Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Advice Welcome on How to Mitigate Math Anxiety

and careless mistakes.


Once again, my ds13 is dealing with math anxiety. I'm talking about full-on gets hot enough to start sweating if he sees something new, or if he's confused about something, or if he makes mistakes. He often shuts down.

Background: NC is notoriously bad at teaching math, so though he was first identified because of math ability and he entered Duke Tip because of a math score, he has increasingly lost his love for math and his confidence. He's not fast but used to be accurate. I think he's tried to push himself to be faster and has lost his accuracy.

He's in a compacted 8th grade/High School Math 1 course. He skipped 6th grade math altogether, and although I suspect he didn't miss much, when kids in his class are reviewing concepts, many times they are new to him.

This year is particularly hard on his confidence because if he doesn't show all his work, all his steps, he gets things wrong or half credit. He recently failed a test because of careless mistakes and the teacher said that it was obvious he understood the material but the careless mistakes got him. His response? "I must be dumb. I can't do it."

Sigh.

Of course, I don't accept or encourage that powerless approach to problems. DH had the idea that more practice would help him learn to calculate quickly and accurately. Sounds reasonable. But how do I help his confidence? I feel like this is a kid who has repeatedly gotten the shaft where math is concerned. We tried a tutor and he was simply wrong in every way.

KADmom,

Your DS reminds me of my older DD13. She was TAG identified since 1st grade but there was no strcutured acceleration in elementary school. When we moved to new school in 6th grade, the TAG class Math students are learning bottom half of 7th and 8th grade, so basically she skipped a year and half. Her struggle started near the end of 1st semester. We wanted her to unskip but she pleaded us to let her stay in. (We thought her younger sister was breathing down her neck (they both got the same score on EXPLORE) and she needed space). There were some gaps and after 2 years and some, she finally caught up with her peers (or may be because Geometry is easier than Algebra I).

I would give him the option of unskipping but reminds him that he was good in Math and that's why he got to skip in the first place. Once he fills the gaps, he would be fine. If you don't have the textbook, here's a good resource for Math. http://www.mathopolis.com/questions/skills.php?year=6

My DS15 gets Anxiety like this with writing, he can write well but he sometimes just full on freezes and writes nothing. I feel for you, it's so frustrating and hard to work with.

Since it's possible he HAS missed something by skipping Math 6, have you considered finding a math program like ALEKS (http://www.aleks.com/) and having him work through at his own pace say their Algebra readiness program. I'm suggesting ALEKS because it assess for where a a child has gaps and teaches to those gaps. There might be other online programs like this out there that might be better. I don't know how much aleks has changed over the past year when it was bought by McGrawHill.

Other than that for the anxiety, I have taken my son to a psychologist. I did this first in 6th grade and that initially helped a lot, he taught my son a lot of ways to handle his stress. Now I take my son to a psychologist that specializes in gifted kids and I believe it's been helpful. She has been helping him with his anxiety and depression, as well as his social skills.

Thanks, Peter. I appreciate the advice and the tip.

I'm keeping the option of taking him to talk to someone open. We've taught him deep breathing and that has helped some. It's clear though that it's not enough.

One thing that I've just started doing is showing him a word problem or a problem similar but not the same as he's done in the past and have him sit with it calmly and try to figure out how to solve with the tools he has. He's very, very caught up in worrying about the exact, right way to solve something. I'm trying to teach him he already has quite a few of the tools he needs. He used to know this, which is why he could score so highly on above level math tests. Something has happened in the last year and a half.

What is High School Math 1?

It seems with math you run into concepts that you might struggle with a bit then you get into an area that you deal with fine. On the flip side others may be the exact opposite.

Fighting Invisible Tigers: A stress Management Guide for Teens.

My ds11 in 6th grade went over this book in the first 5 weeks of this school year in Science class. I think it is a must for these kids or any kid these days. The school gave everyone a book went over each chapter and had chats everyday about dealing with stress. I believe 3 times they had a psych come in and chat with the kids and did exercises and Q&A sessions. It kind of freaked my ds out at the start but he ended up with some real solutions for identifying and battling stress.

mecreature,

First, thank you. That book interests me; I'll look into ordering it.

High School Math is essentially Integrated Math 1 which theoretically is supposed to link Algebra and Geometry. The thinking behind it is if a kid isn't strong in one, the other will carry him to a passing grade. Thinking high, our state. (Sorry, I'm disgusted with policy not teachers.)

I think the discussions that happened around reading the book was a beneficial if not more then reading the actual book.

A good tutor might really help too. Not just for math but sometime a Tutor can help build confidence if it is lacking. My ds11 when in 4th grade had a wonderful senior boy from the local high sit with him once a week. Sometimes 2 times a week on request from my ds. They would go over a few things and sometimes just sit and chat. It was a great experience for my ds and the tutor I think.

High School Math 1 is part of the new Common Core curriculum. I learned the details of this myself this past week. Math 1, Math 2, Math 3 covers the same topics as Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II but in a more "integrated" way. Common Core allows states/school districts to choose one path or the other. Most states are moving towards adopting these new standards.

Math 1 does not start at the beginning of what used to be an Algebra course. It expects a students has taken Grade 8 Common Core, and that class includes basic Algebra, factoring & solving two equations and two unknowns as well as what used to be the beginning of Geometry. A compacted Grade 8/Math 1 course would be probably trying to do the second half of Grade 8, 1/2 of the Algebra I course, and 1/2 of the Geometry course.

This change to Common Core is quite stressful for a lot of students & teachers and I think many junior high kids have turned into guinea pigs in this process. Not good for your child obviously. It's not just your state that is doing this to the kids.

Agree that back-filling any gaps can really really help when confidence is lost, so a resource that would allow for quick scan to identify/ address missing pieces can help.

Not a solution, but possibly an article that might help back you up a bit, is on AoPS: Dealing with Hard Problems. www.artofproblemsolving.com/Resources/articles.php?page=hardproblems

So hard when you see so much ability and all they see is inability.