Dyscalc math help / remediation over the summer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My controversial hot take is that high school is when you should stop worrying about “mild dyscalculia” and just accept that math isn’t your kid’s strongest subject. Do what you need to do to keep their grades decent but doesn’t make a ton of sense to focus all your money and time on their weakest subject.

Yeah, no. I strongly disagree about that sort of educational abandonment. My kid with dyscalculia went as far as AP Calc BC in 12th grade, which was a notable achievement for him, and was able to skip the required freshman math course and do more of what actually interested him in college. More importantly, twisting his brain to solve math problems was good for him. He probably rewired his neuronal pathways significantly during his high school math progression. I wanted him to practice problem-solving, because of the lifelong benefits to all aspect of his life, and math is an excellent vehicle for that.

Oh it’s you. I don’t think it helps things when you bring up your kid who clearly had no actual disability related to math. I don’t know why you got so attached to the “dyscalculia” label but your input is not helpful to those of us who have kids that legitimately struggle with math.

Meanwhile, it is also a kind of “educational abandonment” to focus all of your resources on your child’s weaknesses to the neglect of their strengths and other import things (like everything else they could be doing over the summer instead of math).

Why are you attacking the PP, when it sounds like you've attacked them before as well? There are many forms of dyscalculia. Some are milder than others. They all necessitate remediation.

You sound really... aggressive.

Because PP posts on every dyscalculia thread with the nonsensical story about her kid with a math disability who did calculus BC - and of course PP started it by claiming I was advocating for “educational abandonment.” PP has a very weird understanding of disability.

Different poster: I agree that you are attacking someone who was trying to make a point that if your kid wants to study in college for any stem or stem related field, basic Calculus is required. Your kid may not want that, that’s ok. The other poster’s child worked hard and was able to achieve something valuable to them, that doesn’t mean they didn’t have a disability.
If you didn’t like the “educational abandonment” wording, ok just say so. It’s fair for them to bring up as many people deny students with disabilities the right to take AP & post-AP classes in high school saying “they don’t have a disability if they can take X class in Highschool”…I have heard teachers claim they shouldn’t have to follow a 504 if the student is capable of being in “their class”. It’s utter BS.

You’re missing the point. To claim that a kid with the capacity to get to Calc BC in high school (or even take calc in college) has a math disability is just absurd. People with actual dyscalculia become adults who cannot do more than 4th grade math. There is a difference between a disability in the core substantive area and a different disability (adhd, autism) for which the kid can get accommodations that allows them to better access the core material.

(Moreover - there is nothing “ableist” or whatever about suggesting that parents should focus on their kid’s strengths and not spend all their time and money on their weaknesses. My kid will never get more than Bs and maybe some Cs in math and I am OK with that and am not going to force him into tutoring all summer.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My controversial hot take is that high school is when you should stop worrying about “mild dyscalculia” and just accept that math isn’t your kid’s strongest subject. Do what you need to do to keep their grades decent but doesn’t make a ton of sense to focus all your money and time on their weakest subject.

op - 100% agree; this is primarily to shore things up so he can pass math / or it doesn't sink his gpa.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My controversial hot take is that high school is when you should stop worrying about “mild dyscalculia” and just accept that math isn’t your kid’s strongest subject. Do what you need to do to keep their grades decent but doesn’t make a ton of sense to focus all your money and time on their weakest subject.

Yeah, no. I strongly disagree about that sort of educational abandonment. My kid with dyscalculia went as far as AP Calc BC in 12th grade, which was a notable achievement for him, and was able to skip the required freshman math course and do more of what actually interested him in college. More importantly, twisting his brain to solve math problems was good for him. He probably rewired his neuronal pathways significantly during his high school math progression. I wanted him to practice problem-solving, because of the lifelong benefits to all aspect of his life, and math is an excellent vehicle for that.

OP - wow, what did it take to get him there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a parent. I paid for IXL for one year as a learning aid. My two sons had already used the math portion through their school district (so they knew the tool). My sons wouldn't spend time on it at home without me nagging them, so I switched them to far more expensive in-person Mathnasium tutoring. I've written posts about this in the past.

