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Taking DEEP breaths... dyslexia ...math ...


lovinmomma
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Background: This is DD's first year back homeschooling after being in PS for 3 years. We use a virtual school. I could explain why if necessary, but suffice it to say that it was either virtual school or public brick and mortar school. We do have to keep up a consistent pace in our curriculum due to the charter/virtual school. DD is in 4th grade.

 

My daughter is dyslexic (no formal diagnosis), and we're hitting a wall with math. DD is struggling with memorizing her math facts (understandably). Actually, she struggles with any sort of rote memorization.  I realize that her dyslexia is the main cause of this. She doesn't have her addition and subtraction facts fully memorized to the point that they're recalled correctly and quickly, and now we're at a place in math where dd needs to be able to recall multiplication facts quickly (she spent the majority of 3rd grade trying to memorize multiplication facts). Her inability to memorize her addition facts is playing into her inability to memorize her multiplication facts, which in turn is affecting how well/quickly she can solve division problems. I feel like it's all piling up. I removed dd from public school after 3rd grade ended this past year due to dd's school being unwilling to entertain the idea that she has dyslexia. The school didn't feel any concern, because dd wasn't failing her classes. DD was, however, spending all day at school studying, and then spending all evening (other than about 30 mins of play time) working on homework and correcting assignments from in class in order to keep her grades afloat.

 

I guess I'm just at a loss as to what to do. I don't know how to help her. For example, we had a math lesson this past week that asked dd to divide. I can't remember the exact number, but it was something along the lines of 92/3. DD had absolutely NO clue what to do. She tried counting by 3s, but she wasn't accurate at counting by 3s. She tried multiplying, but her multiplication facts aren't memorized completely so the answer was incorrect if she tried using multiplication.

 

It's so sad to watch her struggle, and it breaks my Mommy heart watching her get frustrated. How do you all help your dyslexic children memorize math facts, or how do you help them get around that obstacle so that you can move forward in math? ETA: She's tried daily math drills (for literally years), apps on my phone, computer games, dice/board games and flash cards.

 

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Does she HAVE to have those math facts memorized right now?  Can you keep a multiplication chart up for her to look at while she does her math?  It is possible that she will learn her facts after she has to use them hundreds of times.  This is what we did for dyslexic DS.  Eventually he stopped needing to look at that chart.  We also used the stories from multiplication.com (love those).  So he would either recall the story, or look at the chart to get the answer he needed.  We just kept going with math, though, and the more he needed to USE the facts for whatever he was doing, the better they stuck.  DS is also dysgraphic, so we found that using graph paper was very helpful for writing out long arithmetic problems.  I think it was helpful that learning the steps involved for long division was not hindered by needing the multiplication facts memorized.  He cruised through algebra and is loving geometry right now; he often does extra for fun.  So allowing him to move forward didn't hurt him in any way, and kept math one of his favorite subjects.

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If it's a charter school or virtual school run through the ps system, do they have a process for you to request evals and an IEP?  It sounds like it's time.  

 

She's young enough, she might still be willing to do Times Tales or one of the story/image-driven fact memory programs.  

 

Does her math have any spiral?  Spiral helped my dd.  Actually, using a calculator helped my dd.  Scratch your head on that one, lol.  

 

Ronit Bird has a new ebook for times tables, btw.  http://www.ronitbird.com/ebooks/  LOVE the RonitBird stuff.

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We use charts & occasionally a calculator. You just have to help them figure out ways around the block. Both my kids use the clock to add & subtract spatially, a calendar, a number line, skip counting charts, manipulatives, etc. whatever will work. We also use the partial quotients method a lot for division problems to work backwards and make the numbers smaller to divide (and multiply in multi-digit multiplication - we pull those numbers apart into calculations that are easy to do).

 

In the initial example 92/3, ds would look at how many times 3 fits into 92. Too many to reasonably count, but more than 10 times, so he would take out 30 three times, and get an answer of 30 with a remainder of 2. It is just a different method around the memorization block.

