At our school many children are having struggles with the Math. Struggles with Math or any subject is not necessarily a sign of a disability. It can be the methods used to teach, child's attention and other things.

I would ask does the class use manipulatives? I would also ask if you have access to the Math curriculum online? It is usually free

Many bright children struggle with Math especially as they go from concrete to more abstract concepts.
I would speak with the teacher, ask about how the curriculum works, go online to the curriculum and use manipulatives at home.

I hope this helps.

Yes, I do. My son is really struggling with Math. I'm trying very hard to get him to understand the very basics of math. I am starting all the way again from the very beginning. I just have to be patient with him. He's now going to Bryant School in Teaneck NJ and I hope they do a good job with him!

i agree with a pp. look into manipulatives. there are several ways children learn. some kids are tactile and need to count objects, others need to see the objects. Cook with them. Make games to help with addition, subtraction.

Hey I am having the same problem with my 2nd grader. I noticed that he has a hard time counting coins. Im trying to actually show him the different coins let him feel them to see if that helps. Try cooking with him and let him add the ingredients

There is technology that can help as well. KidSpiration and the Mighty Math series are also a help. They are not that expensive and you can always use a free trial.
Also try to use real-world situations...if we are speaking of money, maybe we should go to the store and use that as a chance to identify coins, count change, etc. Helping children understand the "So what" of why they learn a thing is good.
Another idea is error analysis. If we can pinpoint the types of errors then we can create interventions for those errors. A few books I like to use are Robert Ashlocks - Error patterns in computation, Helene J. Sherman, et. al. - Teaching Learners who struggle with mathematics and the Council for Exceptional Children's - Universal design for learning.
Sometimes kids have problems with the way certain things are taught. We may just need to try different methods for teaching and like everyone has said, make it fun. Yahooo

Ialso am having problems with my boy who's in the second grade as well. But my boy was diagnosed with D.H.P. with is a very light almost unrecognizable form of Autism. I currently spend time studying and look for fun ways to make math fun instead of stressful for him. I also listen to other parents suggestions and advise.

Hi dlpz86:

I noticed you mentioned your son has autism, and I was wondering what D.H.P. is?

I'm worried bc my daughter has already proclaimed (a la Barbie a few years back) that "I'm no good at math"!!

My daughter was diagnosed with a math disability in second grade. I have searched for math programs that I hoped would help solve her problems, but unfortunately I haven't found anything that is great. It seems to me like the educational community is much farther along in providing assistance in reading than in math. The main thing that has worked with her is persistence and repetition. Her second grade teacher gave my daughter one word problem every night. Those problems were quite difficult for her, but somewhere along the line some things started to click. Manipulatives also sometimes help, and in other cases, we are pushing memorization (like times tables). Other things have backfired on me. I tried taking my daughter to the store a few times to have her use money, but she struggles to understand money. Therefore, I would end up helping her at the checkout so she doesn't hold up the line forever or get too embarrassed. I read a book written by a girl with a math disability who never learned to use money. It's called My Thirteenth Winter. It was interesting to read. Overall though, my daughter is getting better at math, but it's been a struggle. It's definitely worth the fight though in the elementary years. I have heard about kids sliding by in the early years, and then running into real problems in middle school. Math builds so much that it's essential to get some of those basics down. Now in fourth grade, my daughter still uses her fingers a lot to add and subtract, but she's getting better with time and work.

funbrain.com and funschool.com both have a wealth of activities at all different grade levels.
Here are some tips for working with story problems at any age:
Try creating an academic word back to help with the word problems. Examples:
Which words can be used for "some, some more"? Found, gave (more), bought, came, put (more),
Which words can be used for "some, some went away"?
lost, broke, stole, gave (away), ate, left, etc.

All story problems have:
a Start #
b Some sort of change(vocab determines + - x or /)
c How much change?
d eliminate "extra info" if any
e. write a number sentence
f. write an answer with a label

Encourage kids to say steps a-f out loud as if they are teaching them to someone else. It creates "self talk" for the times when noone is there to walk them through the steps or during a test.


Teach the kids to "mark the clues"

1. Read the whole problem
2. Find out what the question is asking for. Put a box around the LABEL (usually the words after how many or how much)
3. circle the numbers or number words.
4 underline the important vocab. put a symbol + - x / sign above the word
5. draw a picture/write a number sentence
6.. X out any extra stuff
7. write the answer with a label
Example:
There were seven children and 5 adults at the pool then 3 children went home. How many children are at the pool now?

a. start = seven -circle the word write 7 above
b. change= went home- underline the words put - symbol above
c. 3-circle the #3
d. if you circled the # 5 X it out. The number of adults is not needed.
e. 7-3=4
f. 4 children spell the word that you put in the box correctly.

I use these steps with my 2nd grade students. They all improve their results on story problems with DAILY practice and repetition. Good Luck!