As I continue down the bumpy road of educating our four kids, I am simply amazed at what each of us has learned.  However, during the last three years of homeschooling, my youngest son has taught me a great deal about learning differences-especially in the area of dyslexia.  It is my desire to share with you the helpful hints that I have discovered along the way.

This is what I know about dyslexia and how it affects math:

• Many struggle with directions of left and right.
• They also confuse the words over and under.
  
• And, visualizing numbers in place value form is challenging.

Math Struggle: Number Sense

• Standard Form: 1,992
• Word Name: one thousand nine hundred ninety-two
• Expanded Form: 1000 + 900 + 90 + 2

                    PLACE VALUE TEMPLATE

~This template is what my son used to complete problems in standard and expanded form.

~He was allowed to keep this place value template out until he could successfully complete both the standard and expanded forms as well as read numbers.

~Daily, he would have to write his numbers onto a template like this one.

 

~Because he was right-handed, I would say,  “The “0ne” pencil that you hold in your right hand will always be the “0ne” closest to the 0nes‘ column: the beginning of place value.”

I see templates as a way to create a new pathway (a systematic structure) into the brain.  Once this system is permanently etched into the brain, like a footprint in the sand, students with dyslexia, like my son,  are successfully able to move on to other mathematical concepts.