As a parent, you may be wondering how to address these issues and help your child be successful. Here are some tips that you can utilize to help your child learn to work around their auditory processing difficulties or learning disability (LD) to successfully complete their math work.
Provide you with scoring criteria as well as specify exactly what they want your child to do when completing their math workSend you detailed instructions for homeworkShow you examples of good work to clarify their expectationsTeach you the specific strategies they are using successfully with your child that also can be used at home
It’s likely you will need to set aside time each night to help them with the math concepts they are learning at school. But, if you make this time together a regular part of your routine, your child will benefit from the repetition.
Consider using flash cards to go over math facts that need to be memorized. Incorporate computerized math toys and software with visual and auditory prompts, such as the GeoSafari Math Whiz, a portable game that teaches addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Practice using a calculator. Teach them math concepts using multisensory methods to stimulate their thinking skills. Use familiar objects to set up and solve math problems. Items such as money, candy, or other small objects can be used to demonstrate concepts such as adding, subtracting, and fractions as well as show greater than, less than, and equal to.
If you’re having trouble coming up with tools that will benefit your student, ask the teacher for suggestions on how to support your child at home. You also can ask a math tutor what they would recommend.
Avoid double negatives such as “There are no cars that are not red.“Choose words the student already knows and can visualize.Create active sentences such as “Joe drove the car” and avoid passive sentences such as “The car was driven by Joe.“Reduce the number of words in sentences, leaving only those words important to solving the problem.Select simple commands where “you” is implied, such as “Add these numbers.“Use simple sentence structure including just the subject, verb, and object.Use specific words and avoid pronouns.Write the most important sentence first.
If you find that after re-writing math problems, your student has an easier time solving them, share this information with the teacher. You also might be able to request accommodations for word problems on tests and quizzes. Talk to your child’s educational team to determine if this is an option. This practice may frustrate students with language processing deficits because they have difficulty with the language-based mental reasoning skills needed to make those leaps. Basically, using models in teaching kids math skills involves drawing boxes, rectangles, and other shapes to represent numbers. Doing so enables kids to break down math problems while comparing numbers, fractions, ratios, percentages, and more. For parents who have never solved math problems using these tools and strategies, there may be a slight learning curve in implementing them to help your student. Ask the teacher to give you a quick tutorial or use online resources. You also can look for YouTube videos to help you learn how to draw math models. Or, you might want to use Thinking Blocks on the website Math Playground, which provides sample models you can draw to help with basic math through algebra. Together, you and your child’s educational team can decide what needs to be incorporated into the plan to create a learning environment that benefits your student. Try to build a partnership between your family, your child’s teachers, the intervention specialists, and your advocate if you’re working with one. As a parent of a child with learning differences, you need to be persistent in ensuring that your child receives the help, support, and intervention they need both in the classroom and at home. Work with your child’s educational team to build a partnership and to ensure your child gets all the support they need to succeed. Then, supplement that support with activities at home. Together, you can ensure that your child learns how to be successful in spite of the challenges they face.
