1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,840 Hello and welcome to the What in the World is Dyscalculia podcast sponsored by Educalc 2 00:00:08,840 --> 00:00:09,840 Learning. 3 00:00:09,840 --> 00:00:17,720 I'm your host, Dr. Honora Wall, and today I want to talk about an accommodation that's 4 00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:22,680 pretty standard, whether or not it's really helpful for students with dyscalculia and 5 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:28,720 how we can make it helpful for students with dyscalculia. 6 00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:34,240 Now there are a lot of accommodations out there and parents have many questions about 7 00:00:34,240 --> 00:00:40,840 what kind of accommodations their students should expect to get. 8 00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:48,600 So let's give a brief overview of interventions as well as accommodations. 9 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:55,640 Interventions are different strategies we use during instruction and interventions 10 00:00:55,640 --> 00:01:02,160 are designed to help the students get information in a new way. 11 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:07,800 Accommodations are different things we do during assessments to help support students 12 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:13,680 as they show us the information they've learned and retained. 13 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:18,040 So that's our difference between interventions and accommodations. 14 00:01:18,040 --> 00:01:26,440 These will be listed on your students IEP or 504 plan if they have one and they come from 15 00:01:26,440 --> 00:01:34,320 your school counselor or your school administrators with input from teachers and some common best 16 00:01:34,320 --> 00:01:38,680 practices. 17 00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:42,480 So accommodations, let's talk about that. 18 00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:47,820 In later podcasts we'll talk about different interventions and instructional strategies. 19 00:01:47,820 --> 00:01:51,440 But giving students information is one thing. 20 00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:54,360 We can do that to the best of our abilities all day. 21 00:01:54,360 --> 00:01:59,880 If we don't help students show what they've learned then our interventions didn't have 22 00:01:59,880 --> 00:02:06,640 a lot of impact because we're blocking the students getting that information back out. 23 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:10,760 And that's what accommodations are designed to address. 24 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:19,680 There are a lot of typical accommodations that you will see on almost every IEP and 504 plan. 25 00:02:19,680 --> 00:02:24,280 The one I want to talk about today is extended time. 26 00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:28,960 Now extended time usually means that students have time and a half. 27 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:37,720 So if an assessment is expected to take 30 minutes then they might get 45 minutes. 28 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:42,800 Sometimes they can get double time so a 30 minute assessment they would have an hour to 29 00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:44,520 complete it. 30 00:02:44,520 --> 00:02:50,320 And sometimes they'll have extended time meaning they can take an assessment over number of 31 00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:56,940 days so they're not taking all of it at one time. 32 00:02:56,940 --> 00:03:05,160 Extended time has been shown by research studies to be very beneficial to students with dyslexia. 33 00:03:05,160 --> 00:03:11,800 Now having dyslexia is a specific learning disorder that impacts reading and comprehension 34 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:13,760 from text. 35 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:19,880 So giving students extended time gives them more time to think about what they're reading, 36 00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:26,160 comprehend and process the information and then answer questions about it. 37 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:29,360 Extended time is given to almost everyone. 38 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:36,720 We don't have studies yet that focus on extended time as a benefit for students specifically 39 00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:40,520 with dyscalculia, dysgraphia. 40 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:46,960 I haven't found any that focus on ADHD but if you know of some please email them to me 41 00:03:46,960 --> 00:03:55,200 at hanora at educaalclearning.com or go to my website educaalclearning.com and send them 42 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:56,200 to me there. 