1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:11,000 Hello and welcome to What in the World is Dyscalculia presented by Educalc Learning and hosted by me, Dr. Honora Wall. 2 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:24,000 Dyscalculia Specialist, Tutor, Teacher, and Teacher Trainer. I really enjoy helping students realize that they are mathematical thinkers. 3 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:36,000 They are mathematicians and they can succeed at math in the classroom, in life, in their job, just in general. 4 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:40,000 They can become better than they think they can at math. 5 00:00:40,000 --> 00:01:08,000 And as an extension of that work, I've started working in the area of training other educators about Dyscalculia, what it is, what do the leading researchers say, what are we finding out, what questions do we still need to ask, and how can we support our students in the classroom. 6 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:21,000 So that's what we're talking about in these podcast episodes, and I'm very glad that you are with us and learning along beside me and the other educators listening. 7 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:34,000 We also have a lot of families who listen, parents whose children have Dyscalculia, and some students who want to know more about themselves as learners and why they struggle so much with math. 8 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:38,000 And I hope this podcast answers some of your questions as well. 9 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:52,000 If you have questions or topics you'd like to hear on a future podcast, please reach out to me, Honora at educalc learning.com, or go to the website, educalclearning.com. 10 00:01:52,000 --> 00:02:05,000 See what kind of information I have there, I'm always putting up new information as often as I can, and I can be reached through there if you have any questions or comments. 11 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:16,000 You can also find a link to my training courses, and if you are looking for some individual information, take one of the online courses. 12 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:20,000 Some are free, some have a cost associated with them. 13 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:35,000 I also do in person presentations at conferences around the country throughout the year, and I do in person or virtual training for schools, school districts, and education consortiums. 14 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:42,000 I'd be happy to come talk to your group, reach out, and I can give you some more information about that. 15 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:54,000 Speaking of information, today in this podcast, I want to revisit using the calculator as an accommodation. 16 00:02:54,000 --> 00:03:01,000 Now this one gets a lot of pushback, especially from elementary school teachers, which I understand. 17 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:11,000 In elementary school, we're trying to build on numeracy, we're trying to get those basic facts, and in many states, that's become the language in the math. 18 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:21,000 In the math standards, memorization of basic facts for adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing. 19 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:37,000 This is a real problem that a lot of specialists and researchers are speaking out against, and Jo Boaler out of Stanford has some amazing information and has a lot of strong opinions about this, 20 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:45,000 and makes a great case for why the language of our standards is very important, and in this case, could be very damaging. 21 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:49,000 For students with dyscalculia, it's almost impossible to meet this standard. 22 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:54,000 Dyscalculia causes the parietal lobe to lose math information. 23 00:03:54,000 --> 00:04:03,000 It specifically targets the portion of the brain where we save math knowledge, and it operates almost like a colander. 24 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:08,000 That information goes in, and then it goes right back out. 25 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:19,000 Different people lose that information at a different rate of time, but it's pretty standard for all people with dyscalculia that those basic facts just don't stick. 26 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:35,000 So for my elementary educators and tutors and administrators listening, how do we meet a standard that goes against the learning disability some of our students have? 27 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:44,000 And for parents listening, how do we support our students who are expected to do something that their brains are not doing? 28 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:49,000 This is not something they are choosing to do. You can work with flashcards all day long. 29 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:55,000 You can have those crying fights, which I really hope that you just stop. There's nothing happening. 30 00:04:55,000 --> 00:05:05,000 In elementary or middle school math, there requires the family to be crying and fighting and arguing and mad at each other. 31 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:09,000 Please just let the homework go. 32 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:12,000 Don't have those negative experiences. 33 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:19,000 Okay, while you're making positive experiences, you'd also like for your student to feel accomplished and to pass math. 34 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:22,000 So how do we make that happen? 35 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:34,000 As we get into older grades, especially fourth, fifth, sixth, that calculator use is really crucial, because in those older grades, now we're talking about formulas. 36 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:41,000 We're talking about procedural steps, which are also difficult for people with dyscalculia. 37 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:50,000 We're introducing new vocabulary, improper fractions, mixed numbers, perimeter, area, volume. 38 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:59,000 We're doing problem solving. Those are different skills than memorizing basic facts. 39 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:08,000 In a perfect world for people who do not have dyscalculia, we are hoping that students learn those basic facts and have them stuck in their head 40 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:15,000 because it frees up mental energy so that they can focus on the new concepts we're trying to teach them. 41 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:23,000 We also hope that they have those basic facts at the ready, because then they can move quickly through the problems. 42 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:27,000 They can finish more practice work and strengthen their skills. 43 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:33,000 So that's the whole reason why we push for memorizing these basic facts. 44 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:37,000 We can use them later when we're doing other work. 45 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:45,000 And with our modern math curriculum, we've shoved so many older concepts into younger grade levels, whether or not they're developmentally appropriate, 46 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:51,000 whether or not we've given any depth to our teaching, we're just racing through. 