I am a teacher in a family literacy program, working with adults as well as children. One of the parents that I work with (although a high school graduate) functions at a very low level in math. I have noticed that he is unable to count backwards. Due to this, he cannot complete most subtraction problems. I am interested in hearing from educators or from adults who have overcome their own difficulties in this area. I have a very limited background in mathematics, and would appreciate any and all help. Thank you very much.
I ran into a severe case of this with a student who had Kleinfelter’s syndrome ( a serious genetic disorder). Since your student is an adult and parent of a family it is NOT likely he has this problem, but my experience may help shed light on what you have here.
Check out your student’s ability to sequence BOTH (separately) verbally and pictorially. Pictorially, you can buy tests or make one up out of a cartoon strip with a clear story line; cut up the four pictures, shuffle them, and tell him to puet the story back in order.Verbally, ask questions about before and after: Do you think you should wash your hands before or after you play with the dog? Do we turn off the lights before or after class? And so on.
The student I had could order pictorially at least simple stories, but could not order verbally at all, could not even tell you if socks went on before or after shoes — dressed himself fine, but couldn’t access ordering verbally.
If he *can* order both physically and verbally, then you just need to give him practice. Use a large number line that you can point to easily (carpenter’s measuring tape with inch marks is wonderful) and have him count up by going to the right or forward,and then down by going to the left or backward.
Teach subtraction NOT by counting (this is rather advanced and gets too complex) but with an abacus,of ten rows of ten beads,by taking away. Avoid quick smart tricky methods that you learned as shortcuts and keep everything as simple as possible and crystal-clear in reasoning for him.
If he can *not* order things verbally, work on the concepts with him first as a matter of language and then later as above.