“Care-less” mistakes #mathlexia

The school year is almost here!

We still don’t have a clear picture of how it’s going to look, but one way or another, students will be back! 🙂

As I am working on the Educator Excellence satellite course for MAXLEXIA™ I am immersed in all things dyslexia and math!! Today I wanted to address something that has an emotional impact on many students with dyslexia… often they struggle in school and in particular in math. Some of these experiences have long lasting effects on their self-esteem. When students write math tests they sometimes get well-meaning feedback from the teacher indicating that they have some understanding of the concept, but their grades are negatively affected by “careless mistakes”. What are often called “careless” mistakes in math, actually are NOT. Dyslexic students need to work 5 times as hard in order to complete the same task as their classmates. They apply themselves and diligently complete their assignments and exams. The use of the word “careless” is perceived by a dyslexic student as somehow implying that they “care-less” about their schoolwork. This has a huge emotional impact on their self-esteem and their confidence in math. Not only are these mistakes not careless but they are caused by many layers:

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1. Brain speed– most students with dyslexia have strong intuitive abilities in math. When they see a math problem, their brain goes into hyperdrive speed and they see all the steps needed to get to the answer. Their brain is moving so quickly that often the mechanics of writing are unable to keep up and they drop terms or make other small errors as they are speeding through the answer.
2. Seeing– often dyslexic students are literally not seeing things in the way we intend them to or in the way we assume they are. Best question to ask a student who is stuck on a math problem is first, “what do you see?”
3. Impulsivity– many people with dyslexia also have aspects of ADD and ADHD. In math, this leads to impulsively grabbing and manipulating the numbers in a question without completely reading through the words.

Some things that DON”T work to help these students:

1. What seems like the most logical solution is to tell a student to “slow down”! In fact this doesn’t work for theses students, once they slow down they completely lose focus and lose track of where they were going in the solving of the math problem. “If i slow down, i fall into a dark pit”. This also plays out in word problems where one student described it by saying that if he slows down reading the question, he begins to just enjoy the print without any reading comprehension.
2. Reviewing work before turning in a test also seems logical to suggest however, this rarely works as the students never “see” the errors they’ve made. If anything, they need to start the problem over again from the beginning if they know they have done it incorrectly.

Some strategies that DO work:

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1. Vocalization– or as I call it “talk me through”. For a student with dyslexia, the kinaesthetic approach of talking out loud as they answer a math question, is a highly effective tool. This allows them to tap into the process they need to use to successfully solve math problems.
2. Scribe– The use of a scribe for math is rarely suggested but can be a highly effective approach for students struggling with the mechanics of handwriting or of organization of their work. The quick brain speed allows them to talk out the steps of the answer as a scribe writes is neatly and in a logical fashion for the teacher to correct.
3. Whiteboard– again, the brain speed paired with issues with the mechanics of writing can lead to very messy and hard to follow math tests. Providing a larger writing surface can help these students to be able to write more clearly and have a greater work space available to organize their thought process to solve the math questions.