Maths issue

[FerbsMom]

Ds is very good at maths. His teacher says she has never known a child so good at doing maths calculations in his head. However, she said because of his poor english comprehension it will effect his overall maths scores at end of year. What can I do to help him become more balanced of catch up with comprehension of maths. He is good at reading/spelling it is understanding abstract information in his head and shifting it around to find out the answer.

[MerryBuddha]

I would practise old Sats papers, test papers etc
Also get your child to read out the questions loudly and/or you read the question out (while practising) as this really helps with their understanding!!

In fact children who listen to questions rather than read the, have a 20% higher success rate in getting the question correct.

[FerbsMom]

Thanks Merry will get old sats paper in Ester Hols and start slowly at lower levels.

[Worriedandlost]

FerbsMom, is it only math comprehension your DS struggles with? Is he ok with fiction books?

[FerbsMom]

Worried he isn't to bad now at english just scrapes average in comprehension and reading/spelling above average. Had a lot of work to get average. But english based Maths and science investigations he struggles with. I might get him a tutor once a week to help on this as not sure how to help him learn maths and science investigations?

[noblegiraffe]

What helps some children understand worded questions is to go through the question with a highlighter and highlight any numbers, or important words like total, equilateral etc that indicate what he needs to do, or how he might work out what is needed.

[FerbsMom]

thanks noble will try highlighter makes it more visual! He knows what the words mean which is a help. Anything to help break it down further for him.
But then his speed and mental process of normal maths is super fast. Find it all very odd?
Anyone else have this opposite issue with their child with maths?

[PiqueABoo]

How old is the child?

Y6 DD did have me complaining about her being a 'human calculator' and 'stupidly good' at mental arithmetic a few years ago i.e. I wasn't too happy with her continuing to do significant amounts of practise (as opposed learning some new tricks) at school.

I can't help with the other part: I wasn't at all sure what would happen, but she took to the wordier more abstract maths problems very well. Similarly with the Reading tests which involves a lot of comprehension.

The two are obviously linked and if you look at KS2 SATS L6 Reading only 0.4% passed that last year. The standard explanation for this very low pass rate is lack of maturity and experience i.e. they simply haven't lived long enough.

[FerbsMom]

Pique DS is YR5.

Teacher said DS would fail the 11+ next year due to poor abstract processing and ds being held back because of this (which I agree with) instead of moving up a year for the subject. But although he was far better than me at 6 yrs old at maths calculations he could fail because of comprehension side. This is sad as he absolutely loves maths (calculation side). He doesn't do maths a lot spends more time playing piano which again he has flare for and play by ear and reads. But without grasping comprehension side of maths/science etc he could end up a non starter although fairly bright. It's very frustrating and very worrying as he needs to pass to remain in the school he loves. I need to do something ASAP to ensure he catches up.

[PiqueABoo]

We have that piano+maths association too, although not much play by ear which is something that always impresses me.

But anyway, the only thing I can offer is that I think Y5 makes your concern quite reasonable i.e. you're not expecting far too much far too soon.

Not that in my limited experience all the Y5 'highers' here were immediately good at the more abstract maths. It took some of them quite a while to get to grips with it and the relative rankings did shift a little around Y4/Y5.

[FerbsMom]

Thanks for your help Pique. I spoke to teacher and she said comprehension english v good just needs to develop ideas for stories again I guess imagination and abstract issues going on there?

She reclarified abstract thinking and problem solving in maths and science. So I went to see a private after school class today. He is starting on Thursday yay! The HT said this was a common issue for more boys at a younger age I guess DS still stuck their and needs to catch up by a few years. He will be in a group of 2 so that is fab too!

Thanks for ideas and I will do the old Sats papers with a highlighter.