Math aids for handwriting-challenged kids?

[GoddessOfGuinness]

Math is my kid's toughest subject, even more so when it comes to copying/solving problems neatly on the page. His difficulty with spacing numbers properly and lining them up in the right columns leads to serious confusion, especially now that he's multiplying 4 digit numbers! I've been drawing vertical lines around each column, but it's pretty time-consuming.

Does anyone know if there's special "math paper" available that could help shave time off the handwriting element, so we can focus on solving the problems?

Thanks! :hi:

[mzteris]

1. graph paper -

the larger kind.

They don't have to exactly write a "number in a square" - but it still helps with alighment.

Or, if you don't have any, turn the notebook paper sideways.

Another thing I always did is write the problem out for my son to work. That way I could get the spacing "right" to begin with (and a little extra room between numbers). We really worked at keeping the columns aligned.

I will also say that it wasn't just the handwriting that was the problem with his earlier written math. He had trouble remembering the "pattern" for multi-digit multiplication and division.

Of course he also has dyscalcula so "immediate retrieval" of info was also an issue.

I said f it a long time ago and let him use a calculator. (And yes, he KNEW the theory - which a lot of kids don't and just use the calc for the answer.) It just took him so damn long to write, and write neatly - that it was slowing his learning down. His BRAIN could handle a lot more, a lot more quickly and I decided that the whole writing thing was just holding him back.

The funny thing was, though, after a while (year or so) of using the calculator, his retrieval was much faster (he had the picture in his head).

We also just went to Algebra. Talk about trying to keep things LINED UP. . . yikes. But it really helped him in the long run. He was so psyched and invested in "learning Algebra" that worked harder at it. And he used all the same skills that he'd be using in learning lower level "math". Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division. And most especially - word problems.


There is a yahoo group for kids with dysgraphia, btw. I got a lot of good info from there for years.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

2. Graph paper's a good idea...

He needs the lines on the bottom as well as on the sides. It helps when we draw columns for him. I also found that we have to keep him focused on the page. Sometimes he looks away briefly, and forgets which column he was working with.

I let him use the computer for composition and spelling, and we trade off completing his other subjects' workbooks, though he always dictates the answer for me to write.

I'll check out that Yahoo group...Thanks for the tip!

:hi:

[mzteris]

3. when my son was younger

I made a "window" for him to use with his math problems. You can use one piece of cardboard if everything is uniform, or use two "L" shapes so you can adjust from large to small, etc.

I would put the problem he was working on in the "window" so he wasn't distracted by the other problems.

I found that "OLD" math books worked better because they weren't trying to be "entertaining". No pretty pictures and snappy comments or pullouts. No bright colors and "eye-catching" graphics. All of these served to distract my son so much, he could never finish in a reasonable amount of time.

Have you ever read any of Mel Levine's books? (I just recommended one in another thread and that made me think of it.)

A Mind at a Time, is one - and The Myth of Laziness is the other.

Typically dysgraphia doesn't exist in a vacuum - there are comorbid. These books might help you identify any other lurking differences.

Oh yeah, there's a website that helped me, too: http://www.neurolearning.com/index.htm - I liked reading the "blog entries" - and if you email them a question, they'll usually answer it.