Help Desk

Help Desk Winter ‘09 – Making Math Fun

question_marks Welcome to the Kids Enabled Help Desk – where readers go to ask questions about what is important to them. The 2007 fall issue gave the first opportunity for you to ask and be answered. The following is the question that was chosen and a synopsis of the answers from our panel of experts.

The Kids Enabled Help Desk is a regular feature. Please send us your questions to info@kidsenabled.com and the reader whose question is published will receive a $25 gift certificate.

For kids with learning differences, the summer can mean regression in some hard-earned academic or social skills. Our Kids Enabled experts share strategies for keeping skills sharp!

Question:

My daughter’s dislikes math to the point where it makes her anxious. She seems to be intimidated by it. Is there anything I can do to make it more enjoyable and less stressful?
- Vivienne Weintraub, Vinings, GA

Answers:

Amy Sherman During a time when she is not feeling anxious about math, encourage her to share her feelings about why it seems to intimidate her. What are the specifics of her struggle? Is it memorization, like basic math tables? Is it word problems? Is it putting one math rule with another? Reward her for sharing and encourage her by letting her know that there are many resources that can help. Math tutors or specialized afterschool programs can be helpful. For at-home help, set some math rules to a pop-song or a fun and silly rhyme. To help with memorization, make up associations or pictures that represent the task she is learning. If she is a good memorizer and can visualize, give her associations or pictures that represent the task she is learning. Review often so she gains confidence, and point out that what was once a weakness is now becoming a strength!

- Amy B. Sherman, M.A., CCC-SLP, KE Editorial Advisory Board Member

Shahnoor Dharamsi Use sensory motor approaches to teach the concepts in math. For example, when working on fractions, use an actual pie to visualize the concepts that you are discussing. Show her that she does understand the concepts by simplifying them and work on each concept individually before combining them together.

- Shahnoor Dharamsi, M.S., OTR/L, KE Editorial Advisory Board Board Member

Danielle Moore Remind your daughter that everyone has strengths and weakness, and highlight those skills that do come easy for her. Remind her that she had to practice to hone the skills she now knows well and that it may be the same situation with math. If you feel she needs outside help, then encourage her in the fact that many people seek help for those skills that don’t come easy to them.

- Danielle Moore, M.S. Ed., CCC-SLP, The Language Group, KE Editorial Advisory Board Member

Penny Hays Math anxiety can be sometimes related to a lack of confidence. It might be helpful to go back to an easier level in math and do math drill exercises to increase her confidence before introducing extra drill practice in the current topic being covered in school. It might also be helpful for her to become a peer tutor to younger students in math.

- Penny Hays, Ph.D., KE Editorial Advisory Board Member

Many of our students complain about stress involving timed math tests, so we allow each child to go at her own pace. Students will keep working on these facts until they have mastered them, without having to think before they answer. Learning all the math facts in an operation is work; however, success in math is partially dependent upon knowing facts. For home practice, programs such as card games, license plate games, domino games and computer games are useful.

Highlight the key words in an operation and focus on which key word describes the operation to be performed. Write out the problems on scrap paper, number the steps, and double-check what you’ve written. Write big and bold! Highlight addition, subtraction, multiplication and division signs. This allows a student to see a mistake, not confuse numbers, letters, or signs, and gives the brain room to think.

- Dr. Bonnie Cohen-Greenberg, Director of BCG Learning Center

Carol Ann Brannon Cooking and baking are great ways to get kids involved in math without their realizing it. Measuring cups and spoons are wonderful tools for teaching fractions. Grocery shopping provides lots of opportunities to do math. For example, if a box of cereal costs 3 for $5.00, then ask them, “How much is one box of cereal?” Another task is to set a spending limit – “I only have $50.00 to spend on groceries today” – and your child must keep track of costs as you shop. Have them estimate the total grocery bill, and if they are within a certain amount they “win” and get a prize or special privilege. Look for creative ways that you can incorporate math into everyday experiences. The kitchen and grocery store are great places to start.

- Carol Ann Brannon, M.S., RD, LD, KE Editorial Advisory Board Member

Laurie Smith Turn math practice into fun time. Card games are an easy way to practice addition, subtraction and multiplication. Look for Web sites that are geared toward helping with math. Be sure to rule out underlying learning issues such as dyslexia.

- Laurie Smith, KE Parent Representative

Beth McGaw Mastering math facts is an important part of easing frustrations, and repetition can help a student learn these skills. By using technology, my son and I found a simple free app on the iPhone (and his iTouch) that quizzes him on his times tables. He also uses a program suggested by his math teacher called www.freerice.com. For each right answer Free Rice will donate 10 grains of rice through the UN World Food Program to help end hunger. He enjoys doing it and the repetition is helpful, especially when he sees that he is getting better and better!