4Real Forums: Dyscalculia-10 yr old

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Topic: Dyscalculia-10 yr old

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Schoolrmacres
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Posted: Oct 01 2009 at 7:22am \| IP Logged

I have read the 2 threads on this subject on this board but I just wanted tom see if antone might have anything new to help with this.
We are having a TERRIBLE time with math. I gave my dd a worksheet with basic 3 digit times 2 digit multiplication and she got half of it wrong. 3 digit by 2 digit division is even worse. She still has to figure out basic addition and her times tables and we have been working on this for soooo long. How do I help my dd. I am ready to change our math curriculum but I do not know what to look at. We are using Rays but I do rewrite the problems in a notebook(she is not good at copying correctly out of a book)and I work through the first 1-2 problems with her. Each day it is like we are starting over and she acts like she has never done this before or it is written in another language.
I am not positive that she has dyscalculia but whatever it is we need help.

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stellamaris
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Posted: Oct 01 2009 at 7:29am \| IP Logged

My dd had real troubles with math as well. I would suggest you take her back to concrete representation, that is, using blocks and physical objects to help her "visualize" the math. Math U See is one good program. If she just memorized the facts, she may not have any idea what she is doing. You might also consider having her tested for a learning disability. Don't hesitate to back up to basic concepts, even counting, especially at her young age. It will be much harder to try to correct any foundational problems at a later age.

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ekbell
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Posted: Oct 01 2009 at 3:25pm \| IP Logged

Last year my ten year old was very much the same and this is what I looking.

There are two aspects of arithmetic, particularly at this stage, Understanding and Memorization and many a child can be good at one and not the other.

Understanding -if given coins or other manipulatives can she show you the problem and each stage of the solution? If she can't do this for simple sums or multiplicaton, you will need to start over again from the point where she stops being able to show understanding, making sure to move on only when she demonstates understanding using manipulatives. It may be worth looking into testing for a learning disablity if this isn't working well.

My ten year old could understand adding and multiplying single digits but had problems with the method used for multiplying multiple digits.

I spent some time working through the problem sets using coins (if you can't figure out how break down the steps of multiple digit multiplication using coins I'll write it out- it's doable). My dd turned out to have problems understanding the 'cross multiplication' part of doing two and three digit multiplication.
[IE when multiplying 25 times 15, she'd multiply 5x5 and add it to 20x10 without remembering the 20x5 and 5x10] and working it out really helped.

Memorization-I remember being good at understanding what to do but very bad at remembering sums and tables so I've worked on them separately with my dd. She has drills for tables and sums but when doing two and three digit problems she is allowed to look at the tables that she has written up. (her 'cheatsheet') I also tell the story of my math prof who was so excited at what he was teaching us that he made multiple errors in simple arithmatic

[He is a brillant man (just google Dr. Scott Vanstone) who still loved teaching first year students.]

Due to her carelessness and her younger sibling's tendency to scribble on or rip things she's had to write her 'cheatsheet's over a number of times

It's helped quite a bit in getting the sums and tables into her head. These days she normally just remembers the sums and tables.

Something that has helped quite a bit with my dd was working on one or two of the nasty problems everyday (plus computer drill) while doing 'easy' math as well [she's good at geometry, measuring, graphs -that sort of math]. That way her math hasn't just consisted of nasty hard stuff all-the-time.

Angel
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Posted: Oct 01 2009 at 4:11pm \| IP Logged

You might look into Making Math Meaningful. My dd has similar problems, and it has always been that she needs a thorough understanding of the concrete before going on to the abstract. Making Math Meaningful teaches a very odd (to me, taught in traditional rote fashion) means of multiplying 2 digit by 2 digit and up by the use of a matrix and initially through word problems. My dd simply could not remember the steps to doing 2 digit x 2 digit multiplication the rote way, but after working with the reasons *behind* the traditional way of multiplying 2 numbers in concrete fashion, she was finally able to grasp the "short cut". Most math programs skip right to the short cut, so she had no basis in WHY.

She is getting better, though. Up until this year, we would have to backtrack through place value because it was like she forgot the entire system if we had a break of more than 3 weeks.

I'm pleased with the way Making Math Meaningful is working for her.

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Angela
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ALmom
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Posted: Oct 01 2009 at 6:27pm \| IP Logged

With multi-digit multiplication, I had quite a few children who made rather bizzare errors. They were obviously trying to memorize the shortcut, but getting all the steps jumbled - so they were multiplying when they were supposed to add and other such things. MUS had them build with blocks and then represent these using the zeros as place holders. So we would do units by units, etc. This child could multiply like this fine - and quickly eliminated the blocks. I didn't push and eventually she discovered the shortcut for herself. Having a clear idea of the place value helps a lot. Another program that tries to keep/illustrate the place value along with the steps is Developmental math (think it is level 11 that starts into this).

Some of my very visual learners simply had to have a concrete picture in their head first before they could memorize. Understanding had to come first for my children.

Janet

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