DD11's previous math tutor finally had success helping her to learn multiplications by inventing silly (honestly, very ridiculous) songs. It looked to me like the two of them made them up as they went. She is In grade six this year and is now getting anxious about knowing HOW to attack a problem the right way rather than freaking out at the idea of doing math at all. She does a decent job with mental math facts and that is about 6000 times farther than I ever thought she would be if you had asked me three years ago!
DD has ADHD (her working memory is 30%-ile), dyslexia and dysgraphia. There was always a suspect of dyscalcula but no formal diagnosis. Her previous tutor also worked with a child with dyscalcula and noted that our DD had similar struggles. We weren't able to find an app that worked. DD just hated math in all forms. What worked? Using her strengths! Looking it back it makes so much sense. She is verbally gifted and learned best when we just started to talk and sing about it. Now, we just have to invent a musical math curriculum....
