Sharing Good Practice
SUPPORTING STUDENTS WHO HAVE
PROBLEMS LEARNING MATHEMATICS
BY DEBBIE HAMILTON BOGUES
2. Start with the concrete concepts
first, regardless of the age, grade or
year, use tangibles. Instead of writing
the number (1+1 =2) or (7+4), use
objects familiar to the student. For
example, to represent (2 + 2 = 4) give
him/her two stars and two more, and
then ask the student to tell you how
many stars s/he has.
I
recently supported a Maths class,
during which I watched in anguish as
the teacher painstakingly explained
the concept over and over again
and in the end there was a small
number of students who struggled
despite their efforts to understand the
Mathematical concept being taught.
The teacher taught from the board
initially, gave those who had grasped
the concept fairly quickly, several
similar problems to complete, She then
joined a small group of students who
failed to understand, not as a result
of a lack of effort on their part, but
they just could not grasp the concept.
These students might be struggling as
a result of Dyscalculia and need more
targeted interventions.
Dyscalculia is a Maths learning
difficulty. Dyscalculia impairs an
individual’s ability to understand basic
Maths concepts.
Some of the characteristics are:
• Using fingers to count out math
solutions, long after peers have
stopped using this method
• Trouble recalling basic math facts
• Difficulty linking numbers and
symbols to amounts and directions
• Difficulty making sense of money;
counting or making change
• Difficulty immediately sorting out
right from left
• Trouble with recognising patterns
and sequencing numbers, estimate
things, like how long something
takes or the ceiling height
• Inability to Understand Maths word
problems
• Unable to learn basic Maths, like
addition, subtraction, division and
multiplication
• Unable to link a number (1) to its
corresponding word (one)
3. If space is available, set up a store
with the name and cost of items
with a seller and buyers. Give the
students a practical experience of
handling money; using all four basic
mathematical operations. (+, -, ÷, ×)
you could also include some problems
with (€,£,$,AED, %)
4. Use manipulatives: play money,
stoppers, stones, marbles, cards,
counters etc.
5. Use multiplication and division
tables
understanding 6. Highlight key words and numbers in
word problems
• Difficulties in understanding graphs
and charts (visual-spatial concepts) 7. When Mathematical problems have
more than two steps, number each;
step 1, step 2 and step 3.
• Difficulties
fractions
in
• Not able to tell time or read the
analogue clocks
23 Step 1 – 3x3=9
Things to do in your classroom to
support pupils with Dyscalculia:
X3 Step 2 – 3x2=6
69 Answer = 69
1. Teach different words and phrases
for the different operations:
Add (+): plus, sum, both together,
increased by, total, all together, in all
combine etc.
Subtract (-): minus, take away, fewer
than, difference, decreased by, deduct
etc.
Divide (÷): share, part, quotient, how
many times goes into etc.
Multiply (x): times, sets of, product,
multiply by etc.
+
8. When introducing basic algebra;
2a + b = a + 4b, initially substitute the
letters for objects. Students generally
find the concept of working with
letters in mathematics very difficult.
Therefore, try (2apples + (1)banana =
(1)apple + 4bananas), this will help the
student to make groups according
to the same objects or families,
depending on which word you choose
to use to convey the concept.
2apples + (1)banana = (1)apple + 4bananas
Problem
(2apples + (1)apple = (1)banana + 4bananas Step 1
3apples = 5 bananas Step 2 Answer
Debbie is an experienced international educator, who has spent almost 30 years
in education in the Caribbean, USA, UK and the Middle East. She has a passion
for students with special education needs.
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Jan - Feb 2019
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