Asperger's and Long Division

[scrapbookbuzz]

My dd12, who has Asperger's Syndrome, has always struggled with long division. Every other math concept, except times tables, she "got" very quickly. We've worked and worked and worked on times tables to the point where she's pretty confident with mutiplying now. But the long division is still a challenge.

 

Tomorrow we're going to forego "formal" math and work with manipulatives to see if that will help her.

 

Just wondering if this is an Aspie thing or just a random "(my child) struggles with it, too". Any thoughts? Thanks!

[ElizabethB]

:grouphug:

 

It took my daughter many, many explanations and examples. And, she finds short division easier than long division.

 

I read all the long division and short division threads and keep repeating and showing, eventually she got it.

 

Here is a good thread:

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=219950

[scrapbookbuzz]

Thanks! I'll look into that! We have a field trip this morning but this afternoon, other than our Scripture readings about Passion Week and other parts of integrated Roman history, we may just forego "what's on the schedule" and work on hands-on math. :)

[huntchaos]

My aspie just gets so flustered and anxious about long division. He struggles with math in general but, this has been his greatest struggle of all! I will be checking out that link as well.

[Misty]

Yes, my oldest Aspie daughter struggles with this.. She does fine with simple math, but could not remember her math facts to save her life and struggles with long division and everything after that. We are dragging through 7th grade math still and she is supposed to start pre-algebra this summer.. But we are having to back up AGAIN and redo some stuff.. This is definitely an Aspie thing, though my 10yr old Aspie does fine in math (so far)..

[ElizabethB]

Also, besides regular manipulatives, I divided things up long-division style with dollars, dimes, and pennies, maybe ten dollar bills too, I've forgotten. (Or maybe blocked the whole painful thing out of my memory. :lol::lol::lol:)

 

Somehow, money makes everything clearer!

 

(Money also works wonders for making a light go on for fractions, decimals, and percents.)

[MamaSheep]

Strangely, my Aspie loves long division and picked it right up. I say strangely, because the boy has S-T-R-U-G-G-G-G-L-E-D with his multiplication facts. He could do long division for a couple of years before he could remember many of his multiplication facts. It was the weirdest thing. You could ask him how many 7s there were in 65 (or whatever) and he could tell you right away, but ask him what 6 times 7 was and he'd get the deer in the headlights thing going every time. He's finally gotten his facts down pretty well this year (with a few stubborn exceptions). But he still cheers when he "gets" to do long division.

[AngieW in Texas]

My girls (18yo -ADD and Aspie, 15yo - Aspie, 12yo - dyslexic) found short division a lot easier than long division. There were fewer steps and less to write down and it didn't rely on having neatly lined up columns of numbers. My middle dd refused to turn her paper sideways (for columns) because that wasn't the "right" way to write on the paper. None of my girls liked using graph paper because all the lines were distracting.

[sparrow]

Strangely, my Aspie loves long division and picked it right up. I say strangely, because the boy has S-T-R-U-G-G-G-G-L-E-D with his multiplication facts. He could do long division for a couple of years before he could remember many of his multiplication facts. It was the weirdest thing. You could ask him how many 7s there were in 65 (or whatever) and he could tell you right away, but ask him what 6 times 7 was and he'd get the deer in the headlights thing going every time. He's finally gotten his facts down pretty well this year (with a few stubborn exceptions). But he still cheers when he "gets" to do long division.

 

:svengo: My son does the same thing!!! Isn't it strange? I mean, it took us *forever* to get to division because we spent so much time going over and over and over and over multiplication facts. I finally just decided to move on and was floored when he pretty much got division. Um, how do you do that?:001_huh:

 

Wow, I'm so glad you posted. I'd never heard of such a thing.

 

For the OP, for some reason, this particular long division song stuck with my son more than others:

 

 

 

Even though he looked at me like I was crazy when I played it form him:glare:.