Interactive Metronome and Math

No, but I strongly suspect it would be a good idea. There is a known strong connection between math and rhythm/music.

My NLD son did IM, with nice payoffs in sports but no dramatic carry over into math fluency, although the company’s research site reflects evidence of independent studies that confirm a carry over. His finger counting got quicker; some math facts got learned faster but not the whole package.

I am starting to use Victoria’s multi-sensory suggestions, posted elsewhere on this board, and adding it to a PACE mini trampoline activity in which my son jumps, say, 1 plus 2, jumps 2x for =, then says the answer as he jumps again and so on. I think this shows real promise.

Previously we tried Math Facts the Fun Way (often suggested here) which was a non-starter for my son because, as he says, the silly stories have nothing to do with the math facts. To him it doesn’t work as a mnemonic because it is not a logical approach. It works for some, not for him.

IM is worth trying if there are a number of issues it could help with. See the company’s site.

The only other effect for us is that my son reports now that he likes math—takes him longer to do it but he likes it. Could be IM, could be his teacher.

There are no quick fixes, in most cases, but Victoria’s method, with the added occupational therapy approach to math for really stubborn cases like my son’s, are the best bet.

Elsewhere on this board I am posting a resource I am also using for multiplication that seems to be working like a charm.

JanL

We saw differences in sequencing following IM so it did help with math. Learning multiplication tables still was an arduous process. Took a whole school year to learn! But then his resource teacher told me that she had been taught that LD kids couldn’t learn them. So maybe wasn’t that long!

Beth

Hey, I think a year to learn the multiplication tables is *normal*.

Of course, a lot depends on what you mean by the word “learn”. Sure, lots of kids have developed a quick-cram technique so they can spew out the multiplication facts after a few weeks — and a week or two after the tests, they look at you blankly as if they have never heard of numbers before.

Teachers in elementary schools with our much-loved curriculums spiralling every single math topic yearly start teaching the multiplication tables in Grade 2, and well the kids sort of know them by Grade 8, in the sense that half the kids can give most of the facts accurately if they think for a second or two and the other half can get them on the third guess, as in “seven times nine — sixty-four? sixty-six? sixty-three?” I have one of these right now, and the problem is that since he gets rewarded on that third guess he thinks he “knows” this and he continues this process that gets what looks like success.

Spending a year and actually *knowing* the facts, in the sense that knowing involves comprehension, retention, and transfer — that is a good thing.

Well, I suspect what we had to do to learn them was not normal. We combined some of your techniques with some techniques that our Neuronet provider suggested. For example, we did skip counting while bouncing on a ball!!

But I agree there are no short cuts. We tried some the year before and it did not work in the long run.

Beth