43 00:03:56,200 --> 00:04:03,160 I'm always looking for more research on this topic. 44 00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:06,360 So why does extended time work? 45 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:09,040 When does extended time not work? 46 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:14,600 A lot of it comes down to training going back to that intervention piece. 47 00:04:14,600 --> 00:04:18,760 Do the students know what to do with their extended time? 48 00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:22,720 How do they make the most of having extra time? 49 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:29,680 I want to give you one of my favorite tips for using extended time that works for students 50 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:33,960 with any kind of struggles. 51 00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:37,840 But when it doesn't work it's because students aren't sure what to do. 52 00:04:37,840 --> 00:04:39,480 They look at the test. 53 00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:44,600 A lot of times students with dyscalculia or with a history of struggling in math say well 54 00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:49,880 I sure don't know anything here and they tend to give up or they rush through the test to 55 00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:52,600 get it over with and behind them. 56 00:04:52,600 --> 00:04:55,080 And then they're done early. 57 00:04:55,080 --> 00:05:02,400 This is frustrating for teachers and parents because we've given the student an accommodation. 58 00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:07,480 We gave them the room to do their best and they didn't take advantage of it is how it 59 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:09,480 seems to us. 60 00:05:09,480 --> 00:05:14,400 But let's change the way we tell students to use that extended time. 61 00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:19,880 I think you'll see a lot of benefits. 62 00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:26,320 What I like to have my students do as the first method of using their extended time I 63 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:29,200 tell them to stop themselves. 64 00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:31,840 Every usually five questions. 65 00:05:31,840 --> 00:05:39,480 So answer questions one through five then again at 10 then again at 15 and so on. 66 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:42,160 It's an easy number to remember. 67 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:48,280 For students who have very mild dyscalculia or who are good test takers they might use 68 00:05:48,280 --> 00:05:51,120 this method every 10 questions. 69 00:05:51,120 --> 00:05:58,760 And for students with extreme anxiety either test anxiety social anxiety or generalized 70 00:05:58,760 --> 00:06:04,320 anxiety disorder I might tell them to try this method every three questions until we've 71 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:09,160 gotten some mastery and then they can move to every five questions. 72 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:17,840 So here's the method at question five pencil down feet flat on the floor sit up straight 73 00:06:17,840 --> 00:06:33,720 fix that posture deep breath in hold long exhale do it again deep breath in hold long 74 00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:36,800 exhale look somewhere else in the room. 75 00:06:36,800 --> 00:06:42,400 Get your eyes off that computer away from that piece of paper look at the floor look 76 00:06:42,400 --> 00:06:47,320 at the ceiling very similar to when we're driving when you're driving you don't want 77 00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:52,560 to keep your eyes only looking forward on the road you need to check all of your mirrors 78 00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:57,640 your rear view both your sides and then get back to the road in front of you. 79 00:06:57,640 --> 00:07:01,960 If you only stare straight ahead down the road first of all you're not aware of any 80 00:07:01,960 --> 00:07:09,920 dangers around you and second of all it's very easy to lose focus and that's very dangerous. 81 00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:14,800 The same kind of thing happens when we're taking assessments. 