Math Help for Children with ADHD or Learning Disabilities

A dozen ways to improve math comprehension and testing for children with ADHD or learning disabilities.

4 Steps to Solving a Math Problem

1.  Read the problem through carefully. Make sure you understand exactly what the question is.
2.  Devise a plan to solve the problem. Choose which formulas you'll use, and decide the order in which to use them.
3.  Focus on each step of the problem individually. Take your time with each step.
4.  Always review your math. Ask yourself, "Does the answer seem reasonable? Does it make sense?" If not, repeat these steps.

  
Like it or hate it, we all need to study math.
Even if you don't find it the most thrilling subject, you'll certainly discover it's one of the most useful. You calculate the miles you run in the park, budget paychecks from your summer job, and before you know it, you'll be balancing your own checkbook. So having a sound knowledge of math really pays off.
But when you're a teenager with attention deficit disorder (ADD ADHD) or a learning disability, math poses many challenges. More than other subjects, math requires sustained attention and good test-taking ability. It's a cumulative subject, so you need to understand today's material in order to keep up with tomorrow's. The more advanced the math, the more sequential steps you'll need to solve problems.
If you're someone whose mind wanders, you can easily fall behind in math, even if you maintain good grades in other subjects. So whether you're working on equations in summer school, or getting ready for math class to resume in September, these useful tips can help you succeed in this essential subject.

Location, location

Identify any distractions that may be limiting your ability to stay focused. This may mean requesting a seat up front near the chalkboard, or away from a window or - sorry - your friends.

Speak up

For any school subject, perhaps even more so for mathematics, asking questions will help you pay attention. If you think you missed something, ask the teacher to repeat it. Chances are, someone else missed it too. Do you find you work better at a particular time of day? Ask your guidance counselor if you can schedule math for that particular time.

Solve problems

Math requires active - not passive - studying. In other words, you have to do math problems, not just think about how to do them. The more you practice problems, the better your math skills will become. Working on math consistently throughout the year, even in summer when school isn't in session and homework hasn't been assigned, will make formulas and techniques easier to master.

Keep things interesting

As a teen with ADHD, boredom may be your number-one enemy. If the doldrums set in, you'll have even more trouble concentrating than you usually do. So, instead of sitting at your desk for two hours being bored by your math homework, form a study group and make math fun. (Start a study group this summer, and all of you will have a head start on September's lessons.) Others can help you focus by making math interactive.
As a rule, the more challenging the material, the more time you'll have to spend on it. Suggest that your group meet once or twice a week. The end of the course will be more difficult, so meet with your study group more frequently as lessons get more involved. Also, think of ways to use the math concepts you are studying in class outside of class. For example, add up numbers relating to your budget, instead of just adding random ones, to make learning math skills more interesting.

The big test

Unlike English or history, where you may be graded on papers, math grades largely depend on tests. And while you probably won't be taking any until fall, it's never too early to start addressing test-taking anxiety. The condition is very common in students with ADHD - especially when the test is in math. Here are ways to lessen it:

Stay on top of your homework. 

Studying over an extended period instead of cramming the night before is a must. This helps transfer information from your short-term memory to your long-term memory, which will be easier to draw upon during the actual test - even if you're nervous. Ask your teacher for assistance in preparing far in advance. If you're on the border between a C and a B, and your teacher knows you put effort into studying, it could tip the scale in your favor

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Be your own advocate. 

Find out what accommodations are available at school, and ask for them. Maybe you'd like permission to use a calculator. If you feel anxious about finishing on time, ask for extra time. If you're easily distracted, ask to take the test in a quiet room away from the rest of the class.

Get a good night's sleep. 

And not just the night before the test. According to research done by Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, it's important to get sufficient sleep on a routine basis. Staying out late on weekends can affect how much information you retain during the week. If you're studying complex logic problems, for example, you can lose up to 30% of what you learn if you don't get enough sleep.

Eat and drink sensibly before a test. 

Avoid food and beverages that will lead to a "sugar crash" or make you feel drowsy. Protein snacks and plain old water are excellent test-taking fuels. Consumption of foods rich in choline - which stimulates the brain neurotransmitter acetylcholine and is found in fish, eggs, meat, and rice - may help improve memory.

Address both the mental and physical components of test-anxiety. 

Stress-management tools, like exercise, yoga, and meditation, can help. Start making these rituals part of your routine this summer. During the test, take deep breaths, concentrate on which muscles feel tense. Experiment with visualization. Picture a serene scene, like a waterfall or a beautiful forest. If you practice these techniques before the exam, by the day of the test, you should have no trouble relaxing. And always arrive early for an exam, or you'll send your relaxation skills down the drain.

Get up.

