Math Tutoring Services for Children with Learning Disabilities (Part 2)
Last week, we started our series, “Math Tutoring Services for Children with Learning Disabilities”. This week, we will continue this series and we thank you for electing to follow this information. Last week, we expounded on the fact that math deficits are more common among children than originally believed. This is because reading skills are most often the academic skills evaluated to determine fluency. If your child has a learning disability and is struggling in mathematics, it is imperative that you opt for tutoring services for math. Not only will the services aid in strengthening a child’s math skills, tutoring aids in optimizing a child’s self-esteem and improving their overall success in school. This week, we will continue to explore math deficits among kids with learning disabilities.
Basic Number Facts
One of the most common issues among students with learning disabilities is the inability to successfully master basic number facts. This is often due to the fact that these facts require memorization. It is not at all uncommon for kids with learning issues to be found using their fingers or scribbling lines to come up with the answer to simple problems, such as 2 +3 or 2 x 3. Math tutoring services help students with the development of memory strategies that will aid in their ability to master basic number facts quickly and easily. Many tutors will even provide addition and subtraction charts, multiplication and division charts, and similar tools to aid the struggling child. This type of reference will allow the student to master the memorization required to become successful at basic number facts. The following teaching approaches may also be utilized by those that specialize in math tutoring services:
- Many math tutors will provide the struggling student with the ability to engage in both interactive-based and intensive practice with basic number skills by providing games and other types of fun activities. These activities will not only strengthen a student’s math skills, but, they will also aid in developing attention skills.
- Many students are made to sit for long hours if they fail to comprehend math. This is a daunting task for kids with learning disabilities. Most math tutoring services will recommend that the child engages in distributed practice sessions. In other words, instead of working an hour on math each day, they will break the math sessions up into two or three 15-minute practice sessions.
- Many math tutoring services allow the child to be held to a high level of accountability when it comes to the mastery of their math skills. This means that the child plays a role in keeping tabs on the facts that they have successfully mastered and outlining how many they have to go before mastery. This is an awesome step for tutors that want to see the struggling student actively involved in their education.
Conclusion
When a child suffers from a learning disability, their academic progress is often limited. This is especially true when it comes to math. Here, you have been informed of the reason why many students struggle with basic number facts. It is because of the fact that they are unable to successfully memorize those facts. By obtaining math tutoring services, the professional that the struggling student works with will be able to provide numerous techniques and teaching methods to help the child retain this information. If you would like to learn more about math tutoring services for children with learning disabilities, simply click HERE.