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Does she HAVE to have those math facts memorized right now?  Can you keep a multiplication chart up for her to look at while she does her math?  It is possible that she will learn her facts after she has to use them hundreds of times.  This is what we did for dyslexic DS.  Eventually he stopped needing to look at that chart.  We also used the stories from multiplication.com (love those).  So he would either recall the story, or look at the chart to get the answer he needed.  We just kept going with math, though, and the more he needed to USE the facts for whatever he was doing, the better they stuck.  DS is also dysgraphic, so we found that using graph paper was very helpful for writing out long arithmetic problems.  I think it was helpful that learning the steps involved for long division was not hindered by needing the multiplication facts memorized.  He cruised through algebra and is loving geometry right now; he often does extra for fun.  So allowing him to move forward didn't hurt him in any way, and kept math one of his favorite subjects.

 

I'm not sure if she HAS to memorize them right now? I guess that's part of the answer that I'm seeking. Using graph paper is an EXCELLENT idea. DD's handwriting is horrible, and she really struggles with capitalization and punctuation. Using graph paper may help with her handwriting. Thanks! 

 

If it's a charter school or virtual school run through the ps system, do they have a process for you to request evals and an IEP?  It sounds like it's time.  

 

She's young enough, she might still be willing to do Times Tales or one of the story/image-driven fact memory programs.  

 

Does her math have any spiral?  Spiral helped my dd.  Actually, using a calculator helped my dd.  Scratch your head on that one, lol.  

 

Ronit Bird has a new ebook for times tables, btw.  http://www.ronitbird.com/ebooks/  LOVE the RonitBird stuff.

 

The charter/virtual school uses Math in Focus. It's a Singapore method. I'm not sure that I would call it spiral, but it does do a quick review each day that covers past concepts. I'll check out the link. Thank you! :)

 

We use charts & occasionally a calculator. You just have to help them figure out ways around the block. Both my kids use the clock to add & subtract spatially, a calendar, a number line, skip counting charts, manipulatives, etc. whatever will work. We also use the partial quotients method a lot for division problems to work backwards and make the numbers smaller to divide (and multiply in multi-digit multiplication - we pull those numbers apart into calculations that are easy to do).

 

In the initial example 92/3, ds would look at how many times 3 fits into 92. Too many to reasonably count, but more than 10 times, so he would take out 30 three times, and get an answer of 30 with a remainder of 2. It is just a different method around the memorization block.

 

In the math example (of mine) that you're explaining here... dd would have trouble even remembering that 30x3 would be 90. It would be a long process. She can follow the steps and get to the answer for a problem like 30x3, but she would have to follow the steps EVERY time she saw that problem again. It wouldn't be something that she could easily recognize "hey, 3x3 is 9...so 30x3 must be a 9 with a zero at the end" or any sort of logical leap like that. She WOULD be able to write 30

                                                                             x  3 in that format ^^^ and then work the problem eachand every time it's presented and come to the correct answer. Even if the numbers are written like this : 30 x 3 =... she would have to rewrite the problem in the format above to work the problem. In addition, she wouldn't automatically recall what 3x3 is. She would have to count by 3s to get to the correct answer. For higher numbers, 8x9 for example, she would most likely try to use skip counting. And by "skip counting" I mean that she would say "8, (counting 8 more on her fingers) 15...I mean 16, (tries to add 8 more on in her head) 24, 31 (mistakenly)...." because she's having to add numbers in her head to skip count it's easy for her to make mistakes. This is obviously frustrating for her, so I typically help her skip count by helping her "keep her place" while counting so that she can remember which number she came from. I'm sure it's exhausting! ETA: The format I'm talking about for multiplication problems is having the numbers written vertically one over the top of the other.

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...

 

I guess I'm just at a loss as to what to do. I don't know how to help her. For example, we had a math lesson this past week that asked dd to divide. I can't remember the exact number, but it was something along the lines of 92/3. DD had absolutely NO clue what to do. She tried counting by 3s, but she wasn't accurate at counting by 3s. She tried multiplying, but her multiplication facts aren't memorized completely so the answer was incorrect if she tried using multiplication.

 

...