 If you're like most people with ADHD, you find sitting for a long time difficult. When you can, take a bathroom break. Break your pencil and go sharpen it. Stretch in your seat
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Be positive. 

The second aspect of test anxiety is mental, and you can start addressing this now. If you tend to make negative comments about your abilities, change them to positive ones. Focus your thoughts on the test - not on your performance. Above all, remember that a test grade is not a reflection of who you are, nor does it predict future success.

Reward yourself after the exam. 

It doesn't matter how well you think you did. It's the effort that counts, and preparing is hard work, so celebrate.


Article retrieved from:
 http://www.additudemag.com/adhd/article/963.html

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Teachers' Gestures Boost Math Learning

Mar. 29, 2013 — Students perform better when their instructors use hand gestures -- a simple teaching tool that could yield benefits in higher-level math such as algebra.

A study published in Child Development, the top-ranked educational psychology journal, provides some of the strongest evidence yet that gesturing may have a unique effect on learning. Teachers in the United States tend to use gestures less than teachers in other countries.
"Gesturing can be a very beneficial tool that is completely free and easily employed in classrooms," said Kimberly Fenn, study co-author and assistant professor of psychology at Michigan State University. "And I think it can have long-lasting effects."

Fenn and Ryan Duffy of MSU and Susan Cook of the University of Iowa conducted an experiment with 184 second-, third- and fourth-graders in Michigan elementary classrooms.
Half of the students were shown videos of an instructor teaching math problems using only speech. The others were shown videos of the instructor teaching the same problems using both speech and gestures.

The problem involved mathematical equivalence (i.e., 4+5+7=__+7), which is known to be critical to later algebraic learning. In the speech-only videos, the instructor simply explains the problem. In the other videos, the instructor uses two hand gestures while speaking, using different hands to refer to the two sides of the equation.

Students who learned from the gesture videos performed better on a test given immediately afterward than those who learned from the speech-only video.

Another test was given 24 hours later, and the gesture students actually showed improvement in their performance while the speech-only students did not.

While previous research has shown the benefits of gestures in a one-on-one tutoring-style environment, the new study is the first to test the role of gestures in equivalence learning in a regular classroom.

The study also is the first to show that gestures can help students transfer learning to new contexts -- such as transferring the knowledge learned in an addition-based equation to a multiplication-based equation.

Fenn noted that U.S. students lag behind those in many other Western countries in math and have a particularly hard time mastering equivalence problems in early grades.
"So if we can help them grasp this foundational knowledge earlier," she said, "it will help them as they learn algebra and higher levels of mathematics."


Article retrieved from: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130329125105.htm#.UVjxsQgeP44.facebook

Images retrieved from:  http://en.showchina.org/Features/14/06/200909/W020090915576380755878.jpg and http://www.demotivation.us/media/demotivators/demotivation.us_A-good-teacher-When-you-forget-the-sound-of-the-bell_130593024945.jpg

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Pros and Cons of Baby Walkers :Everything a Mom Want to Know about Baby Walkers

There are many advantages of using baby walker. One is to be proud of giving a valuable gift to the babies and the baby will be happy inside it. So if we put the baby in walker then parents can do all the works without any tension. They think that the baby may walk more earlier.

Due to the above reasons when the child reaches the age of 5months the parents’ forced to buy the baby walker for their babies. But they are not even remembered of its side effects caused by these baby walkers. When the number of accidents caused by these walkers the Government of Canada prohibited this in Canada . Read my previous hub on BabyDiapers
Side effects caused by baby walkers.


* The recent studies brought out that children who uses the Baby walker will walk slower that the others. So that there will be a difference of about 2 to 3 weeks.
* Usually the bones above to that of knee help in walking but the child who uses the baby walker is done with the help of the bones below the knees.
* Since the child in the baby walker keeps on walking the tendency of manual walking arises slowly only. So the child may not even get the balance of walking. Hence, they walk later than that of others.
* Many walkers are designed in such a way that the baby cannot see their legs while walking. They cannot even recognize that they walk with the help of their legs.
* The children even show some different mode of walking than that of an ordinary child. The legs of those child are bended than that of an ordinary child. So that the way of walking may change and even becomes difficult to change as that of an ordinary man.
* Within a few time the child can reach wherever he needs with the help of the walker.

So that the other members of the family should be aware of this fact and should not keeps poisonous or any such items to their reach. Dangerous things like knife, needles, pins etc have to be kept safe elsewhere. Items such as sharp-headed furniture, door sides are to be always noted that they are moved from the way of fully opened so that to avoid accidents to the little ones.

By Kevin Peter
Retrieved from http://hubpages.com/hub/Pros-and-Cons-of-Baby-Walkers

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