Sometimes when adding two 1-digit numbers whose sum exceeds 10 he says “How do you do this?” This sometimes shows up when adding the ones place in regrouping. He is also having difficulty with making change to $1.00. I’m showing him to start with the price and count up by ones to the nearest 5 or 10, if it’s a five then count up by 5s to the nearest 10, and then by tens to the amount given. I just started that so I’m not sure how that’s going to work yet. Any advise that might help this student would be greatly appreciated!!!
LD - math
I can’t give much more info because of confidentiality. This is a resource class so he is part of a small group. I am a certified special education teacher.
Re: LD - math
What age range are we looking at? I’d recommend different approaches based on the age of the student.
What learning mode works best for the student? Again, different learning modes suggest different approaches.
A good educational evaluation should have this information. You need it in order to best service your student. If you don’t have what you need, you need to be an advocate for your student and get it. If the child has dyslexia in addition to math difficulties or dyslexia which causes math difficulties you need to know this and know the differences in how to approach it.
Also, special education funding includes the funding necessary for you to learn what you need to teach your students. Tell your school what you need to learn in order to help this child.
If you give me more information I can give you more concrete suggestions. (As to confidentiality, keep in mind your audience. I’ve known teachers who have seriously breached confidentiality by discussing kids I knew, but in a context like this the same comments wouldn’t be a breach because most people wouldn’t be able to figure out who the kindergarten student was who screached but was a whiz at art because they wouldn’t know the student.) In any case, good luck!
Re: LD - math
If the student is still confused as to how to do one-digit additions with sums over ten, eg 7 + 8 = 15, and not only has he not memorized them but doesn’t even have a plan of attack, then he needs to work on this for a while before going on to things that are more conceptually advanced. For example your counting coins by ones to nearest five and then by fives and then by tens — this requires a level of comfort with numbers that from your description this atudent does not yet have. Pushing this far above his conceptual level will just about always stall out.
I am working now with some students working on this level, and I am sitting there with them counting pennies and doing additions and subtractions for the whole session. It *is* working; my little girl is starting to count by twos and to remember facts, after four months of two twenty-minute sessions a week.
Re: LD - math
PS - re confidentiality — since this is a national/international board, unless you describe the student by name and address nobody here could possibly identlfy him! You can give grade level, approximate age, and a description of needs, and nobody will have a clue so you are not breaching confidentiality. If you are really worried, change a few facts like gender, your sign-in name, your location, etc., and nobody could possibly know.
dyscalculia
This is the same probelm I had when I was this child’s age. I could not add or subtract if the product was greater than 10, but I did understand counting by 2s & 5s. I was not introduced to money until the 3rd grade. If, this being June, you are still working with this child, I would stick to the basic math skills. It sounds like (based on my own experience, mind you) that his type of LD is what Kosc called “ideognostic dyscalculia”–meaning that since it is an abstract concept, it’s literally going to go in one ear and out the other. I remember where I was when I “learned” certain things—how to count change, how to divide, etc. What’s frustrating for children is that they may know it has been taught to them before but they do not remember how to do it. It really helped me to have solid things to count. I still resort to it when counting change—5 nickels =25c, so 4 piles of nickels = $1.00. If it’s possible, learning to count by grouping is so much better.
Pages and pages of math problems might not be a great idea, either. I know the basic tenet to learning math is “practice, practice, practice”, but overkill and frustration don’t work well either. Settle in for the long haul. It might take weeks or months to grasp a particular concept. a few problems on two or three concepts at most every day will work out better in the long run.
Re: LD - math
So true!!!!!
I see folks every day who jumped from concrete to abstract too fast. They’re manip7ulating those little squiggles, but they’re not doing math… but they could, if we’d take the time to show *****and practice****** the connection between the concrete and the symbols.
Now, write me the grant to create the materials…
Classroom setting? Tutoring? INdividual or group?
Ideas to come :-)