I can corroborate that the student diagnostic for my older son matched the Mathnasium pre-test. Both identified the same areas of weakness. And both use drills to reinforce concepts. Mathnasium offers a classroom type model where one tutor helps multiple kids who are working on worksheets chosen to build their skills in a tailored order. IXL just offers explanations and if those are not sufficient, you must tutor your child.

When my kids' school district had IXL, I didn't get involved with the kids completing the units. I hadn't seen the parent diagnostic features. And the kids were assigned IXL mainly in the summer as a supposed learning loss avoidance measure that failed. So, I didn't leverage it correctly.

Bottom line, if I had really looked at IXL carefully AND had compliant children, it would have been worth it for tutoring and practice. A year cost less than a week of Mathnasium.

Here's what I recommend. Subscribe for six months to IXL math only. Incentivize your kid to do a lot of modules. Check to make sure your kid is doing 8th grade common core...if your kid is needing to drop down to 4th/5th grade on some skills...that's not weird at all. My 7th grader had forgotten how to do long division by hand. Whatever the kid scores badly at, move him down grade settings manually to practice related skills at a lower grade level. You could even start out at 6th grade and see how that goes.

Also...Very Important...make sure your kid only has to get a score of 80 or 90 on a module then they can stop. One of the most annoying things about IXL is that it's very difficult to get high scores/100s. Kids don't want to spend 30 minutes more to complete a module perfectly vs. a 90. The less frustrating they find completing modules, the faster you will be able to see patterns and be able to guide them to the areas where they have weak spots.

If for any reason you feel that you won't be able to interpret the math terminology used to describe the learning units (e.g., prime number, factor, commutative property), then maybe you'll have difficulty. But I think anyone who's been to college and at least taken Algebra should be able to refresh their knowledge.

Also make sure that your kid can still speed run math facts (multiplication tables, etc.), order of operations - PEMDAS, and can work with fractions. These are trouble spots. Truthfully kids don't get enough practice with these, unless they are naturally good at math in elementary school.

P.S. I had an added use for IXL. My younger one who wouldn't do the math ended up using it to catch up in 7th grade Spanish. That was a low-cost add-on module. I tacked it on to his brother's subscription because his brother didn't need Spanish 1.

OP here --- wow, thank you for this detailed response! Appreciate the tips about iXl settings and other helpful ideas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My controversial hot take is that high school is when you should stop worrying about “mild dyscalculia” and just accept that math isn’t your kid’s strongest subject. Do what you need to do to keep their grades decent but doesn’t make a ton of sense to focus all your money and time on their weakest subject.

Yeah, no. I strongly disagree about that sort of educational abandonment. My kid with dyscalculia went as far as AP Calc BC in 12th grade, which was a notable achievement for him, and was able to skip the required freshman math course and do more of what actually interested him in college. More importantly, twisting his brain to solve math problems was good for him. He probably rewired his neuronal pathways significantly during his high school math progression. I wanted him to practice problem-solving, because of the lifelong benefits to all aspect of his life, and math is an excellent vehicle for that.

OP - wow, what did it take to get him there?

Spoiler: he didn’t actually have a math disability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My controversial hot take is that high school is when you should stop worrying about “mild dyscalculia” and just accept that math isn’t your kid’s strongest subject. Do what you need to do to keep their grades decent but doesn’t make a ton of sense to focus all your money and time on their weakest subject.

op - 100% agree; this is primarily to shore things up so he can pass math / or it doesn't sink his gpa.

What is the main issue you think? Is he missing assignments, getting low scores, or something else? For filling in gaps I think Mathnasium is good albeit expensive. For actually keeping up with the curriculum he may need extra repetition which is easier to do with a tutor. There is definitely a wealth of resources out there like Khan and IXL but the hard part is coordination with the curriculum he is learning at the time. Not sure what class he is taking now but you can also consider repeating. (we are repeating algebra in 9th.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My controversial hot take is that high school is when you should stop worrying about “mild dyscalculia” and just accept that math isn’t your kid’s strongest subject. Do what you need to do to keep their grades decent but doesn’t make a ton of sense to focus all your money and time on their weakest subject.

op - 100% agree; this is primarily to shore things up so he can pass math / or it doesn't sink his gpa.

