Shocking!

I have listened to as much as I can on utube about dyslexia, and have heard teachers say that in hindsight they feel dreadful that when a pupil came to them that was struggling they sent them off with a wordsearch or to draw a picture - instead of giving them the help they needed and deserved.  This week in Algar's Flexi-Schooling, I have been working with my daughter on maths and have been shocked by the lack of basic skills she has learned in the past 5 YEARS at School!  Up until this week, she still didn't have a grasp of units, tens and hundreds, and told me that if this came up in a test she would just leave it!  She said that teacher's would say, 'you should know this by now,' and then that she would 'sometimes just give up and sit there doing nothing quietly hoping nobody would notice....  I would be kept in at break because they said I hadn't listened properly, but I still didn't get it, and nobody helped me.' (she, of course, hasn't told me any of this in the past!)

Well, if it were just that she was a bit thick or naughty, I could accept this situation entirely - BUT, she proved she wasn't thick (and I know she isn't naughty!) because after half an hour with me, she understood completely!

I found a fantastic method through Numicon from the Oxford Learning Resources; it is such a SIMPLE idea but really appeals to the dyslexic brain that can't just accept something to be true; it has to have it proved!

Basically, I laminated 1,2,3 & 4 digit numbers then cut them up.  They all have an arrow shape on the end and can fit on top of one another; thus when I asked her for 4000 she picked up the number, then when I asked for 300 she laid it on top (in the right place because the arrows fitted), then 80, then 2.  She was then able to see how the number was LAYERED with thousands, hundreds, tens & units and it made complete sense to her WHY the digits were then in the places they were.

This was all it took - we worked up to ten thousands, hundred thousands & millions and she grasped it completely!  For FIVE YEARS she has felt completely stooooopid because of this - it took half an hour to sort out....hmmmpgh!

If anyone else is having similar problems with hundreds, tens & units with their children - please do try this method & let me know if you have the same positive results!  If you have any questions then do ask, I want to help!

Ah well - onwards & upwards!

Narinda