Reply to Dyscalculia -- Effective Strategies?

Forum Index » Kids With Special Needs and Disabilities

Reply to "Dyscalculia -- Effective Strategies?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]Hi!  My junior DD has dyscalculia.  Some things that helped us:  1) get an official diagnosis in the next year or so.  That will take a neuropsych evaluation.  Based on that diagnosis, get an IEP for your son in school which will get him extra support, allow you to modify homework with no repercussions, allow extra time for tests, and use a calculator.  He might also have executive function issues, ADHD etc.  Just find out what's there so you can support him early.

On the calculator, get one very soon.  His inability to do simple calculations quickly, or at all, is hampering his ability to understand larger math concepts.  Don't worry that "he'll rely on it, he'll never learn his math facts."  Ok, maybe.  But so what?  By sixth grade all kids have calculators anyway.   And he may or may not ever develop "math sense."  As an example, math sense is just kind of getting that 5, 10, 15, 20 is a pattern, and that other numbers that end in 5 or 0 are in the pattern too.  My daughter never has really understood this, while my brother understood this at age 3.  So you have to help your son use tools (a calculator, a 12 by 12 multiplication chart) to compensate.

Don't be afraid to have him do part of the homework.  The tears are not worth it, for you or him.  Do every three problems, or the even ones, or whatever.  He's in 3rd grade, it won't matter.  The teacher and school will hassle you but don't let it bother you.

However, if you can help him learn math facts (these will be hard won!) by use of a game with rewards or some other kind of repetitive action, this will help him a lot.  My DD doesn't know all of them even now but she knows most of them.  Lots of adults don't either, by the way....  She had a little handheld game called a "Flash Master" and she did it for 3 minutes each day.  She also used an iPad game which repeats them over and over.  If you can help him do this that would be great.

Also you can have him remember multiplication tables by chanting them.  9, 18, 27, 36, 45, etc.  End with "hike!" Like in football.  Look on youtube for songs about numbers and games.

My DD has done well in school, with a little tutoring here or there.  She's not going into a STEM career but she's gotten As and Bs in math and even OK (average) PSAT scores.

Good luck, and don't worry too much!  Just keep the stress low and keep at it over time, a little bit each day.  And get him the supports at school that he needs.   [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics