I've never heard the term "minute math" before, but it doesn't sound so bad, as long as it isn't overdone.
Some background: ds's processing speed is low average. There is over 4 standard deviations between that and his VCI.
My DS's processing speed is low average. It is over 4 standard deviations lower than his math fluency. So low processing speed isn't necessarily a handicap when it comes to timed math tests.
I'm sure not, but it is in ds's case. I've seen it in action: pressure makes him shut down.
Minute math may seem innocuous, and in the early years it may well be. It's supposed to prove that a student is comfortable enough with their math facts that they can be retrieved automatically. When the student is in the later grades, I would think it's no longer necessary to prove that and what it does is reinforce the misconception that one must be quick in math to be proficient. It's simply not true.
Can you suggest that your son be allowed to establish a "personal best" time for completion?
Honestly-- doing that makes a WORLD of difference with DD and I both on these {muttering curse} things.
It's not that we CANNOT do them in the allotted time-- it's that the pressure is
so extreme and our perfectionistic tendencies so profound, that we tend to freeze like deer in headlights, watching the CLOCK as much as using metacognition to monitor our own task-performance.
Neither one of us has a processing speed problem. Only an anxiety one associated with this kind of nonsense.
When I saw that developing in DD, I refused to have her do any more of this "60 seconds to complete this sheet" baloney.
She WAS able to do it as "when you're finished, write down the time on the timer" and we'd compare how much FASTER she was getting with time.
Mentally, that one subtle shift was a complete game changer for her-- it felt less punitive (Oh, look, you FAILED to finish 'in time') and more rewarding (Look-- ten seconds faster than last week!).
