[SENco-forum] Maths

A wonderfully clear explanation.  

But why are schools required, in the decimal era, to teach the 11 and 12
times tables?  

I regularly calculate sums using fives and tens and occasionally use sums
from other tables, but I can't remember when I last used the 12 let alone
the 11 times tables.

Colin

SEN Marketing.

-----Original Message-----
From: senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk
[mailto:senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk] On Behalf Of
SEN at tringham.net
Sent: 24 September 2007 09:38
To: Becta Senco
Subject: RE: [SENco-forum] Maths - but not as we know it

Dyscalculia is the inability to see/feel number.  Apparently babies can
differentiate between random or clustered dots in small numbers whereas
those with dys can't. There is no difference in 'odd' or 'even' for them and
if coupled with left/right, up/down or bigger/smaller, sequencing issues
whether  abc or 123, or chuck in the dyslexic favourite the reversal of 2/5
or 9/P and you have real problems.

 Estimating is another skill that is usually missing and has to be
explicitly taught.  Just as some cannot see if a spelling is right or wrong,
others cannot see if an answer is not only right/wrong but even in the right
ball park. How can you guess how many dots when 5 6 7 8 9 dots all look the
same and even if you think there is less than 10 which one is less than 7
when you cannot work up or down.

 Which number is bigger    2 or 5 ?   Neither they are both the same size
(ARIAL 12) and that is how some children see number.  Using 'more than'
won't help either without lots of input.

Even on a good day most of the pupils I have seen (with likely dyslexia or
STM problems) break down at 'f' in the alphabet in line with the seven items
a brain should be able to hold momentarily before 'dropping' one (or more) -
so counting to 10 is not bad. The worse the auditory or visual memory the
worse the problem. With dyscalculia who knows - jury still out on what it is
& what causes it.

On the positive side I made some dot pattern pairs (some free work sheets
are on the internet), worked with dice and dominoes to try and anchor the
name to the number and give it some sort of feel.  We played estimating
games. All these lower level skills that I had assumed had been learned or
acquired automatically were missing even though the student was Y6.

For him we were trying to complete a multiplication square. He put in the
known ones (0 1 2 3 -with difficulty- 5 10 11) then we reversed facts to
complete 8x 2 as well as 2 x8. This left a messy block of 6,7,8,9 that we
used finger manipulation for i.e. 9 times, but also 6,7 + 8's)  Confidence
growing we moved onto 12's.  We learned 5x 12= 60 and 10x12 =120 then looked
at the start point of 1x12 =12and that the units were alternate (not even)
2 4 6 8 and the tens were sequential 1234 until the learned 5x12=60 before
starting again 72,84 96 108 to 120.  That left 2 to learn by memory or
finger counting on.

It is important to make sure the early skills are in place as bright
children with problems will come unstuck - just further down the line.
Currently wrestling with decimal place - all that going left or going right,
and I am not looking forward to fractions!

As for the boy who can only count from 1 it is probably because he as always
had numbers counted to him starting from one.   Counting on (or back) is
really hard for those with dyscalculia.  Play games help them not to count
the square they are standing on as '1', but to move to the next square and
count from there.  We saw my daughter demonstrate this inability to count on
as a small child, but we never thought it would cause any problems, just
that she was a bit 'dappy'.  When faced with a number line that should have
helped her she did the same thing and thus couldn't count on.  For someone
with a 135 IQ you would think the problem was not insurmountable, but
dyscalculia is no respecter of brain power!

Even eventually overcoming this she could transfer new info elsewhere   so
although 5+6 =11 it was no help to her when trying to work out 15 +6 !
mental math just caused a mental breakdown.  The teacher said  17 + 9 and
she heard  'La la la   blerp doop' thus demonstrating nicely the APD aspects
that she also has.  It was probably more frustrating than the aspects of
visual based dyslexia that we wrestling with another daughter in that there
were no teachers clued into the math angle.  They could not fix what they
could not see.  On recently has there been lots of info on math being
affected by APD and or dyslexia or the newer dyscalculia ( and yes it is
possible to have either, both or all three!)

Good news is that she has just scrapped a C at GCSE, but for those without
the high IQ for extra support the outlook is grim unless the right
strategies are in place.  There are a couple of good books out there on
dyscalculia (full of strategies) and like APD/dyslexia strategies they
usually  work for those with GLD as well (they just get it quicker!)   Try
these:

Butterworth,B & Yeo, D (2004) Dyscalculia Guidance -helping pupils with
specific learning difficulties in math LONDON:NferNelson Publishing Company
Limited

Butterworth B, (2004b) Everybody Counts but not everyone understands numbers
Extracted from the annual Joint British Academy/British Psychological
Society lecture 16 November 2004 [online]
http://www.britac.ac.uk/pubs/review/_pdfs/09/06-butterworth.pdf.

DfES (1997-2007)  Mathematics, Dyslexia and Dyscalculia: Frequently Asked
Questions
Q2: How do I recognise a child who has dyscalculia? What are the symptoms
and how does this differ from dyslexia with numbers? [online]
http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/primary/faqs/inclusion/56233/#56734

Sharon Tringham

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