What is the main issue you think? Is he missing assignments, getting low scores, or something else? For filling in gaps I think Mathnasium is good albeit expensive. For actually keeping up with the curriculum he may need extra repetition which is easier to do with a tutor. There is definitely a wealth of resources out there like Khan and IXL but the hard part is coordination with the curriculum he is learning at the time. Not sure what class he is taking now but you can also consider repeating. (we are repeating algebra in 9th.)

I'm the IXL commenter. It's actually not too hard to line up current schoolwork with IXL or Khan. You just have to have titled lessons, chapters, headers from your kid's lesson plan, digital textbook, or real book. You must know math vocabulary words. However, IXL has a complete index of topics (with modules) for every grade level. Many of them repeat and get harder at the next level. So if your kid can't handle a 7th grade module, you can look for the same header in the 5th grade area. It isn't hard for a person who is college-educated.

If you can't figure it out, send printouts or pictures of the lesson list to your kid's teacher and ask them to identify the matching titles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My controversial hot take is that high school is when you should stop worrying about “mild dyscalculia” and just accept that math isn’t your kid’s strongest subject. Do what you need to do to keep their grades decent but doesn’t make a ton of sense to focus all your money and time on their weakest subject.

op - 100% agree; this is primarily to shore things up so he can pass math / or it doesn't sink his gpa.

What is the main issue you think? Is he missing assignments, getting low scores, or something else? For filling in gaps I think Mathnasium is good albeit expensive. For actually keeping up with the curriculum he may need extra repetition which is easier to do with a tutor. There is definitely a wealth of resources out there like Khan and IXL but the hard part is coordination with the curriculum he is learning at the time. Not sure what class he is taking now but you can also consider repeating. (we are repeating algebra in 9th.)

I'm the IXL commenter. It's actually not too hard to line up current schoolwork with IXL or Khan. You just have to have titled lessons, chapters, headers from your kid's lesson plan, digital textbook, or real book. You must know math vocabulary words. However, IXL has a complete index of topics (with modules) for every grade level. Many of them repeat and get harder at the next level. So if your kid can't handle a 7th grade module, you can look for the same header in the 5th grade area. It isn't hard for a person who is college-educated.

If you can't figure it out, send printouts or pictures of the lesson list to your kid's teacher and ask them to identify the matching titles.

You’re assuming that the teacher actually has a coherent syllabus that can tell you what the kids are supposed to be learning when, that you can access in legible form. Sometimes this isn’t possible. But asking the teacher to match up the lesson with IXL isn’t a bad idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How on earth are you getting your middle and high schoolers to sit in a Chair and concentrate and do an assignment!? My 15 year old would never in a million years do something that I requested her to do like this. And that is even with Ritalin. What is it like to have a compliant child!?

I'm the PP who wrote the long post above about IXL. My kids are neurotypical. And as I said, I was unable to get them to do the IXL independently. When they were assigned it as summer homework by their public middle school, I had to put them on our boring desktop computer and sit on a couch behind them and look up every 5 minutes or so to make sure they were doing the modules. That's before I was investigating remediating their skills. The remediation was a late-pandemic move when I realized that both of my boys lacked important math concepts. And my older one was heading into high school honors math and I didn't want him to stumble freshman year. I personally had a math failure in 7th grade that pushed me back a class year. I also was one of those kids that never internalized the math despite getting good grades. I did terrible on the SAT math and that cost me some pride and probably scholarship money. So I was committed to doing better for my kids.

Oohhhhhh. Neurotypical. Yeah this would not work with my kids. Also, good for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How on earth are you getting your middle and high schoolers to sit in a Chair and concentrate and do an assignment!? My 15 year old would never in a million years do something that I requested her to do like this. And that is even with Ritalin. What is it like to have a compliant child!?

I'm the PP who wrote the long post above about IXL. My kids are neurotypical. And as I said, I was unable to get them to do the IXL independently. When they were assigned it as summer homework by their public middle school, I had to put them on our boring desktop computer and sit on a couch behind them and look up every 5 minutes or so to make sure they were doing the modules. That's before I was investigating remediating their skills. The remediation was a late-pandemic move when I realized that both of my boys lacked important math concepts. And my older one was heading into high school honors math and I didn't want him to stumble freshman year. I personally had a math failure in 7th grade that pushed me back a class year. I also was one of those kids that never internalized the math despite getting good grades. I did terrible on the SAT math and that cost me some pride and probably scholarship money. So I was committed to doing better for my kids.