82 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:21,040 So we want to break our focus from just that test and look somewhere else. 83 00:07:21,040 --> 00:07:26,400 We take a few deep breaths we fixed our posture move those shoulders around look somewhere 84 00:07:26,400 --> 00:07:34,680 else now get back to question six do the exact same thing question 10 pencil down feet flat 85 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:40,760 on the floor posture straight up that spine is reaching for the ceiling shoulders down 86 00:07:40,760 --> 00:07:51,920 and back deep breath in hold deep breath out it resets our blood pressure it resets our 87 00:07:51,920 --> 00:07:59,680 panic mode it resets our focus and the thoughts in our head stop behaving like a bird that's 88 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:02,360 flown into a room. 89 00:08:02,360 --> 00:08:09,080 I've seen students use only this method and increase their test scores. 90 00:08:09,080 --> 00:08:12,080 It's amazing to see give it a try. 91 00:08:12,080 --> 00:08:16,480 Let me know how it works for your students but I would guarantee you're going to see 92 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:23,560 improvement from just this regulating our emotions and regulating our reaction to the 93 00:08:23,560 --> 00:08:29,400 situation we're in gives us a sense of control and that's very important in maintaining that 94 00:08:29,400 --> 00:08:36,400 self efficacy that idea that I can do this I can figure out the situation and I can master 95 00:08:36,400 --> 00:08:42,600 it and that is tied to academic performance. 96 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:47,600 If you reach out I'll let you know some of the research about that or you can go to Google 97 00:08:47,600 --> 00:08:53,880 scholar and look into it yourself it's really fascinating how much control we have over a 98 00:08:53,880 --> 00:09:00,680 situation regardless of the content on the test we're taking. 99 00:09:00,680 --> 00:09:06,520 So once they've got that control they kind of reset themselves that makes it easier to 100 00:09:06,520 --> 00:09:11,240 focus on the question and pay attention to the tiny details. 101 00:09:11,240 --> 00:09:16,800 Is this question asking me about perimeter where I need to add is it area where I need 102 00:09:16,800 --> 00:09:24,080 to multiply did they give me a total and I'm working backwards is there a second step did 103 00:09:24,080 --> 00:09:29,520 I get my first answer and mark that but I missed the next thing I was supposed to do and that's 104 00:09:29,520 --> 00:09:33,680 where a lot of our mistakes come in with math assessments. 105 00:09:33,680 --> 00:09:38,280 So that's another way that we're increasing those right answers because our students have 106 00:09:38,280 --> 00:09:43,360 better focus to pay attention to the details they pop out. 107 00:09:43,360 --> 00:09:49,720 It also helps students get through an entire assessment especially the longer ones without 108 00:09:49,720 --> 00:09:57,360 just Christmas tree or guessing everything is see and handing it in without thought. 109 00:09:57,360 --> 00:10:03,560 And that's a real issue for students who have anxiety if you don't have anxiety and this 110 00:10:03,560 --> 00:10:07,680 does not sound familiar to you count your blessings. 111 00:10:07,680 --> 00:10:14,000 That's your gratitude for today because having an anxiety reaction is very overwhelming. 112 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:19,000 It truly can feel and mimic a heart attack. 113 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:22,000 It truly can feel like you're drowning. 114 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:29,440 It truly creates a situation for the person where they must escape the event that's causing 115 00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:32,400 this anxiety response. 116 00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:36,600 We don't want students escaping during their math test. 117 00:10:36,600 --> 00:10:42,000 We want them to give it their best shot and we want them to have as much focus and as 118 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:51,960 much willingness to try at the last question as they do at the very first question. 119 00:10:51,960 --> 00:10:58,680 Completing emotion every time you take a test and with that regularity you don't refocus 120 00:10:58,680 --> 00:11:02,460 at question five and then keep going to question 30. 121 00:11:02,460 --> 00:11:05,600 You do it again at question 10. 122 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:09,560 You do it again at question 15. 123 00:11:09,560 --> 00:11:15,720 If you're a teacher tutor or interventionist I want you to practice this with your students. 124 00:11:15,720 --> 00:11:21,480 Make them put down that pencil make them stop and fix their posture. 125 00:11:21,480 --> 00:11:25,360 Don't let them continue until they have reset themselves. 126 00:11:25,360 --> 00:11:31,880 We have a tendency all of us no matter if we have dyscalculia or anything else or nothing 127 00:11:31,880 --> 00:11:34,240 important or exciting at all. 128 00:11:34,240 --> 00:11:39,360 We have a tendency to want to finish and if we're competitive or if we're growing up 129 00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:46,920 in a competitive U.S. society we want to finish fast because that is rewarded. 