Math Problems: Does It Matter If It’s Identified As A Math Disability? [Premium]

Math Problems: Does It Matter If It’s Identified As A Math Disability? [Premium]

There are millions of school children struggling with math at school. Does it matter if a student’s math struggles are identified formally as a math disability or dyscalculia? 40% of dyslexic people are likely to also have dyscalculia, but because dyscalculia is rarely assessed in schools, few individuals ever receive that designation. Does it matter? In the short term, some school professionals might say it does not matter much – because students who need help in math will get it if their scores qualify. What do we believe? Having a math LD formally identified can be helpful – although we realize that testing may not always be easily available. If you are a testing professional, consider adding the WIAT Math subtests to routine comprehensive battery […]

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Dyslexia and Math: Knowing Why [Premium]

Dyslexia and Math: Knowing Why [Premium]

It’s been estimated that almost half of dyslexic individuals will also be dyscalculic (Wilson et al., 2014), but dyscalculia is less likely to be assessed or formally identified in school, leaving students to flounder on their own.   WHY IS DYSLEXIA COMMONLY ASSOCIATED WITH MATH LD? Experts still debate why there is such significant overlap, but at least one recent study found that spatial difficulties were especially associated with students with dyscalculia or those with both dyslexia and dyscalculia. Besides spatial factors, difficulties in sequencing, trouble with symbols, working memory overload, and rote math fact retrieval are all difficulties commonly seen among dyslexic students and those with dyscalculia. What is not particularly common among dyslexic students is difficulty with math reasoning – in fact for […]

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Managing Too Much Information in Math with Card Sorts and Categories [Premium]

Managing Too Much Information in Math with Card Sorts and Categories [Premium]

Too often math classes start off with a lot of math problem-solving that can result in students in getting lost. Sometimes the problem is that math explanations overload working memory; other times, students struggle because they can’t listen for understanding at the same time they are trying to take notes, leaving them to figure out what was being taught in math after they get home.   THE SEA OF MATH PROBLEMS Often students may find themselves in a sea of math problems. They may have followed the reasoning when concepts were first introduced, but quickly find themselves drowning in dozens and dozens of problems that confuse them in terms of the different ways they are solved.   CARD SORTS FOR MATH EXAMPLES AND NEW VOCABULARY […]

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How to Not Go Crazy from Fractions and Decimals [Premium]

How to Not Go Crazy from Fractions and Decimals [Premium]

Fractions and decimals can drive a lot of us crazy. After learning “big” or “long numbers” are larger, suddenly fractions and decimals come along to flip these assumptions upside-down. For dyslexic students, care must be taken at the first step of understanding the equivalences among the different representations of fractions and decimals before moving onto calculations.   WHY STUDENTS MAY STRUGGLE WITH FRACTIONS AND DECIMALS Creative Maths has a nice summary of why decimals are so difficult. An excerpt: “Without zero, 2001 and 201 and 21 would all look the same! From early on we recognize that longer numbers represent larger quantities. We know that a salary with lots of zeroes is better than one with only a few. $1000000 is more than $200 even […]

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Math Strategies Instead of Drill [Premium]

Math Strategies Instead of Drill [Premium]

In the many years Brock and I spent testing and listening to dyslexic students at every level of education, we often heard first hand accounts of how they learned how to tackle difficult subjects and bypass school-related challenges. As research studies bear out (for instance, see Kirby’s study of dyslexic university students), many dyslexic students in higher education have arrived at where they are because they are deep learners, savvy about how they learn best, and strategic in how they approach school.   Brain-Based Reasons Why Math Strategies Are Better for Dyslexics Than Drill But there is also neurobiological evidence that supports why strategies may be a superior route for dyslexic learning compared to drill or simple repetition. By now, anyone who knows about brain […]

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Understanding Conceptual vs. Procedural Knowledge in Math [Premium]

Understanding Conceptual vs. Procedural Knowledge in Math [Premium]

With math scores lagging tremendously due to pandemic-related school, many of us may suddenly find ourselves responsible for supervising (if not tutoring) math.   If that’s the case, it’s important to keep in mind the big picture of math learning. Of course the issue of conceptual and procedural learning apply to all subjects, not just math, but it especially becomes relevant when problem solving can become complex; symbols and abstractions must be used, and multiple steps for problem solving are necessary. There’s an especially nice description of the differences between conceptual and procedural knowledge in math from Ruthie Sloan’s Teach Math Literacy blog. Many of us learned math only through procedural learning. We didn’t learn “why” we did certain steps like “flip upside-down and multiply,” […]

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White Noise Improves Reading Skills and Memory in Reading Disabilities [Premium]

White Noise Improves Reading Skills and Memory in Reading Disabilities [Premium]

Some of you may remember research in the past that showed that individuals with dyslexia have more difficulty screening out background noise (discussed in the news HERE). Students or adults with this difficulty can usually request quiet area for work or test-taking under the ADA or Americans for Disabilities Act.   Now another research group has tested the effect of “white noise” on reading skills and memory recall in children with a reading disability.   From the paper: “The study was conducted with a group of 30 children with RD and phonological decoding difficulties and two comparison groups: one consisting of skilled readers (n = 22) and another of children with mild orthographic reading problems and age adequate phonological decoding (n = 30). White noise […]

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Answer Apps and the Benefits of Learning in Reverse [Premium]

Answer Apps and the Benefits of Learning in Reverse [Premium]

Conventional lecture courses for subjects with problem sets can be inefficient.   For dyslexic students if the information comes in too quickly, they can’t follow steps as a teacher works through problems in real time. A recurring scenario for many students (and not just the dyslexic ones) is that to truly understand, the students must work through the material themselves at home. The lucky ones have a parent, sibling, or someone else to be a tutor, while others may struggle looking at incomplete notes with only a hazy idea of what teachers did to arrive at their answers. Having teachers notes or having a flipped classroom (watch a video first, then see the problems worked by a teacher) can improve this situation, but inevitably there […]

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