Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional What to do about Math Disability?

Thanks everyone. I'm one of those people who easily picked up patterns and shortcuts so I am not the right person to help her with this. It's nice to hear that there are fully functioning adults - very intelligent adults - who can operate in the real world without basic math skills. I will keep some of your success stories in my hip pocket to bring out when she needs some encouragement.

TouchMath was recommended by the neuropsych who diagnosed her almost 3 years ago. It wasn't really effective. She has every conceivable accommodation - uses calculators, "cheat sheets", number banks, etc. I thought songs and finger tricks would help and they were included in last year's IEP but I don't see any kind of improvement. None. I loaded every possible fun math program onto her iPad and she still plays some. Mostly 1st grade level ones. Again, I don't see any automaticity or fluidity - she counts on her fingers for every answer within every game.

The article Spaghetti linked is great - I hadn't seen that before. She has severe dyslexia and dysgraphia as well as major visual perception issues - really just about every possible LD and all in their most severe forms. Because she is so smart many adults did not recognize that she was disabled and treated her terribly. This led to school anxiety and the math portion was compounded by a second grade teacher who just wouldn't or couldn't understand the situation or implement the IEP. When her para was out the teacher acted as if DD's disabilities just disappeared culminating in a day when she was told - along with the rest of the class - no one is allowed to count on their fingers anymore. You have to know the answers "just like that" (snapping fingers). DD was given the same set of non-differentiated math flash cards the other kids had already mastered, sent to "practice" with a friend and had the whole stack sent home as extra homework. All a violation of her IEP and the trigger for major issues. She just stood staring at the stack of math problems shaking uncontrollably. I think it was a full fledged panic attack... After that my little rule follower just couldn't accept that it was really ok for her to count on her fingers and math became a demon on her back. Fortunately 2 years at the spec Ed school has allowed her to fully accept her challenges and understand that she "learns differently and that's ok..." Recent eval indicates that anxiety diagnosis no longer applies. Now if someone were to make a remark about her "cheating" by using her fingers or a calculator I think she would look them square in the eye and explain that she has learning disabilities so has to do things differently. "This is the way I need to learn" whereas before she would have retreated, been filled with self loathing and we would have had to spend weeks or months trying to convince her to try again with the accommodations.

So from what you all are telling me it sounds like Key Math is the right instrument to evaluate her even though it doesn't clarify the problems. They read off all her subtest scores and nothing was out of the "average" range. Nothing sticking out as lower than the others but geometry being much higher than the others. And yes, logic is a strong suit for her. (She had a grade level equivalency of >17.7 on the Analysis-Synthesis part of Fluid Reasoning.)

2E specialist suggested doing an outside consultation with a math specialist. No one with our district or the school (or my consultant for that matter) had ever heard of such a person. Have any of you heard of a special Ed math "specialist"?

Ok so I will go into the meeting and

- accept having them readminister the Key Math eval

- have them go back to pre-K level math and try to plug any holes

- let them select the math curriculum unless there is a recommendation here

- does it pay to try again with TouchMath?

- accept that like spelling and handwriting it may be time to throw in the towel on remediation

- I'm thinking I want to try one more time, though, with going back to the beginning and using Cuisinnaire Rods and manipulatives just in case it works

- focus on reasonable real world solutions and work arounds

- hope that if VT helps it may open this pathway too...

DD has recently developed an interest in Helen Keller. I guess that's not too surprising and think it may help her make sense of all the challenges she faces.

For me I have been trying to remind myself that we have gotten the anxiety and migraines under control, have gotten her to the point of decoding on grade level (although it's at least 6 grades below her comprehension level), have her OOD in a spec Ed placement with an individualized curriculum (including HS level literature), are working on the CAPD and VT. It would be SO much easier to understand, research and rehabilitate any one of these things solo. But combined? Wow - such a wild ride.

Thanks so much for all you input. I really appreciate it.

ETA: MichelleC we cross posted. Thank you! Awesome site. I just shared the link with folks at school and district.