dyscalcula

[puch]

my son got assessed yesterday as he has trouble with maths. The lady said we could give him a label of dyscalcula if we wanted. Bascially he is y3 and he cannot get maths at all. You can ask him what is 4 and 1 and he can say 3 not understanding that your answer has to be more than 4. Even though he got 2C at the KS1 honestly i think this grade was inflated to get figures as there was no way he could have answered the questions. What I would like how is the best way to help him and what should the school be doing to help as well. I quite shy but I want the best for him.

hello, i can't help much, but in another thread somebody mentioned this book:

The Dyscalculia Toolkit: Supporting Learning Difficulties in Maths by Ronit Bird

and said it was good.

I bought my kids some cuisenaire rods and we practised additions and subtractions with them. You can use them in many different ways (fractions, multiplication, etc.

With my son (he does not have dyscalculia, but I'm using him as an example), I noticed that if I came up with problems like : "You buy 4 Lego men and you find one in the playground. How many Lego men do you have now?" he was more interested in thinking and getting the correct answer (compared to asking him 4+1 ) Can your son solve practical problems (on something that he is interested in? ) ? Maybe you can start from the practical problems and then link that to the abstract 4+1 symbolism.

Good luck. It must be so frustrating.

Get him the label. He is serious difficulties with maths, and this school and his future schools need to be aware of it.

He needs to be on the SEN register and have an IEP detailing what school should do. I would think 1:1 Maths teaching would be required.

Numicon is a very good place to start. At school or at home. But you need to start slowly :)

There are some great posts on the SN board by a mum who taught her DS maths. It took 3 months for him to learn that some numbers were 'more' than other numbers......

Thanks Albachiara that is a great idea he loves Arsenal so I could work with the players rather than just numbers.

Indigobell - So I should get him labelled. Wasnt sure it was a good idea but I suppose without it i wont get help. Thanks for the link will start on him this weekend. I dont mind if it takes time as long as eventually it may click with him. Thanks very much.

puch

The problem with labels in the UK education system is that very few educators actually understand what a label may mean, which relates back to the poor quality teacher training in the UK. So in many instances a label only provides an excuse to ignore the real support needs, which could initially prove expensive to provide.
You may find this Dyscalculia research paper collection may provide some useful information

The British Dyslexia Association run courses for parents on dyscalculia. They are very good imo.
www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/courses-and-events/training/training-for-teachers-and-parents.html

We are awaiting for my son YR5 to be tested for Dyscalculia, its been a real struggle over the past 2 years to get someone to recognise there is a problem.
He cant get the hang of number bonds, struggles to count onwards, and subtracting is a nightmare.
He has only just learnt how to count in 10's+ 2's !!!
We have to take small steps everyday,and go back to the basics. I find using visual aids are very helpful, ie counters, number lines, pieces of lego etc.
When he sees it visually he gets it instead of 9+7
This site was really useful, we purchased several books which really break it down and explain .www.dyscalculia.me.uk
Patients is definitly the key here, somedays he drives me insane.....

thanks for all your responses very good ideas here.