Dyscalculia?

[littleWMN]

How do I know if dd10 has it and what can be done about if? She's always struggled in math. This year we got a tutor and she's suggested it could be dyscalculia. So I looked it up and it pretty much fits her to a tee. I have gotten The Dyscalculia Toolkit but I haven't started it. I'm feeling so overwhelmed because I know if we spend so much time in math, we will never get anything else done.

 

Anyone have any btdt advice?

[Love_to_Read]

(((((hugs)))))

 

It's hard to figure out how much time to spend on remediating a learning disability. Our experience is more in writing than math (dysgraphia), so I can't speak to having btdt, but I can tell you our overall strategy:

 

1. Keep doing her favorite subjects.

2. Try to work on the worst subject daily--make sure it's not getting avoided.

3. Keep the lessons short. Even if that means spreading it over more than one day.

4. Keep at it. We work on it as many days out of the year as we can. It's going to take more than 180 days.

5. Use tools to make it more accessible.

 

The long version of the 5 things above--

 

1. It's important to me that our dd still love learning. If we end up taking too long on the hard stuff, I'd rather cut short a medium-favorite topic than her very favorite. She needs something to be good at, kwim?

 

2. Try doing the worst subject first instead of last. Or at least keep an eye on the clock. If you're both dreading it...keep posting for tips like this thread and/or try new approaches. Sometimes, when you know that you've done everything in your power to make it understandable and break it down into small steps, you just have to present a confident attitude and be firm about having her try it for a week or so to get used to it. I say that only when using something like the toolkit you mention, something that is designed for this, that really isn't too hard...remember that she's used to regular approaches as being near imposssible, so be kind, but firm that this one is going to work so it WILL be done until you both get a feel for how it works in practice.

 

3. We try to know when to call it quits for the day. If we can manage a good attitude for a few minutes, or some serious hard work through half the lesson, that's more beneficial than having it turn sour. Frequency seems to be more important than trying to do a large quantity all at once. You *might* even be able to do two small chunks in a day with a break, as long as she doesn't revolt.

 

4. We school on Saturdays. This summer, we've taken a much longer break than anticipated due to vacation and such, but ideally we'd be doing a little bit of dd's worst subject in the morning or evening, or in front of the a/c during the hot part of the day. Slow and steady wins the race. If you slow down the pace without adding any additional days, the gap will get bigger between what she's doing and what her peers are doing. Your goal is to give her a solid foundation to catch up...not all the time every day, but a little of the time most days. Again, you'll have to see how that goes in terms of both of you feeling like it's too much. But don't take off an entire summer--even average kids lose up to 2 months, leading public school teachers to spend all of Sept. and Oct. on review (or Aug.&Sept. in the early states). If you go year round, that's 2 months further ahead you'll be toward catching up.

 

5. I've got to look up that toolkit. I'm so glad to hear there's something specific for dyscalculia. You're on the right track looking for something geared toward fighting this instead of struggling with things that aren't as effective. So, that's one tool--good curriculum.

 

Other tools---In our case, since the issue is writing, we do a lot of other assignments orally. I let her dictate to me for many of the things she does have to write. I'm teaching her to type, use spell check, etc., and give her extra space, any thing I can think of to lessen the burden of writing overall, so that she's not struggling every single assignment in every subject. Math isn't quite as pervasive, but you can still provide some tools like a calculator or times tables for assignments that aren't about memorizing facts. For example, if she has to do a math problem for social studies about reading a graph...let her use a calculator for history. If the math lesson is about the perimeter of triangles...focus on the concept, and use a calculator. Use manipulatives. Provide both a digital clock and an analog and don't make her whole day depend on reading them, just a little practice. Anything you can think of that is causing excessive frustration and effort, provide tools when you can...to free up the mental and emotional energy to carry on with learning the parts you are focusing on.

[littleWMN]

Thank you so much!

 

I am just now seeing this reply. I was coming back to post something and forgot I already had (gee, where where her ADHD comes from? :tongue_smilie:).

 

You have great ideas. I've been wondering if we should drop everything and just do math, but you just confirmed that we shouldn't. She's very birght, reading on a high school level. She's going into 5th grade and we're still struggling in 3rd grade math. We've schooled for math through the summer, but not really anything else. I think she may be glad when we add back in other things. :)

[KungFuPanda]

I am absolutely convinced that my husband and daughter have some SERIOUS discalculiac (is that a word) traits. You do NOT want to know how difficult math facts STILL are for my teen daughter. Her younger brother with learning delays outshines her in multiplication. DH also had a terrible time learning tables. BOTH of them occasionally flip numbers.

 

The funny part is that DH is a mathematician, and a gifted one at that. He stinks at arithmetic, but managed to gravitate towards topology where, apparently, the numbers aren't THAT important. He's managed to make a comfortable living in his field.

 

My daughter seems better at the harder problem solving stuff than the seemingly easier "just memorize the table already" stuff. It took her foever to learn to tell time and she is uncomfortable with maps. With CONSTANT reinforcement she has a working familiarity with the times tables, but on any given day I wouldn't bet my life on her OR Dh telling me what 8 X 7 is in 3 second or less. :glare: