1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,000 Hello and welcome to this edition of What in the World is Dyscalculia, the 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:11,360 podcast that is all about the math learning disorder. I'm Dr. Honora Wall 3 00:00:11,360 --> 00:00:17,120 and I'm the host of your podcast which is sponsored by Educalclearning and 4 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:21,120 you can learn a lot more about Dyscalculia at educalclearning.com. If 5 00:00:21,120 --> 00:00:27,560 you are a parent, teacher, administrator, or a person who has Dyscalculia and you 6 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:32,920 want to know more about why this causes certain math struggles and what to do 7 00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:37,880 about them, at educalclearning we are happy to help. And I want to talk today 8 00:00:37,880 --> 00:00:45,560 about the idea of memorizing those basic math facts. Now if you've been listening 9 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:51,280 to the show before, you know that one of the biggest issues students have with 10 00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:57,200 Dyscalculia is that the parietal lobe loses math information over time. This 11 00:00:57,200 --> 00:01:05,040 is a different way of processing, retaining, and recalling math information. So 12 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:11,960 steps and procedures and formulas and those basic facts get lost. This is a 13 00:01:11,960 --> 00:01:16,800 struggle, especially in elementary school, because we have such an obsession 14 00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:22,160 with memorizing and hopefully none of you listening are using those timed 15 00:01:22,160 --> 00:01:28,040 tests. If you have any timed tests for basic facts anywhere in your possession 16 00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:32,320 in your classroom or your school, I want you to use them to start your next 17 00:01:32,320 --> 00:01:37,560 bonfire and never ever give them to any student whether or not they have Dyscal 18 00:01:37,560 --> 00:01:45,880 culia, but especially not if they have a math learning disability. Now memorizing 19 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:51,040 those basic facts is one of our biggest myths about teaching and learning math. 20 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:55,840 The idea that we have to use that as a foundation for everything that comes 21 00:01:55,840 --> 00:02:03,040 later. It's just not true. It's just simply false. Let it go. Memorization is a 22 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:07,600 parlor trick and if someone has great memory skills and they learn those basic 23 00:02:07,600 --> 00:02:12,200 facts and they stick with them forever, wonderful. They're going to get a sticker 24 00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:18,280 in the form of better grades and faster processing and having an easier time. 25 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:22,920 They've already got a leg up on everyone else. There are plenty of people who 26 00:02:22,920 --> 00:02:30,120 struggle with memorizing plenty of things. Basic math facts is one of them. So 27 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:34,280 that shows up a lot for students who have low numeracy or a weak math 28 00:02:34,280 --> 00:02:38,920 foundation, students who have anxiety, depressive disorders, trauma backgrounds, 29 00:02:38,920 --> 00:02:43,400 all of these things impact shifting information from short to long-term 30 00:02:43,400 --> 00:02:50,240 memory, retaining a good filing system for things we've learned and being able 31 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:55,280 to recall them especially under pressure, especially in the middle of a lot of other 32 00:02:55,280 --> 00:03:01,180 complex things like am I finding perimeter or area or volume? What's my 33 00:03:01,180 --> 00:03:07,920 shape? What's my formula? When do I add? When do I multiply? Or just being put on 34 00:03:07,920 --> 00:03:14,200 the spot and asked to answer something like what is 8 times 2 or what is 11 35 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:19,200 plus 15? So for students with dyscalculia this is exceptionally difficult 36 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:23,440 because of that parietal lobe condition I mentioned before. It's very 37 00:03:23,440 --> 00:03:29,400 frustrating for a lot of elementary school teachers who don't realize that 38 00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:36,280 this is just a wiring issue, not a practice issue and not a you need to try 39 00:03:36,280 --> 00:03:40,840 harder issue. That is not what dyscalculia is about. So if you're thinking 40 00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:45,720 that any student can memorize those basic facts if you just send home those 41 00:03:45,720 --> 00:03:51,160 flashcards again, please, please, please find someone to train you in dyscalculia 42 00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:57,200 because you need to know more about this learning condition. Okay the second 43 00:03:57,200 --> 00:04:01,360 problem with memorizing those basic facts and that myth that it is the 44 00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:07,480 foundation of everything mathematically important just completely false. Math is 45 00:04:07,480 --> 00:04:12,560 about many other things pattern recognition, shapes, understanding how to 46 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:16,600 solve problems, pulling things apart and putting them back together in a 47 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:22,800 different way. The beauty efficiency and usefulness of inverse operations these 48 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:26,000 are all conceptual things that are perfectly fine for people with 49 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:31,080 dyscalculia. The stumbling block is that dyscalculia trifecta time money 50 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:38,880 place value and that memorization thanks to the parietal lobe. Now I know that my 51 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:44,680 elementary teacher friends and my elementary teacher special ed case 52 00:04:44,680 --> 00:04:51,720 managers and school counselors love to put fluency and memorization into IEP 53 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:58,960 goals and use them as a standard for mathematical progress. I'm here to tell 54 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:04,960 you please let that go and it's not just my opinion saying that you should let it 55 00:05:04,960 --> 00:05:11,840 go. I did a little digging into common core math standards for all grade levels 56 00:05:11,840 --> 00:05:16,600 because most states use common core as their foundation of math standards 57 00:05:16,600 --> 00:05:20,760 whether or not they call them common core they all say the same thing. There's 58 00:05:20,760 --> 00:05:24,720 only a few states that have one or two variations against the common core 59 00:05:24,720 --> 00:05:28,520 standards but that's pretty much what we're all following. So that's where I 60 00:05:28,520 --> 00:05:34,360 went and I did a little digging and I found something interesting. The word 61 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:42,920 memory occurs exactly twice in all of the common core standards from kindergarten 62 00:05:42,920 --> 00:05:50,320 through the highest math you can take in the K-12 system only twice. It happens 63 00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:57,320 once in second grade where there is one standard that says students should be 64 00:05:57,320 --> 00:06:04,200 able to know by the end of second grade all of the sums of one digit numbers. So 65 00:06:04,200 --> 00:06:12,240 two plus three nine plus nine things like this. That is one out of the 26 66 00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:20,240 second grade math standards. So even if we say listen don't memorize become 67 00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:24,400 fluent check your work make sure you have accuracy use your external support 68 00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:29,240 tools like a one to one hundreds chart or a number line or other manipulatives or 69 00:06:29,240 --> 00:06:33,040 count on your fingers even if we're letting all of that slide. This student 70 00:06:33,040 --> 00:06:37,720 can still hit the other standards because there's only one that requires 71 00:06:37,720 --> 00:06:43,960 memorization. So let's take it out. Obviously if it's only 4% of the overall 72 00:06:43,960 --> 00:06:50,120 number of standards we need students to know it's not that important. The second 73 00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:55,760 time memory occurs in common core standards is in third grade where students 74 00:06:55,760 --> 00:07:02,360 are expected to know from memory all of the products of one digit numbers two 75 00:07:02,360 --> 00:07:11,800 times three nine times nine etc. So again that's one out of 25 third grade 76 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:19,160 standards that says no from memory. So about 4% a student who cannot memorize 77 00:07:19,160 --> 00:07:28,240 can still succeed at 96% of the standards for that grade level. So memory is not 78 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:33,480 something that any of us recognizes being a key ingredient when we're writing 79 00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:39,440 standards. However we hold on to it as a myth of memorizing basic facts being the 80 00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:45,880 underpinning of everything mathematically important and it's just not true. Now you 81 00:07:45,880 --> 00:07:49,960 might be thinking to yourself what about fluency being fluent means being able 82 00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:55,560 to memorize these facts and recall them quickly. Well I would argue against that 83 00:07:55,560 --> 00:08:00,840 fluency means something slightly different but even if we went with that 84 00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:08,680 idea fluency occurs 11 times in all of the common core math standards from 85 00:08:08,680 --> 00:08:16,600 kindergarten through the end of 12th grade and those 11 mentions stop after 86 00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:20,880 fifth grade. This is one of the many reasons why students with dyscalculia do 87 00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:27,120 much better in upper level math classes than they do in elementary level math. 88 00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:32,240 The irony of course is that if you're not doing very well in elementary level 89 00:08:32,240 --> 00:08:36,840 math then you're usually held back and you don't get to progress. This is 90 00:08:36,840 --> 00:08:43,160 problematic for a whole number of reasons and I talk about those reasons in a 91 00:08:43,160 --> 00:08:48,760 whole bunch of the podcast or you can find that information online and through 92 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:54,040 our social media posts on the websites brochures that we have at the dyscalculia 93 00:08:54,040 --> 00:09:02,120 training and research institute www.vdtri.org. You can grab your free 94 00:09:02,120 --> 00:09:06,720 brochures about dyscalculia and your free infographics for parents and 95 00:09:06,720 --> 00:09:14,080 teachers there but any who getting back to fluency only happens up until fifth 96 00:09:14,080 --> 00:09:17,960 grade. That's the only time we even mention it and those 11 times are 97 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:24,920 scattered from first grade through fifth grade so it's not even 11 times in one 98 00:09:24,920 --> 00:09:33,480 year. So these ideas of memorizing and recalling and retaining basic math facts 99 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:39,360 is something we really need to let go of. First of all our standards do not 100 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:46,280 require this work from our students. 96% of the two grade levels that even 101 00:09:46,280 --> 00:09:55,280 mention it do not require memorization in order to meet the standard. But why do 102 00:09:55,280 --> 00:10:01,720 our IEP goals have this memorization and fluency and working without 103 00:10:01,720 --> 00:10:08,200 manipulatives built in. We need to change the wording and changing the wording of 104 00:10:08,200 --> 00:10:13,960 an IEP goal is going to take time and awareness and just educating ourselves 105 00:10:13,960 --> 00:10:20,200 learning more about dyscalculia and how to write the correct accommodations and 106 00:10:20,200 --> 00:10:25,120 the correct goals for our students. Changing the wording of math standards 107 00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:30,480 that's a little more like changing direction of a cruise ship. That's massive 108 00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:34,640 efforts going to take a lot of time. The first step of course is that awareness 109 00:10:34,640 --> 00:10:41,080 and education piece and we know we have a long way to go with that. We just don't 110 00:10:41,080 --> 00:10:45,360 have enough people talking about dyscalculia and some of the people talking 111 00:10:45,360 --> 00:10:51,320 about it really don't know what they're talking about and that is problematic. 112 00:10:51,320 --> 00:10:56,760 But I'll save that for another episode. I have some really interesting case studies 113 00:10:56,760 --> 00:11:01,560 to talk with you about. I've been getting a lot of great information from 114 00:11:01,560 --> 00:11:06,320 students I've been working with this year and I'm happy to share that with you. 115 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:12,920 I also found a great researcher who focuses on dyscalculia based here in the 116 00:11:12,920 --> 00:11:18,120 United States. I'm super excited to learn more about her work and share more of 117 00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:24,240 her research findings in future episodes. But for today the thing I want you to 118 00:11:24,240 --> 00:11:30,040 take away from this podcast is that memorizing basic facts first of all does 119 00:11:30,040 --> 00:11:37,320 not happen at the same rate if at all for people who have dyscalculia. And so 120 00:11:37,320 --> 00:11:43,160 what who even cares. We only care when we're grading these time test when we 121 00:11:43,160 --> 00:11:50,520 have expectations of students that don't match who our students are. And we call 122 00:11:50,520 --> 00:11:56,600 dyscalculia the math learning disability. But really is the problem with the 123 00:11:56,600 --> 00:12:02,160 student or is it with the system that they are working within. Because we know 124 00:12:02,160 --> 00:12:07,040 that our students can add subtract multiply and divide. Students with 125 00:12:07,040 --> 00:12:12,120 dyscalculia are just going to do that using external tools using manipulatives 126 00:12:12,120 --> 00:12:18,200 using their one to one hundreds chart or a number line counting on their fingers 127 00:12:18,200 --> 00:12:24,200 or later on using a calculator. I recommend that somewhere around fourth 128 00:12:24,200 --> 00:12:29,240 grade because now we're just shoving all of these standards in so fast and the 129 00:12:29,240 --> 00:12:34,680 pace is so much that makes it difficult for kids to keep up with as well. But 130 00:12:34,680 --> 00:12:39,040 they're keeping up as fast as they can. The last thing they need is us requiring 131 00:12:39,040 --> 00:12:43,640 the parlor trick of memorizing basic facts before we let them move on and 132 00:12:43,640 --> 00:12:49,880 before we will let them feel like successful mathematicians. So in closing 133 00:12:49,880 --> 00:12:56,200 if you or a colleague or a teacher that your student is currently learning from 134 00:12:56,200 --> 00:13:01,240 talks to you about the importance of memorizing basic facts and how you've 135 00:13:01,240 --> 00:13:05,840 got to do that before you can move on in math. Please let them know not even our 136 00:13:05,840 --> 00:13:13,440 national math standards think that is true. It's it's just an old idea that is 137 00:13:13,440 --> 00:13:17,640 a myth. We were wrong in the past and we're wrong if we're holding on to it 138 00:13:17,640 --> 00:13:23,520 today. We can teach students math. We can teach them the algorithms of adding 139 00:13:23,520 --> 00:13:28,160 subtracting multiplying dividing the importance of using those skills in 140 00:13:28,160 --> 00:13:33,960 later work and we can have them do all of that successfully while accommodating 141 00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:41,600 their learning differences in an appropriate and legally protected manner 142 00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:45,960 which is the other important piece which if you've been listening you know that 143 00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:52,880 is a soapbox of mine. Anything that we ask schools and teachers to do for 144 00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:58,280 students who have dyscalculia these are all federally protected accommodations. 145 00:13:58,280 --> 00:14:02,720 We're not asking for anything unusual and we're not asking for anything that 146 00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:08,280 gives anyone a leg up. It evens the playing field so that they can participate 147 00:14:08,280 --> 00:14:13,080 in the game of math which is what we really want. We want students to know 148 00:14:13,080 --> 00:14:19,560 that they are natural mathematicians and they can succeed. The same way we let 149 00:14:19,560 --> 00:14:25,440 students wear eyeglasses if they're far-sighted or near-sighted we need to 150 00:14:25,440 --> 00:14:30,840 let them use the right support tools if they have dyscalculia. So those basic 151 00:14:30,840 --> 00:14:35,720 facts go back to the parietal lobe losing math information over time and as a 152 00:14:35,720 --> 00:14:40,600 group we're all going to come together in the math community and share together 153 00:14:40,600 --> 00:14:47,240 this information and let go of the idea of memorization. If it happens for some 154 00:14:47,240 --> 00:14:51,920 of your students great. If you really want to improve it then you never let 155 00:14:51,920 --> 00:14:58,920 students guess. You always make them confirm their work using those external 156 00:14:58,920 --> 00:15:02,840 tools. If they only ever see the right answer you're going to see a lot more 157 00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:10,640 retention and you can improve the basic facts recall for your students through 158 00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:15,600 games and activities and through supporting them properly. It's actually 159 00:15:15,600 --> 00:15:19,960 really easy. Helping students who have dyscalculia is one of the easiest things 160 00:15:19,960 --> 00:15:25,680 I've ever done. Helping students with dyscalculia succeed in a school or a 161 00:15:25,680 --> 00:15:32,120 classroom who doesn't understand or accommodate them properly exceptionally 162 00:15:32,120 --> 00:15:38,840 difficult. I'm Dr. Honora Wall with Educalc Learning and thank you for 163 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:43,400 listening to this podcast. If you want any other information check us out on 164 00:15:43,400 --> 00:15:52,040 social media. We now have advice and information on TikTok Instagram. These 165 00:15:52,040 --> 00:15:57,400 podcasts there's websites. We have a Facebook group. You can email me Honora 166 00:15:57,400 --> 00:16:06,480 at educalclearning.com or Honora at the DTRI.org and we are happy to get as 167 00:16:06,480 --> 00:16:11,360 much information to you as we possibly can. You can find this information out 168 00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:15,040 for yourself if you do some reading on Google Scholar or you can save yourself 169 00:16:15,040 --> 00:16:24,240 some time. Check us out and we will get information to you. The final message is 170 00:16:24,240 --> 00:16:28,400 that of course students with dyscalculia can succeed in math. I see it happen 171 00:16:28,400 --> 00:16:33,800 every day. If it's not happening for you yet you're just not right in the right 172 00:16:33,800 --> 00:16:39,320 place working with the right people but it is possible for you. This has been 173 00:16:39,320 --> 00:16:44,040 the what in the world is dyscalculia podcast and thank you for listening. I 174 00:16:44,040 --> 00:16:58,280 will see you again soon.