 

 

Actually, I'd say it is wonderful that she had more than one strategy to try. And they were good strategies even if she got the answer wrong. Good for her! 

 

What if she had 92 pennies and sorted them into 3 piles evenly? (or tried to do it evenly, since 2 would be left over)  Personally, I'd start with a very concrete way of doing it like this.

 

Does she understand (can you help her understand) ? that in such a problem she is dividing 90 by 3 and then 2 by 3?  Or perhaps teach her early how to break such a problem down into its prime factors?  As well as teaching her the divisibility rules so that she knows whether to expect an even number answer vs. and answer with a fraction or a remainder?  Often dyslexic children can use conceptual understanding to help get around memorization hurdles.

 

You might also try something like having her learn partial quotient division.

 

Are her materials governed by the virtual school? Or can you find a program that seems to suit her well?

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I'm not sure if she HAS to memorize them right now? I guess that's part of the answer that I'm seeking. 

 

 

If she does not have to memorize right now for your program, let her work for a while with charts or calculator and see how she does. Or perhaps try an abacus.

 

Also, you might consider calling her a 3rd grader to have some more time to work on skills so they do not pile up and pile up with her getting more and more lost.

 

You might also have her look at Khan Academy videos and see if someone else's explanations could be of help to her--including for the example you gave, his explanation of partial quotient division.

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In the initial example 92/3, ds would look at how many times 3 fits into 92. Too many to reasonably count, but more than 10 times, so he would take out 30 three times, and get an answer of 30 with a remainder of 2. It is just a different method around the memorization block.

 

Just wanted to say that my DD also cannot do this.   She cannot do math in her head where she is estimating and doing related calculations to figure it out.    In this type of problem she would do the standard division  3)92 type calculation on paper.      I think this is related to working memory issues - one, she cannot hold all the numbers in her head while she manipulates them, and two, she cannot hold all the possibilities of what type of calculation she could be doing to figure it out.   

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Your dd sounds a lot like mine at that age. She used a multiplication chart for a long time, and then switched to one of these multiplications boards: http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/201173563154?lpid=82 which was great. After two years, I finally bought the Times Tales DVD and after watching it once, she had her facts down. It was crazy after all that time working at it. It doesn't work for everyone, but they have a good size sample of it on you tube, and you could show your dd that, and see if those facts click with her after watching it. I knew my dd had a great narrative memory, and this plays to that strength. Otherwise, just keep going with a table, and don't let her get too frustrated about the facts themselves. It's more important that she understand the concepts.

 

See, and that didn't work for us long term at all, lol. Dyslexics are so varied, even among the same diagnosis with different strengths and weaknesses. Ds just derives by concepts over and over again, but narrative is not necessarily his strength - analysis & logic are.

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What if she had 92 pennies and sorted them into 3 piles evenly? (or tried to do it evenly, since 2 would be left over)  Personally, I'd start with a very concrete way of doing it like this.

 

 

 

Or thinking about it more, even better probably would be to use 9 dimes and 2 pennies, so as to represent 10s and units. And also they'd be easier to work with and count.

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Wow, this brings me back. I liked Times Tales and bought everything,still didn't work the miracles it seems to in other families. It helped, a little. My friends loved it though.

We did a times tales review , and sometimes an additon/ subtraction review for 10 minutes before starting the lesson. Spiral worked well for us. My high school daughter finally knows her facts. We had a chart available in third, fourth and fifth, and worked on only multiplication for three years in math without memorization of the facts.

Finally we switched to Rod and staff math which is just old fashioned spiral in combination with some Math U See.. A few detours later(why didn't I learn?) and she is thriving in Saxon Alg 2. She matured and although is dyslexic ,she said she had to learn the facts because it started getting to be too much work to redo missed problems, For the younger kids with similar abilities , we review facts first. They still miss problems because of the forgotten facts, but all missed problems are done on the whiteboard with me. I can give clues to the Times Tales story or get out the manipulatives. I'm not sure how tha would work with a charter. I suspect I would have to be super involved with the homework and researching what wasn't understood b my kids. Hugs...this is another hard road, but it's so worth it,

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