How can I help DD learn to do Maths?

[CatrinVennastin]

DD2 is 13 and in year 8. She was diagnosed with Dyslexia in year 5. She’s always struggled with maths. Throughout primary school I tried to help her learn her times tables but nothing sticks. The feedback was always “don’t worry she’s not that far behind”.

She’s come home today saying that she’s done an end of year test and her marks was 10 out of 65.

She’s upset as her teacher said she needs to work harder because if she can’t pass her GCSE maths she won’t be able to get a place at college. DD’s ambition is to study dance and to become a dance teacher. Now she feels this won’t be possible because of her maths.

She says that when she does a test she cannot remember the methods no matter how many times she revised these. She also said that her friend has been helping her in class as her teacher goes through the work so quickly.

She does get 25% extra time in tests but even with this she is still really struggling. Her dyslexia screening highlighted that her short term and working memory are both poor. I’ve noticed that she doesn’t grasp concepts like doubling numbers or that 3 x4 and 4 x3 are the same sum.

She does well in English and her teacher said her written work was excellent. Same with other subjects like History, Geography etc.

I am going to ask if I can meet with her form tutor and the Senco again but does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can help her. Thank you.

Can you afford a tutor? We had a similar situation with our daughter and she had a tutor. The one to one lessons made a huge difference. You mentioned dyslexia. Is there a possibility that she has dyscalculia as she has such a specific problem with maths? I would agree that speaking to the SENCO and form tutor would be a good idea. It sounds as if her maths teacher is somewhat unhelpful. Is your daughter in the wrong group, perhaps? Good luck.

Agree with @Violinist64 @CatrinVennastin it sounds like Dyscalculia which is different to Dsylexia and needs different support.

She’s upset as her teacher said she needs to work harder because if she can’t pass her GCSE

Well there’s a shit teacher - who have no idea how hard your daughter needs to work just to stand still.

First, get a set of Numicon, it’s very visual for adding dividing times, colum addition etc - look on the New Zealand website - don’t think of it for younger children it really helps.

And tell the senco the teacher don’t know what she’s talking about!!

I’ve had this with teachers and taken leaflets with information on about dyslexia because they have no training.

@Violinist64 I will definitely look into finding a tutor for September. I’ve spoken to my sister in law tonight as my nephew is studying engineering at uni and he’s offered to do some tutoring with DD over zoom.

I should have put Dyslexia/Dyscalculia in my OP as her report definitely says both.

They are not in sets at the moment but will be next year apparently.

@Threetulips thank you, will get some numicon. I want to try and help her over the summer so she’s ready for year 9.

I would suggest a tutor - but starting in the school holidays. To cover and reinforce this years teaching.
then for next year ideally the tutor works with school to pre teach the math content- pre teaching can be super super helpful.
Could she have dyscalcuia as well as dyslexia? It’s like math dyslexia.
kahn academy can also be good.
there is also a good computer program dybuster.com/en-gb/calcularis/

A quick and easy internet platform is called Seneca Learning. It's great for Maths - interactive and funny.
It's easy to sign up to, free, separated into key stages and there's no hard sell spam.
I use it to practise and keep up to date. Maths is one of those subjects I have to revisit, otherwise I forget it.

My DS has slower processing speed relative to his cognitive ability. He picked up maths concepts slower than his peers. I got a specialist tutor to boost his confidence. It was clear he wasn’t being taught in a way he needed in school. I have worked very closely with him to reinforce concepts and to practice. Maths is like a language - once you grasp it, you can apply the concepts. He’s now a year ahead. Your DD needs to be taught differently, and her her confidence boosted.

Hi OP -

I agree with others, speak to the SENCO. It sounds very similar to me at school, I excelled in other areas but Maths was always a struggle, no matter how much people tried to teach me I just didn’t “get it”. I loved English etc and was always good with my words and written exams. Just not Maths. I resat it at college and still couldn’t get the GCSE.

I’ve just been diagnosed with inattentive ADHD as an adult and I’ve read it can be fairly common to struggle with Maths.

Like others say it could possibly be dyscalculia or something too.

Although I never went to uni (my choice as I knew I wouldn’t get on with it) I’ve gone on to have a relatively successful career so far (by the grace of someone’s god). My lack of love for Maths hasn’t held me back!

Dyscalculia isn't really a thing in maths, what people think is dyscalculia is generally found to be some other SEN like poor working memory or slow processing speed and strategies to help with those, will help with maths. It can also be poor foundations from primary, e.g. insecure number bonds and times tables. If your DD has a poor working memory then this will make maths difficult if she is expected to hold numbers in her head to do calculations. To help with this, tricks like counting on her fingers to keep place in calculations, writing everything down instead of trying to keep anything in her head, and using things like printed number lines (instead of having to visualise one) can be useful.

Something else to consider is calculators. In her GCSEs, 2/3s of the marks will be from papers where she is allowed a calculator. Getting her used to using a calculator for every maths lesson instead of trying to work things out will free up working memory to concentrate on how to answer the question. They are trained in primary to see calculators as 'cheating' so this needs to be overcome. Obviously she won't be allowed her calculator for everything, but it will boost her confidence if she finds that she can do maths questions when she has one.

@noblegiraffe thats interesting, I was diagnosed with Dyscalculia at University specifically related to maths, my memory and recall was much higher than average, I could quote pages of text, sections and dates etc without any trouble this was 20 years ago though when Dyscalculia was at the early stages of research.

