My 7 yr old DD cannot learn the 2 x table...

[minko]

She gets in a screaming turmoil about it. I have tried everything to explain it to her but it's just not going in. She's wailing that other people in her Y3 class are on the 6x table and that she's too stupid.

I have tried with my utmost patience but I just don't get why it's so difficult...

(I have questioned whether she might be dyslexic with regard to her writing, though her teacher thinks there is no cause for concern as yet...)

I think you need to try another approach as she has conviced herself that she cannot do it. Do you have a change jar. Money is brillant for counting out in numbers. You don't even have to tell her that it is for her maths just ask for help counting piles of 2p in to 20p piles. Show her counting out loud and then get her to do as many as she will. Sometimes maths doesn't make any sense until it is practical.

Oh thanks, that is a good suggestion. I've tried with bricks in pairs but she gets frustrated that she has to count all the bricks each time. She can't seem to remember them by rote. Even her 4 year old brother is shouting '12' when he hears 'six times two'.

It might be worth checking with her teacher how they approach it at school. Not that you would intentionally do it, but I see many parents confusing their DCs because they try to teach their children the way they were taught and Maths has changed massively in recent years.
(Does that make sense? )

my ds2 just counts up on his fingers ie 2,4,6,8,10 etc. he then knew that 3 fingers and then went 2,4,6 and got 6. if that makes sense. He's 7 as well and has used this system which works for him for all his tables. We have just finished x12.

It will come, it might just take time.

I have also got the magnets of the tables and as he learnt a table we put them in a pot, and he tested as he took them out and then again as for them to go back in. Repetition again.

Smarties or jelly babies

give her 2 and ask how many she has
Then give her another 2, then a third set of 2

Everytime she gets it right she can have 2 smarties for later (or tomorrow)

She could have a confidence block on this, or could - like me - have awful trouble with numbers when it comes to sequences. It's like having a hole in your memory so you have to relearn it every time. Basic maths is like that for me, times tables are a special kind of nightmare, I can't seem to retain the knowledge, yet strangely I can do advanced maths (different part of the brain I guess).

www.bigbrainz.com -superb computer game (free)

www.teachyourchildrenwell.ca/Freebies/freebies.htm (underpinning rote counting activities, minute a day type)

Does she understand even and odd numbers? If so would telling her it is just counting in even numbers help?

Alternatively I have found the Percy Parker cd good. You learn the tables as songs and the songs are better than some others.

When I was a pupil I had to learn the tables like a poetry. We used to memorise lots of things and learning a table was not a problem at all. But you also need to understand how it works. Once, you understand why 2 x 2 is = 4 by using bricks, apples etc then it is not going to be difficult to recite it. Just tell your daughter to memorise the table first. It should take one or two evenings to learn one table, then practice with bricks, coins etc.

Try just teaching her 1 fact at a time. Then asking her it every second question - with the other questions being easier questions she already knows.

Do this (for a minute or so) several times a day every day, just introducing 1 fact at a time.

eg to teach her '2 x 4'

2 x 4?
2 x 2?
2 x 4?
2 x 3?
2 x 4?
2 x 1?
2 x 4?
2 x 2?
2 x 4?

If she doesn't remember it just tell her the answer and keep going. You're going to come back to it next question... Just keep going till she does remember it.