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My nephew is struggling in math, my sister needs ideas on way to help him


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like the Key To series. I've looked at it a couple of times but haven't used it. I think it might fit your needs.

 

Also, I think Alek's Math online program might be a good program for remediating and supplementing what is in the classroom. I looked at that one, too, but never used it.

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A lot depends on why he is having problems. If you knew more about the particular LD it would help. For instance, does he need more repetition and review than he gets in class, or is he not getting the concepts, or does he get the concepts, but lose them shortly thereafter, etc. Does he have trouble with spatial perception? Depending on what the problem is, there might be different things that would work. It can be frustrating for both kid and parent to take general suggestions willy nilly that aren't targeted to the issue. It just creates more failure.

 

Having said this, for fractions, there is a manipulative called Fraction Tower cubes

http://www.edumart.com/ler/cubes.swf These have fractions on one side, decimals on another, and percentages on another. It is a really helpful manipulative. There are other manipulatives (or you can make them) that are either like slices of pizza, or in a bar. The pizza-like ones would have circles cut into halves, fourths, thirds, sixths, eighths, ninths, etc. It helps with seeing the size of the parts (ie as the denominator goes up, the size goes down) as well as with equivalent fractions. You should be able to find these easily at an educational supply store or you can order online. These manipulatives are typically helpful across a range of LD's. You can allow kids to use the manipulatives to get answers for a while. Often, they will "get" it that way. However, again, it depends on the specific circumstances.

 

What are the issues with geometry?

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Fractions are the foundation for understanding decimals, percents and ratios, plus a solid grasp of fractions is necessary to be able to do algebra.

 

My dd could not "get" fractions until I used the book "Lessons for Introducing Fractions" by Marilyn Burns. It was written for classroom use, but is easy to adapt to one on one. In the first lesson, she had my dd and me make our own sets of manipulatives. Making the manipulatives seemed to help my dd grasp what fractions were about. The subsequent lessons introduce a wide variety of ways of looking at fractions and working with them. This helped in that my dd was able to pick and choose those ideas that made sense to her. We did not do both books in the series; the first book was enough. At the end of that book, my dd was still weak on numerator and denominator. (Probably because of her dyslexia, she had great difficulty understanding that the part always had to go on top and the whole always on the bottom.) I made up index cards with fractions on them, and had her illustrate each fraction using pieces from a set of manipulatives.

 

I also used the "Key to Fractions" workbooks along with the book for review and reinforcement.

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Guest Cinders

Hello,

 

One reason I recently took my son out of a charter school because there was no other math choices but to take pre-algebra in 7th grade. They didn't offer any LD classes for math. The class was over his head and therefore he wasn't learning anything. I have been using the book "Math the Easy Way" (Anthony Prindle) as a teacher's guide. Then I write up his problems everyday. The second chapter goes into fractions. They do have problems in the book, but I prefer to write up his problems rather than go with something ready made because it allows me to customize depending on what he needs to work on. I also do more repetition than what the book would have a student do. He's been making good progress since I started this. I know there are a lot of choices out there. Good luck.

 

Best,

 

Cindy.

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I have seen a lot of computer math programs, most of which I wouldn't consider using ever. I recently began using Aleks with a class of very low level high school Geometry students. For most of them, it has been very successful. For all of them, it was helpful for me to see what their level was, where their strengths and weaknesses were. It was helpful for them to get immediate feedback, hints and explanations. No computer program or website is a cure-all for all kids, but I would suggest starting with Aleks to see if he likes it and is successful with it. I would be happy to share my experience if you would like more information.

 

Mike

aleksmath@gmail.com

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