130 00:11:46,920 --> 00:11:49,200 We want to break that cycle. 131 00:11:49,200 --> 00:11:52,960 The reward from a math assessment is not being done first. 132 00:11:52,960 --> 00:11:58,880 The reward from a math assessment is getting the most answers right that you possibly can 133 00:11:58,880 --> 00:12:01,040 showing the best of your knowledge. 134 00:12:01,040 --> 00:12:07,240 Those are two different goals and it's our job to help students set the right goal and 135 00:12:07,240 --> 00:12:09,720 give them the tools to meet it. 136 00:12:09,720 --> 00:12:14,080 You might be wondering what in the world deep breathing and sitting up straight has to do 137 00:12:14,080 --> 00:12:17,720 with a math learning disability. 138 00:12:17,720 --> 00:12:20,800 Really it does not have anything to do with the math learning disability. 139 00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:25,240 It has to do with regulation with self control. 140 00:12:25,240 --> 00:12:30,880 And this is why using this trick helps students no matter what kind of learning challenge they're 141 00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:32,320 facing. 142 00:12:32,320 --> 00:12:35,840 It's not tied to any disorder. 143 00:12:35,840 --> 00:12:38,480 It's tied to ourselves. 144 00:12:38,480 --> 00:12:43,560 Every student can control their emotional response if we give them the right training and give 145 00:12:43,560 --> 00:12:45,600 them this tool. 146 00:12:45,600 --> 00:12:51,120 I have seen students increase their test scores doing nothing but this. 147 00:12:51,120 --> 00:12:56,800 And it's a great way to use extended time and make extended time a beneficial tool for 148 00:12:56,800 --> 00:13:01,880 students of all ages, grades and ability levels. 149 00:13:01,880 --> 00:13:07,760 So I strongly encourage you to give it a shot. 150 00:13:07,760 --> 00:13:11,040 Now this isn't usually what we tell students to do with extended time. 151 00:13:11,040 --> 00:13:13,720 We tell them to check their work. 152 00:13:13,720 --> 00:13:19,280 Well let me tell you that any student who's done the math problem once does not want to 153 00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:20,920 do it twice. 154 00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:26,480 If they have any kind of struggles with math they absolutely are not going to do more math 155 00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:28,480 than they absolutely have to. 156 00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:33,920 And if they have dyscalculia they really don't know if they did it right or wrong the first 157 00:13:33,920 --> 00:13:36,400 time anyway in many cases. 158 00:13:36,400 --> 00:13:43,400 So doing it again certainly isn't going to feel any different for these students. 159 00:13:43,400 --> 00:13:48,320 We can change that with some of the instructional strategies and long term practices that we'll 160 00:13:48,320 --> 00:13:50,280 talk about in other podcasts. 161 00:13:50,280 --> 00:13:53,320 But this is our typical student response. 162 00:13:53,320 --> 00:13:57,160 So when we tell them to use their extended time to check their work they're thinking 163 00:13:57,160 --> 00:13:58,160 you've got to be kidding. 164 00:13:58,160 --> 00:14:02,440 I didn't want to take the test the first time and now you want me to take it twice. 165 00:14:02,440 --> 00:14:05,280 So we get a lot of resistance. 166 00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:11,920 If you can start with this emotional self-regulation piece let students have some success, have 167 00:14:11,920 --> 00:14:15,200 a feeling of mastery and self-control. 168 00:14:15,200 --> 00:14:19,960 They can finish a math test feeling better about the situation and not feeling like they 169 00:14:19,960 --> 00:14:23,600 got run over by the math truck. 170 00:14:23,600 --> 00:14:28,840 Then you're going to have space where they're receptive to you showing them how to double 171 00:14:28,840 --> 00:14:30,400 check their work. 172 00:14:30,400 --> 00:14:35,300 Don't have them do the entire test and double check every answer but show them the key things 173 00:14:35,300 --> 00:14:37,440 to look for. 174 00:14:37,440 --> 00:14:39,240 Reading questions again. 175 00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:40,720 Did I get the right piece? 176 00:14:40,720 --> 00:14:42,800 Did I multiply here? 177 00:14:42,800 --> 00:14:44,760 Does it look like I guessed on these four? 178 00:14:44,760 --> 00:14:48,080 Let me pick one of these and see if I can take another look at it. 179 00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:51,920 You're going to have students who are more open to that idea when they feel calm and 180 00:14:51,920 --> 00:14:56,040 peaceful and when they feel like they were in control of their test. 181 00:14:56,040 --> 00:15:04,480 So the way you get to double checking work is by going through emotional self-regulation. 