47 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:55,000 And that's another reason why having those basic facts memorized can be helpful. 48 00:06:55,000 --> 00:07:02,000 So what do we do for students who literally cannot memorize and retain those basic facts? 49 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:09,000 We give them the support tools they need so they can succeed. 50 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:20,000 For younger students in second, third, and the beginning of fourth grade, it can be hard for a lot of teachers to let go of that memorization piece. 51 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:30,000 For your students who do not have a learning disability, they can practice, use flashcards, learn the nice songs, 52 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:38,000 read the storybooks, and that can help them memorize their basic facts and recall them later. 53 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:43,000 But it's that recall piece that is missing for your students with dyscalculia, 54 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:46,000 and that's why they're not moving ahead with that memorization. 55 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:50,000 And it's affecting literally everything else that they're doing. 56 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:59,000 If you really don't feel comfortable giving a student a calculator, at the very least, give them a 1-100 chart, 57 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:08,000 so that they can add and subtract and round and estimate and see numbers in context. 58 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:13,000 Students with dyscalculia are not developing a mental number line. 59 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:19,000 We'll talk about that in an approximate number sense in other podcasts. 60 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:28,000 But for today, you need to know that your students who are doing this work without an issue already have a mental number line 61 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:32,000 that their brain is accessing without them even realizing what they're doing. 62 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:35,000 They already have an internal support system. 63 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:47,000 You need to give an external support system to the students who have a learning disability that causes them to not be doing it on their own. 64 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:52,000 When we get into the multiplication and division basic facts, 65 00:08:52,000 --> 00:09:03,000 I strongly recommend that you give students either a times tables list, not a chart, or you make sheets. 66 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:08,000 Make 12 of them. Take 12 1-100 charts. 67 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:15,000 And for the multiples of 2, you circle 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and so on. 68 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:22,000 Multiples of 3, you're going to circle 3, 6, 9, 12, and so on. 69 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:26,000 Multiples of 12, you're going to circle. See if you can guess. 70 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:30,000 The 12, the 24, the 36, and so on. 71 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:35,000 Laminate these sheets. Have them all over your classroom and let students use them. 72 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:41,000 They are still going to need extended time because they have to go search for their answers individually. 73 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:46,000 They still have to do the work of finding the right answer. Verifying. 74 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:53,000 Okay, if I'm doing 6 times 7, I need to either find the 6's sheet or the 7 sheet. 75 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:57,000 I need to count these circles and see what 6 times 7 is going to be. 76 00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:02,000 But they're also seeing the multiplication in a pattern. 77 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:05,000 They're seeing numbers in context. 78 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:13,000 And that can help enrich the ways they are seeing patterns and multiplying and dividing. 79 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:18,000 And hopefully that will help their brains store information in more than just the parietal lobe, 80 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:22,000 which will help them strengthen their knowledge and help them recall it later. 81 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:29,000 It's also going to allow them to pass your math class, which is incredibly important. 82 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:37,000 As John Dewey has elaborated on in a much better way than I can, but I can paraphrase him, 83 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:44,000 students need to reflect on successful activities to deepen and increase their learning. 84 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:54,000 If your students with dyscalculia never experience any success because of a barrier that we've put in place of their success, 85 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:59,000 then they don't have that experience to reflect on. They cannot get deeper in their learning. 86 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:06,000 We can use a list, a bunch of sheets, showing the patterns of multiplication, 87 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:10,000 and help them have success so they can reflect. 88 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:19,000 For division, you could use those pattern sheets, or you could use the old-fashioned list of the times tables. 89 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:25,000 You know what I'm talking about. It's a vertical list, starts with 1 times 1, goes through 1 times 12, 90 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:32,000 and the next column starts with 2 times 1, and goes through 2 times 12, and so on. 91 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:38,000 Those are great because they also show the pattern involved in multiplication. 92 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:46,000 They're very handy for division because students can look down the answer part of a column, 93 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:55,000 then look to the left and see exactly which two numbers were used to get that answer. 94 00:11:55,000 --> 00:12:01,000 This is a faster way for them to use division and find their right answer, 95 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:08,000 but they're still having to look it up. They're still doing more work than the students whose brains are just memorizing for them, 96 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:14,000 and they still need some extended time, but it can put division in context. 97 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:22,000 I like using those times tables lists because it helps with least common multiple, greatest common factor, 98 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:30,000 it helps create equivalent fractions, it supports and gives scaffolding to the numeracy piece, 99 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:35,000 which is missing for students with dyscalculia. 100 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:41,000 Also, you're giving them different ways of seeing the information, experiencing these numbers. 