My maths scored extremely poorly which they explained as ‘missing connection’ relating to using different areas of the brain. I was (and can’t) unable to understand formulas for example.

I think in my teaching career I've taught hundreds of kids with difficulties with maths, and maybe only a couple with a diagnosis of dyscalculia that I assume were either obtained privately, or elsewhere. This is while I teach many children each year with a diagnosis of dyslexia.

There are organisations for dyscalculia, but it isn't really a specific, separate SEN that's diagnosed. Like I said, difficulties with maths usually can be attributed to other, diagnosed SEN, or poor foundations in maths stemming from poor teaching at primary level.

I don't think a diagnosis would unlock any specific support at school due to lack of recognition.

If you can afford it, I would try to find an experienced tutor. Becoming a dance teacher will require some maths skills but if a reasonable GCSE grade might be difficult, then there are Functional Skills and Entry Level qualifications that might be a good starting point.

You might want to look at MathAntics online. I've found their videos very good and they do start quite basic with number places. The benefit is that you can rewind them and watch again if you don't quite get it the first time.

My dyslexic dc had some success with google youtube videos on math concepts. He would find one and see if the explanation clicked, if not then onto the next video etcetc. He then found a set of videos that explained things in the way he could access them and it helped alot. It also helped his confidence as he realized it wasnt him being stupid (his words) it was that he didnt learn in the standard way.

I would also get a tutor over the summer when your dd has more free time to concentrate on the maths, ask them what experience they have on working with dc with different learning styles so there is a higher chance that they will find the right fit

One thing I have understood over the past 20 years since diagnosis is many teachers still don’t understand or recognise it.

Similar to Dyslexia in the + 80s where is was considered not a real issue and people were ‘thick’ the “I’m ko, not ok” jokes.

There are organisations who are working hard to break the myth.

Does this teacher know she has dyscalculia, because just telling her to work harder is pretty appalling, to be honest.

By the way, my dd trained at full time dance school aged 16+ and her classmate was dyslexic. There are ways and means to get into dance training, and being shit hot at maths isn't one of them.

National Numeracy Challenge have been offering free parental packs all week. They’re great.

Where I come from, dyscalculia is a recognised learning disability and students with dyscalculia are offered adjustments such as extra time, the use of a calculator at all times in class and during assessment, access to formula sheets for class work and assessment etc. I suggest Khan Academy to a lot of my students, it gives them a resource they can access from home so they can go back over the teaching of a concept over and over again.

One thing I have understood over the past 20 years since diagnosis is many teachers still don’t understand or recognise it.

Mate, don't blame teachers for it not being recognised as a distinct SEN, we don't do diagnoses.

The fact is that kids who are struggling with maths are picked up, assessed and diagnosed with various SEN but not dyscalculia. Take it up with the experts doing the diagnoses if you think they're getting it wrong.

Can you tell whether her problems are mainly arithmetic or grasping mathematical concepts?

If the issue is arithmetic, you could try things like killer sudoku daily, which comes in both addition games and add, multiply, divide and subtract games in newspapers, particularly at weekends. This might help her with number bonds, ie to make 17 by adding 2 numbers you need 8&9, to make 6 with two numbers it can be 1&5 or 2&4 but with two numbers it can only be 1,2&3, etc. Repetition as a game, really, but can lead to confidence.

If it's the maths concepts, things like a sand tray with cups, so that you can add the cups but also push them into the sand and remove them to show the concept of negative - the potential of a cup, but it isn't there. Multiplication with rows of cups/buttons etc showing that 6 is three rows of 2 or two rows of 3, etc. Division - make a 'pizza' (playdough is cheaper than real pizza) and divide it between different numbers of people. Put a string around it to get the circumference, measure the diameter, measure the radius, play with the numbers and see that pi (3.142) keeps appearing in the relationship between the radius/diameter and the circumference, etc. Play about with shapes - triangles making up a square or a rectangle, move to how the area of a square relates to a triangle made by cutting the square in half, and putting it back together. Sometimes knowing how rules 'look' is easier than learning them.

Sorry, typo three different numbers to make six are 1,2 & 3.

I’ve spoken to my sister in law tonight as my nephew is studying engineering at uni and he’s offered to do some tutoring with DD over zoom.

Whereas that is a kind offer, someone doing engineering is probably someone who has always found maths quite easy. They might not then necessarily have the skills to break things down into smaller steps, or re-explain things another way, or be aware of strategies that might have worked for other dc with similar difficulties in the same way that an experienced teacher or tutor might.

Mathletics is pretty good especially for rainy days.

You get at least one month's free trial if not more with a code.

Before you go ahead and get a tutor, make sure you work out what she actually needs. If she does have dyscalculia, that’s a very different kettle of fish to just not understanding a few formulas.
For example, today I was taking a maths intervention group where they had to find how much change they’d get from £1 after buying 2 items. But I had to strip it right back to basics as the children couldn’t add up two 2 digit numbers the subtract that answer from 100. If fundamental skills are poor, the impact on problem solving tasks further down the line are massive.
Id insist the Senco does a dyscalculia screening. Also ask about a Sandwell Maths screening. I used to do this for primary pupils, I’m not sure if they do them for older students, but it still might be useful if she’s really struggling. It will identify gaps for her to focus on. Then a good tutor would be able to address those gaps - that may not necessarily be an engineering student btw - they probably have no idea how to teach!!!

I’m going to have a go at the National Numeracy Challenge. School maths homework is way beyond me.