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OK, a new question ~ Numicon (math)?


debbiec
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It's a British program, but sold here in the states. It reminds me very much of Montessori/MUS being very manipulative heavy for concepts. Kind of pricey. I have read about this program before because the Down Syndrome Education Trust (British DS Research Group) highly reccomends it, but I have never heard of it before until I read it on their site. It's sold for all educational settings, home, special needs and regular schools, but I have never seen it or heard of anyone using it. Not even in the DS circles here in the states. I just want to be leary of anything that looks too slick and you are paying more for slick manipulatives than anything else. I'm really interested if there is any kind of lesson plans in the TE.

 

Anyone investigated this program or seen it in use?

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My son has Down Syndrome and we were part of a pilot program for 4-5 year olds with DS. The focus was early literacy and math. Numicon was the math portion. We have the At Home Kit and we use it occasionally for matching, patterns, etc. I can't comment on the older programs but I had no TM, just cards with activities on them. I wasn't wowed by the program but I also did not commit myself to fully implementing it because there were aspects I didn't care for. I was a little concerned about connecting number concepts to colors. The way the tiles are shaped didn't seem to have a solid mathematical reasoning behind them (seemed a little random). I like the early RightStart Math concepts better. I know I've come across pretty negative sounding and I didn't want to do that. It's just that this program didn't click with us for some reason. There is a Numicon forum at their website where you can see reviews and other people's posts, which you may find helpful. I used the program through DSAOC (Down Syndrome Association of Orange County) and they may also have more helpful information.

 

By the way, I saw your post about SWR and Reading Reflex. I picked up RR a while ago at the library and have been reading through it as well. So far I like what I see. I think it is going to be a better approach for my son than SWR, which I have used with my dd8 for about 3 years. The difference may be, however, that your son is already reading and mine isn't. He is on the brink of being able to blend words and just can't quite do it yet. I can tell you more about SWR if you need more info.

 

Carolyn

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You may know a woman named Roxanne that moved here from LA and who was president of the LA area DS assoc. Don't know what county though.

 

Well, I don't mind negative and you are right, associating numbers with colors would turn me off too. I was just wondering if it is worth all the hooplah that the DS Educational Trust put on it. As you probably know, math is our very worse area. I feel like we have made no gains in 6 years in this area, and any gains are so easily lost, though he can remember the strangest things from a movie or book 5 years later.

 

What have you liked for math? I haven't actually looked at RightStart in person, but I was pretty settled with it since it is very similar to Montessori and I think that would work well for him.

 

Reading ~ As much as I hate it, we got him started reading with sight words while being exposed to phonics. He's almost 12, and his reading has really picked up in his later elementary years. I can't decide if it was just maturity and things finally sinking in or what. Probably both.

 

Well thanks for the review and tell me what you are doing with math ~ that one I'm almost in depair about. I have the book Teaching Math to Persons with DS and other Special Learners. I have to admit, I haven't used it much.

 

Have a nice night ~ Debbie

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  • 1 year later...
Guest lawafriend

I am a special education teacher and I ran across your posts about Numicon through a google search on Numicon Math. I have a classroom of 5 kindergarten through 2nd graders and in the past couple of years I've had 2-3 children with Down Syndrome in my class. I have considered writing a grant through my local DS Society to try the Numicon program in my classroom. It sounds, however, like a couple of you were less than impressed. Are there any math programs you have tried that have really worked for your children? I work individually with my students so materials geared toward individual or small group instruction work best for my class. I have had a hard time finding appropriate math programming for my students and am looking for suggestions. Thanks!

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