182 00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:05,600 And it's very simple. 183 00:15:05,600 --> 00:15:11,200 You can do this with any program, any curriculum, any setting. 184 00:15:11,200 --> 00:15:17,400 All we want to do is have students stop at question 5, question 10, question 15, again 185 00:15:17,400 --> 00:15:24,520 at question 20, again at question 25, and again at question 30 as often as they need 186 00:15:24,520 --> 00:15:27,040 to. 187 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:30,040 They're not going to spend forever daydreaming. 188 00:15:30,040 --> 00:15:32,120 That's not the point of this exercise. 189 00:15:32,120 --> 00:15:35,200 It's putting them back in control of themselves. 190 00:15:35,200 --> 00:15:39,320 Take down, pencil down, out of their hands, stretch those fingers. 191 00:15:39,320 --> 00:15:42,280 Get the spine up. 192 00:15:42,280 --> 00:15:44,840 Get the shoulders back down. 193 00:15:44,840 --> 00:15:46,480 Take those deep breaths. 194 00:15:46,480 --> 00:15:51,280 When oxygen moves through our body, it also moves through our brain and it brings blood 195 00:15:51,280 --> 00:15:53,360 along with it. 196 00:15:53,360 --> 00:15:57,800 It stimulates our thinking and it helps us maintain focus. 197 00:15:57,800 --> 00:16:05,400 I'm really excited about this tool because it's easy, because it's fast and effective, 198 00:16:05,400 --> 00:16:10,200 because anyone can do it in any setting, and because I know that it works. 199 00:16:10,200 --> 00:16:14,160 I've seen this for years and I have great success with it. 200 00:16:14,160 --> 00:16:21,000 And it does open the door to the other accommodations and interventions that are going to address 201 00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:23,080 content. 202 00:16:23,080 --> 00:16:28,960 So we will talk about content-based accommodations in other podcasts as well. 203 00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:34,480 If you are using a certain accommodation and you're not seeing a lot of benefit, please 204 00:16:34,480 --> 00:16:39,200 reach out to me and I'll be happy to talk about it in a podcast or an article and get 205 00:16:39,200 --> 00:16:42,920 you some information to make it useful. 206 00:16:42,920 --> 00:16:48,640 If you have questions about accommodations, especially for students with dyscalculia, because 207 00:16:48,640 --> 00:16:55,320 dyscalculia affects a different part of the brain than dyslexia, then dysgraphia, then 208 00:16:55,320 --> 00:16:57,320 ADHD. 209 00:16:57,320 --> 00:17:03,800 It's different than generalized anxiety disorder and it's different from trauma. 210 00:17:03,800 --> 00:17:11,000 All of these issues still impact learning and all of these issues still impact performance. 211 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:17,000 However, not every accommodation addresses the specific need. 212 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:22,320 So talking about accommodations and really analyzing what kind of benefit your student 213 00:17:22,320 --> 00:17:26,480 is getting from an accommodation will help you choose the right one. 214 00:17:26,480 --> 00:17:32,640 If you're the person who writes IEPs and writes accommodations and interventions, I like to 215 00:17:32,640 --> 00:17:37,120 say that in this case, more is more. 216 00:17:37,120 --> 00:17:38,560 It's not less is more. 217 00:17:38,560 --> 00:17:40,640 Give students every chance to be successful. 218 00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:43,800 Don't be stingy with your accommodations. 219 00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:51,160 You'd know which accommodations are best suited for which students and which situations. 220 00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:57,960 Again, if you have any other comments, questions or concerns about accommodations, please reach 221 00:17:57,960 --> 00:18:06,520 out, email me, Honora at educalclearning.com or visit the website educalclearning.com 222 00:18:06,520 --> 00:18:08,720 and send me your specific questions. 223 00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:13,600 I'll also be putting information on my Thinkific site. 224 00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:18,600 I have a course called All About Dyscalculia, which is free and I put up information as often 225 00:18:18,600 --> 00:18:19,600 as I can. 226 00:18:19,600 --> 00:18:24,520 If you need a direct link to that, go to the website or let me know. 227 00:18:24,520 --> 00:18:26,960 I hope this conversation was helpful. 228 00:18:26,960 --> 00:18:33,560 I know that accommodations are a real key to success for students with dyscalculia and 229 00:18:33,560 --> 00:18:39,760 using the self-regulation emotional approach that I talked about today will bring your 230 00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:42,240 students closer to success. 231 00:18:42,240 --> 00:18:44,160 Thanks for listening.