Oohhhhhh. Neurotypical. Yeah this would not work with my kids. Also, good for you.

lol good catch. BUT - I will say - it actually is helpful to know that a LOT of parents (even of NT kids) are befuddled and upset at the way math is being taught. It has been helpful for me to compare notes with them because it helps me better understand what the teachers are doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My controversial hot take is that high school is when you should stop worrying about “mild dyscalculia” and just accept that math isn’t your kid’s strongest subject. Do what you need to do to keep their grades decent but doesn’t make a ton of sense to focus all your money and time on their weakest subject.

op - 100% agree; this is primarily to shore things up so he can pass math / or it doesn't sink his gpa.

What is the main issue you think? Is he missing assignments, getting low scores, or something else? For filling in gaps I think Mathnasium is good albeit expensive. For actually keeping up with the curriculum he may need extra repetition which is easier to do with a tutor. There is definitely a wealth of resources out there like Khan and IXL but the hard part is coordination with the curriculum he is learning at the time. Not sure what class he is taking now but you can also consider repeating. (we are repeating algebra in 9th.)

OP here -- not missing assignments, hw and the extras are the saving areas. One of the biggest challenges is his teacher; inconsistent homework, no real text book or guided notes. I think for many kids this would be ok, but has added a huge layer of complexity (not really being able to get into a good work pattern). Sometimes they seem well prepared for the test, and then they take the test and the content/presentation is disimilar to the study materials/ Retaking the same math next year, amazingly would not need to (likely ending up with a C, despite Ds/Fs on many tests), but we decided it's best.

I've often heard that the Mathnasium and similar are good to help a B- student become an A student but are not great for those with real LDs but am open to that as an idea too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How on earth are you getting your middle and high schoolers to sit in a Chair and concentrate and do an assignment!? My 15 year old would never in a million years do something that I requested her to do like this. And that is even with Ritalin. What is it like to have a compliant child!?

I'm the PP who wrote the long post above about IXL. My kids are neurotypical. And as I said, I was unable to get them to do the IXL independently. When they were assigned it as summer homework by their public middle school, I had to put them on our boring desktop computer and sit on a couch behind them and look up every 5 minutes or so to make sure they were doing the modules. That's before I was investigating remediating their skills. The remediation was a late-pandemic move when I realized that both of my boys lacked important math concepts. And my older one was heading into high school honors math and I didn't want him to stumble freshman year. I personally had a math failure in 7th grade that pushed me back a class year. I also was one of those kids that never internalized the math despite getting good grades. I did terrible on the SAT math and that cost me some pride and probably scholarship money. So I was committed to doing better for my kids.

Oohhhhhh. Neurotypical. Yeah this would not work with my kids. Also, good for you.

iXL PP --you are hanging out on this board because ___________?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My controversial hot take is that high school is when you should stop worrying about “mild dyscalculia” and just accept that math isn’t your kid’s strongest subject. Do what you need to do to keep their grades decent but doesn’t make a ton of sense to focus all your money and time on their weakest subject.

op - 100% agree; this is primarily to shore things up so he can pass math / or it doesn't sink his gpa.

What is the main issue you think? Is he missing assignments, getting low scores, or something else? For filling in gaps I think Mathnasium is good albeit expensive. For actually keeping up with the curriculum he may need extra repetition which is easier to do with a tutor. There is definitely a wealth of resources out there like Khan and IXL but the hard part is coordination with the curriculum he is learning at the time. Not sure what class he is taking now but you can also consider repeating. (we are repeating algebra in 9th.)

I'm the IXL commenter. It's actually not too hard to line up current schoolwork with IXL or Khan. You just have to have titled lessons, chapters, headers from your kid's lesson plan, digital textbook, or real book. You must know math vocabulary words. However, IXL has a complete index of topics (with modules) for every grade level. Many of them repeat and get harder at the next level. So if your kid can't handle a 7th grade module, you can look for the same header in the 5th grade area. It isn't hard for a person who is college-educated.

If you can't figure it out, send printouts or pictures of the lesson list to your kid's teacher and ask them to identify the matching titles.

You’re assuming that the teacher actually has a coherent syllabus that can tell you what the kids are supposed to be learning when, that you can access in legible form. Sometimes this isn’t possible. But asking the teacher to match up the lesson with IXL isn’t a bad idea.