101 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:47,000 They have the social activity of being in a classroom, looking up the information, 102 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:52,000 talking with you about what they think the right answer is and verifying their work, 103 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:58,000 and all of those pieces are experiences that could be stored in different parts of the brain. 104 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:02,000 That's one of our goals, especially at elementary school level, 105 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:09,000 because we need to help students store math information outside of just the parietal lobe. 106 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:21,000 We want to help them memorize their day because they're not going to memorize those basic math facts. 107 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:28,000 When you're in third and fourth grade, I would tell you to use the times tables list, 108 00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:34,000 use those patterns of multiplication on your laminated 1-100 sheets, 109 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:42,000 and seriously consider using a calculator because you're giving your students so much work to do 110 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:47,000 that involves other processes that we really don't want to hold them back 111 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:53,000 from having to search for answers on those times tables lists. 112 00:13:53,000 --> 00:14:01,000 We need for them to complete the worksheets on perimeter and area and adding decimals 113 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:06,000 and learning the rules for multiplying decimals, and there's different rules for dividing decimals. 114 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:12,000 We don't want them to be held back by also having to search for answers 115 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:15,000 because it takes a ton of time and mental energy. 116 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:18,000 There's a reason why your students are frustrated in class 117 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:24,000 and why they're going home exhausted and having a meltdown at the end of the day. 118 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:29,000 The work we expect them to do takes so much more out of them 119 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:36,000 because they're working so much harder than our students who don't have a learning disability. 120 00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:44,000 Using the right support tools avoids the meltdown, the breakdown, the frustration, 121 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:52,000 and also we don't want to tie those negative experiences into every time we think about math class. 122 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:56,000 We think about how we had a meltdown and it was stressful and we were wrong anyway. 123 00:14:56,000 --> 00:15:03,000 This is one of the biggest barriers to math success in late middle school and high school. 124 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:12,000 The irony is that once we get into high school math, it's so much easier for students with dyscalculia to be successful. 125 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:17,000 High school math is so much easier for them for a number of reasons, 126 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:25,000 which I'll talk about in different podcast episodes and I'll try to get more information about that on the website for you as well. 127 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:34,000 Right now I'm fleshing out the reasons behind that for my certification training for teachers. 128 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:40,000 Certification for teaching students with dyscalculia will be rolling that out soon 129 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:47,000 and if your district or your school is interested in training some dyscalculia specialists on staff, 130 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:53,000 please reach out because we want to have as many teachers as possible. 131 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:58,000 We want to be well versed in helping students with this learning disability. 132 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:03,000 But getting back to today's topic, by the time we get to high school, 133 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:13,000 succeeding in math is easier for students with dyscalculia, except they have so many horrible memories of elementary school math 134 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:16,000 that most of them have given up. 135 00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:26,000 We can change their future trajectory if we give them the right support tools in elementary. 136 00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:32,000 I strongly encourage you to put calculator use into your IEP language. 137 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:40,000 If you're getting pushback for that, at the very least put in one to one hundredth chart times tables list, 138 00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:51,000 not the chart because a multiplication chart requires an entirely different skill set of looking inside the rectangle to find the answers. 139 00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:57,000 And if your students have visual spatial skills, which many people with dyscalculia have, 140 00:16:57,000 --> 00:17:01,000 if they have a weaker working memory, they're losing their place. 141 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:05,000 If their finger wanders over the page, then they've got the wrong answer. 142 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:13,000 The list is much more direct, much more accurate, much more precise. 143 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:21,000 And that's another thing we want for our students, accuracy and precision, as they are getting the right answer. 144 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:30,000 So the chart works very well for students who do not have dyscalculia or for older students in fifth and sixth grade 145 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:36,000 who have had a few years of working with the right support tools and now they're ready for that chart. 146 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:45,000 But in the beginning, go with the list, go with the pattern sheets, use the calculator. 147 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:52,000 This is the appropriate accommodation for elementary students who have dyscalculia. 148 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:54,000 And I encourage you to try it. 149 00:17:54,000 --> 00:18:00,000 If you have any comments or questions, if you'd like to know how I've done this successfully with my students 150 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:07,000 and how it helps them, even when they get to standardized tests where they do not have that same accommodation, 151 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:15,000 because I've seen that success happen too, please reach out to me and I'm happy to address your topic in a future podcast 152 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:19,000 or email you back some information directly. 153 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:22,000 I'm Dr. Honora Wall. 154 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:26,000 If you would like more information, please visit educalclearning.com 155 00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:53,000 and thank you for listening to the What in the World is Dyscalculia podcast.