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If the answer is DYSCALCULIA, what is the question?


   "If the answer is DYSCALCULIA, what is the question?"

 What are you wondering?  Have you heard of dyscalculia?

How about dyslexia?

I'd like you to take a journey with me.  Let's travel to understood.org to imagine what it feels like to have dyscalculia.  Please click here.

As a mathematics teacher of elementary and middle school students, I was fascinated to feel the frustration and confusion of a student with dyscalculia (a specific learning disability in mathematics) through the understood.org application.

We know that dyscalculia is as prevalent as dyslexia or ADHD (3 - 6% of the population), and yet relatively little is known about dyscalculia (click here for an NIH study on dyscalculia).  So often we hear children and adults say "I just can't do math" when in fact they may simply have a form of dyscalculia.  My focus this semester is on brain development and how we can best help our students with dyscalculia.



In our most recent reading of Janet Zadina's Multiple Pathways to the Student Brain (Chapter 1), we have started to learn how certain strategies can improve learning because of their effect on the brain.

Some of the strategies Zadina recommends include:
1. Administer a Pretest
2. Facilitate Making Connections
3. Scaffold
4. Pose a Question or a Problem
5. Provide for Reflection

After getting to know a new student, one of the first things I did with a student struggling in math was to administer an informal pretest.  I knew at the time that this would help me pinpoint the student's gaps, but what I didn't realize is that it is also a critical step in learning; making connections to the student's "existing neural network (background knowledge)".  For any student, second grade through middle school, the pretest was essentially the same and built on addition and subtraction skill trajectories.  What was important to me during the pretest was:
    (a) the pretest was as low-stress as possible - we had a conversational one-on-one atmosphere and the student was encouraged to talk throughout the process.  I never commented on if the student got the question right or wrong.
    (b) the pretest was as fun as possible - I used colorful paper and pens/pencils, which you are NEVER allowed to do in math!
    (c) the pretest was tailored to each student - I wrote the questions as we went along to ensure that the student did not get overwhelmed and that the pretest was tailored to the student's abilities.


Once I knew where the student had gaps, I could design lessons to meet the student's needs.

Another strategy that I have used that Zadina mentions in her text is to provide reflection.  My students with dyscalculia, especially, needed the opportunity to go back and look at what they were able to complete, and think about why they were able to complete the work.  Given the appropriate time, activities, and tools, even the student who struggled the most was able to see accomplishments.  Specifically, we reviewed all activities and work completed.  The student made comments on how they felt and what they thought.  My favorite sentence is "We can do hard things!".



Many of the parents and other educators I  have worked with have had a lot of questions and opinions about mathematics.  They don't understand and/or don't like this "new way" of doing math (common core) and they don't like how fast we must move through the material.  The "new way" of doing math is a topic for another day, however, I do believe the rate of curriculum introduction does need to be evaluated.  We are learning through the Zadina text that students must be exposed to a new idea or way of learning multiple times, and for long enough for the brain to wire a connection and the learning to be solidified.  I don't know enough at this time to know if we are rushing our students through their learning.  In my experience in the 5th grade classroom, I found that most students did well with the current rate of introduction, with some being bored, and some having significant trouble.  I do hope that whoever designs curriculum takes brain development and learning times into account.

As I have mentioned, one of the things I will be focusing on this semester is, how much of a specific learning disability in math (known as dyscalculia) needs to be coped with, and how much could be cured based on what we currently know about the brain and how it forms new neural pathways.  My students always knew that I placed high value on brain plasticity.  I am wondering just how far that plasticity can be stretched for my students with dyscalculia!

"If the answer is DYSCALCULIA, what is the question?"

 What would you say now?

Comments

  1. Cynn AshleyMarch 9, 2019 at 10:28 PM

    The rate of curriculum does need to be evaluated, before it begins to cause long term effects to a child's education. The "new way" and "old way" both serve the children no justice if the entire curriculum leaves them behind.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kate PettreyMarch 10, 2019 at 8:46 PM

      Absolutely! And we are not good about ensuring that all our students are "with us" before we move on. Administrators can either be our biggest champions or our biggest obstacle when it comes to this.

      Delete

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