PP. I understand. That's why I gave a last ditch idea. Another is using Google Lens or maybe AI and asking it to identify the problem types in the kid's homework. Which brings me to another suggestion. Kids are using AI to create extra practice problems "like" an example. So they can get more practice sheets made through generative AI.

I also miss logically structured, printed textbooks with lessons ordered and studied sequentially.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How on earth are you getting your middle and high schoolers to sit in a Chair and concentrate and do an assignment!? My 15 year old would never in a million years do something that I requested her to do like this. And that is even with Ritalin. What is it like to have a compliant child!?

I'm the PP who wrote the long post above about IXL. My kids are neurotypical. And as I said, I was unable to get them to do the IXL independently. When they were assigned it as summer homework by their public middle school, I had to put them on our boring desktop computer and sit on a couch behind them and look up every 5 minutes or so to make sure they were doing the modules. That's before I was investigating remediating their skills. The remediation was a late-pandemic move when I realized that both of my boys lacked important math concepts. And my older one was heading into high school honors math and I didn't want him to stumble freshman year. I personally had a math failure in 7th grade that pushed me back a class year. I also was one of those kids that never internalized the math despite getting good grades. I did terrible on the SAT math and that cost me some pride and probably scholarship money. So I was committed to doing better for my kids.

Oohhhhhh. Neurotypical. Yeah this would not work with my kids. Also, good for you.

iXL PP --you are hanging out on this board because ___________?

Because my sucking at math in middle school and my kids struggling with math cost me a lot of confidence in myself and money spent on tutoring and training. So I will share anything I can with anyone who asks for help. Assessment of math skills is a pretty neutral topic since everyone is trying to help their kid master the same skills. The above commenter is correct about NT kids having difficulties with loosely-structured curriculums, widely varying teaching methods, learning loss, etc. Not to mention difficulties with using learning management systems like Canvas.

I read the Recent Topics list and am open to any subject that I find interesting. I have posted about math tutoring on several other forums on here.

Someone mentioned above that Mathnasium may not be suitable for kids with learning disabilities. They are owner-operated franchises so the vibe can be location-specific. The one near us has a pretty calm, pleasant environment. And they are patient. However, it would be unlikely to have a tutor who is professionally trained like a public school teacher or a resource specialist would be to recognize certain types of learning blocks. They don't pay enough for that from what I have read.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My controversial hot take is that high school is when you should stop worrying about “mild dyscalculia” and just accept that math isn’t your kid’s strongest subject. Do what you need to do to keep their grades decent but doesn’t make a ton of sense to focus all your money and time on their weakest subject.

op - 100% agree; this is primarily to shore things up so he can pass math / or it doesn't sink his gpa.

What is the main issue you think? Is he missing assignments, getting low scores, or something else? For filling in gaps I think Mathnasium is good albeit expensive. For actually keeping up with the curriculum he may need extra repetition which is easier to do with a tutor. There is definitely a wealth of resources out there like Khan and IXL but the hard part is coordination with the curriculum he is learning at the time. Not sure what class he is taking now but you can also consider repeating. (we are repeating algebra in 9th.)

OP here -- not missing assignments, hw and the extras are the saving areas. One of the biggest challenges is his teacher; inconsistent homework, no real text book or guided notes. I think for many kids this would be ok, but has added a huge layer of complexity (not really being able to get into a good work pattern). Sometimes they seem well prepared for the test, and then they take the test and the content/presentation is disimilar to the study materials/ Retaking the same math next year, amazingly would not need to (likely ending up with a C, despite Ds/Fs on many tests), but we decided it's best.

I've often heard that the Mathnasium and similar are good to help a B- student become an A student but are not great for those with real LDs but am open to that as an idea too.

I think the issue is that you don’t know if he has “dyscalculia” or just has suffered disproportionately from the bad new instructional methods due to other factors. I wasn’t completely sure about my kid but sending him to Mathnasium really helped understand how he learns better because I got great feedback. I am not sure who is handing out dyscalculia diagnoses but it seems hard to distinguish to me from either just being relatively worse at math compared to other subjects, or more vulnerable to bad instruction (maybe due to adhd or autism) or a combo of the two.