Hi,
I have an 8-year old son in 3rd grade who was identified last year as gifted LD.
His strengths are in conceptual reasoning, visual-spatial reasoning and language. His weaknesses are in working memory, processing speed, sequencing rote information, motor output and attention. In math, he is very strong conceptually, but has a great deal of difficulty with things like skip counting, computing, writing numerals etc. We’ve recognized that he has ADHD and meds have made a big difference.
He’s on an IEP and getting services. Here’s the problem: the LD specialist at the school is excellent but she’s not the one teaching my son. He sees a Sp.Education tutor who is not trained in LD and is paid on an hourly basis. She is completely unable to review error patterns, to generate hypotheses, to teach-assess-teach, to teach strategies and in short, to remediate! Even though this tutor is supervised by the LD specialst, the day to day services leave much to be desired.
I am an LD specialst too, but not experienced in math remediation and I’m trying the keep things together for him. We are unable to find an experienced tutor that we can afford :( . Right now, our son is struggling with rounding numbers and often needs a 1-100 number-line to do this. If anyone has strategies to teach rounding and estimation up to the 100’s and some suggestions for materials, I’d really appreciate that. We have base-10 blocks including the 100’s group. I’d love some guidance on helping him visualize segments of the numberline, helping him develop more of a rote memory for sequences of numbers and a solid understanding of rounding and estimating.
Thanks so much! It’s great to have this community to turn to.
Re: Sequencing difficulties and math
On Cloud Nine Math by Lindamood Bell
http://www.lindamoodbell.com/OnCloudNineMath.html
The manual is about $40.
Janis
Re: Sequencing difficulties and math
Somewhere I think on *this* page is a post about a cool way to teach rounding.
I have been exploring the benefits of “motor memory” and math after watching the way my studetns almost universally could turn mmixed numbers into improper fractions (seemingly regardless of their level of understanding of the process). And for rounding that means (*after* lots of visuals and verbals about the concept) underlining the place you’re rounding to, and making a circle over the next number (to represent the zeroies that are going to go there)… decide whether thenumber stays or moves up, do that, and make the rest of the stuff zeroes. (Obviously that has to be modified for decimals.)
Frankly, though, the way it’s taught — “round this to the hundredth” now “round this to the tenth” and “round this to the…” — I would *not* sweat it if that’s what he has trouble with. Not being able to do that skill inisolation is not going to prevent him from progressing in math. I would teach the concept more gently, and more gradually — doing lots of rounding to the nearest ten until that was honestly and thoroughly uinderstood, then try it withhundreds. Since kids often don’t really grok the bigger numbers, it’s an exercise in symbol manipulation. Rulers can be really good for this, though… which place is it closer to?
Marilyn Burns has some excellent books that make math real that are worth trying. They don’t work for eveyrbody — they can be sort of verbal for kids with significant LDs in that area — but for lots of kids they really open the door and make the connection between the “real” world and math class.
Re: Sequencing difficulties and math
I would do Audiblox with him (http://www.audiblox2000.com ), which works on developing sequencing and attention skills. This takes about 1/2-hour per day of one-on-one work on the exercises.
Also, I have found QuarterMile Math software to be very helpful for developing number fact fluency. It should be done no more than 10 minutes per day and, with a child of 8, you would normally do the keyboarding for him. (http://www.thequartermile.com )
Nancy
May be what you are looking for. It is my Lindamood-Bell and is very user friendly. Also if he has problems with sequencing I would use some picture cards that tell a story in sequence what came first, 2nd and 3rd and he would have to work on verbalizing and placing the pictures in the right sequential order.