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When the student needs help to get a better understanding of basic maths

Helping dyscalculic pupils and students move towards an enhanced understanding of basic maths

One of the central issues that research into dyscalculia has thrown up in recent years is the fact that the key to helping dyscalculic individuals overcome their disability is through working with them in a multi-sensory way. In other words if they can manipulate the calculations they undertake physically, they come to understand the calculations much more rapidly.

Thus a dyscalculic child who doesn’t understand the essence of fractions can be helped by approaching the topic via the cutting up of sheets of paper in many different ways and seeing how these fractions of the original combine, both physically and mathematically.

The same is true for the four basic functions and, of course, for percentages. Physical manipulation of the numbers and parts of numbers is, once again, the key to overcoming dyscalculia. Over the years the Dyscalculia Centre has produced a significant number of resources to help teachers of dyscalculic pupils and students on their journey to numeric literacy.

But it is clear that there are many students who do not need to engage in the full course of multi-sensory maths, but simply need guiding through the elements of maths that remain hard for them to grasp. For these students and their teachers we have produced Dyscalculia Practice Activities. The activities, all of which are practical and which can be conducted in a small group at school (or copied for parents to use with their children at home), cover the whole range of maths from the essence of number to fractions, shapes and decimals.

The book contains 90 sets of activities, with each set containing around ten or more individual tasks for the student or pupil to undertake with the teacher. The intention is that you locate the areas of difficulty that the child has and then focus on the activities relating to these until the pupil or student is confident in the topic.

Dyscalculia Practice Activities is available as a printed copiable volume or as a CD which can be put on the school’s learning platform for use other staff.

Dyscalculia Practice Activities by Tony Attwood
Publisher’s reference: T1782emn
ISBN: 978 1 86083 820 0
Sample pages can be viewed at http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/dyscalculia/T1782.pdf

Prices

  • Photocopiable book: £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
  • CD with school-wide rights: £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
  • Both the book and the CD: £31.94 plus £3.95 delivery
  • Prices include VAT.

You can purchase the book…