In mathematics lectures I often talk about learning problems. And in lectures on learning problems, when I present my talk, "...
In mathematics lectures I often talk about learning problems. And in lectures on learning problems, when I present my talk, " What does math have to do with it? Problems in learning math, dyslexia and ADHD?" I am often the only one who talks about math About the relationships and interactions between ADHD, speech disorders and Speech disorders are almost lacking in information. However, math and its effects on treatment show that this is a critical need.
About 35% of the population has some kind of math and 6.4% suffer from dyscalculia or mathematical learning problems (LDD). Children with a family history of mathematical difficulties are 10 times more likely to have mathematical problems than the general population. This makes LDM as common as dyslexia or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ( ADHD or ADHD ); However, it is often eclipsed in classrooms, IEPs and clinics.
What is a learning disability in mathematics?
MLD has no biological or qualitative markers. It can not be diagnosed with a blood test or brain scan. Researchers are still debating deficits and severity levels that are a real mathematical handicap. This led Michele Mazzocco MLD to call a "dark term that has no clear boundaries. 1
Like dyslexia , LDM is a generic term used when a person has more difficulty learning mathematics than other factors could predict. Technically, the DSM-5 defines the LDM as a specific learning disability with a disability in mathematics where a student has deficiencies in one or more of the following areas: numerical sense, arithmetic data storage, fluid calculation and / or mathematical fluid precision thinking
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To understand the LDMs and their relationships with ADHD and dyslexia it is helpful to observe the two types of cognitive processes in mathematics. The researchers divide these processes into general domains and domain-specific processes.
General domain processes refer to basic brain processes such as working memory, processing speed, executive activity, and language processing, which underlie many tasks. These are the processes responsible for most overlaps with other learning disabilities.
Domain-specific processes solve mathematical problems using hard brain wiring, often referred to as a "digital module", located in the parietal lobe. These processes have a special impact on mathematics and are responsible for learning difficulties in mathematics. And of course each individual will have a different profile of co-morbid MLD and ADHD and other LDs.
| General domain processes | Domain-specific processes |
| fundamental process | Fixed cabling for mathematics |
| to underpin many tasks and leadership tasks | "Digital module" |
| ~ overlaps with ADHD and other LD | ~ MLD |
Domain-specific treatment problems and mathematical difficulties
It turns out that humans and other animals, from primates to birds to bees, are linked by evolution to perform certain types of math. The digital module of the brain is responsible for capturing, comparing and manipulating the "parameter of the multiplicity". Here, the brain is provided with subtitles or automatically detects a small amount without counting. Compare quantities; and the orders are from the smallest to the largest.
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Children with these basic responsibilities have a high risk of developing an LDM in school. Their battles with mathematics will be more serious and more fundamental than bouts based solely on ADHD or dyslexia and affecting the digital sense of the child in its most basic form. If adults are able to identify and assess these difficulties early on, they can start remedying them early and intensively to stay one step ahead of the LDM and maximize their chances of success.
General problems of domain handling and mathematical difficulties
Problems with working memory and mathematics
Working memory is like the brain office. Here we store the information for immediate use. If a website sends you an authorization code and has it in your head for so long that you can transfer it from the SMS to the online field, save it in memory.
The limited amount of memory mainly leads to two mathematical problems: storing mathematical data and the ability to follow procedures. For example, to learn mathematical data, question (2 + 3) and answer (5) must be active in the phonological buffer of the brain at the same time. In this way, a neural connection between the two can be formed and strengthened. If the answer rejects the question because of limited memory, the connection will not be established.
Students with working memory problems need explicit instructions to remember their mathematical data. The more neuronal pathways the brain has to access information, the more effective and accurate it will be. Memory memorization, however, must be accompanied by manipulators and models as long as they are directly and explicitly related to the facts.
Solving a problem such as 2 305 ÷ 0.3 requires at least 17 steps, each based on memory. If a student has to stop to imagine how many times between 23 and 30 a break has been taken, he often returns to the completely missed task. You can perfectly understand the concept of division and even division with decimal places, but their small working memory leads to a failure of the procedure.
These students need adjustments such as a multiplication table, mnemonics, checklists, and examples of problems. One limitation: students must be specifically taught to use their home.
Deterioration of processing speed and mathematics
The slow processing speed, which affects the rate of decomposition in the phonological cycle, makes it even more difficult to translate the facts of labor into long-term memory. Even when a student with limited processing speeds knows his graphics in cold weather, when asked what 3x7 is, he can almost see how slowly they move to present the answer.
While math skills have nothing to do with speed, many teachers use speed as a proxy for the domain. It leaves these children as failures. Studies have shown that timed tests can provoke severe mathematical fears even in neurotypical children. And mathematical fears can lead to a disability in mathematical learning.
Executive and mathematical disorders
Deficiencies in leadership functions pose a number of problems for math students. The weak inhibition of irrelevant associations disturbs the already limited working memory. Imagine a pupil thinking 2 + 3 alike ... squirrel! When they turn to the problem, most of it is gone and they have to start over. If you try not to think about lunch, it also requires valuable computing power.
The difficulty of switching between homework means that a student can complete a mixed addition / subtraction worksheet with complete accuracy, if only for all addition problems. A weak detail analysis can mean that a student perfectly understands the integers and then completely loses any negative sign in the test. These students can be helped a lot by certain adjustments:
- Mixed Framework Check: Instead of switching from single problem pages to fully mixed tests with different locking problems, start with half a sum (top) and half a subtraction side (bottom). Navigate to a page where problems are changed every two lines. Once the student has mastered this, take out this traditional mixed revision page.
- Color Code Details: Have the student specifically design and use a color code. For example, on a page that checks the order of operations, all exponents can be highlighted with a blue marker and all negative signs with a yellow marker. First, they can perform a detailed analysis regardless of the remainder of the treatment they need. They train the brain to find out which details are relevant. They also receive a color-coded page, the completion of which the teacher did not take hours.
Speech processing and mathematical problems
Mathematics requires strong connections within and between the worlds of real variables, mathematical language and written symbols. The difficulty of speech processing makes it difficult to make and maintain these connections. These students will be slower and less accurate in restoring long-term memory data based on semantics. These children need mathematical concepts, procedures and facts in order to be connected explicitly, coherently and repeatedly. You also need a lot more practice to be automatic.
Mathematics is their own language and they are in many ways complex to express the same concept. We know that people with speech-based LD often have problems with many meanings. Remember the simple expression 15 ÷ 3. Fifteen divided by three, no? But what happens when we ask, "How many times, three to fifteen times?" Or "How many triplets are there in fifteen?" Or "Three times what is fifteen?" A student with speech processing problems may know how to divide 15 by 3, but does not associate it with the other sentences. It's like learning three different concepts. And do not even let me begin by saying that less, excuses, subtraction, deletion or comparison can mean. These children have to be taught explicitly in the language of mathematics, and they even have to be told that some words mean something outside of mathematics and something else in them. (Surgery, anyone?)
After all, internal dialogue or verbal mediation is a strategy that empowers many of us to enhance their skills, memory, or understanding that we need to achieve something. We talk about our way. A student who has difficulty finding or verbalizing words has problems with this internal support.
Comorbidities ADHD
ADHD and mathematics
Almost a third of children with ADHD also have a learning disability in math and 25% of children with ADHD have ADHD. We know that ADHD is mainly characterized by shortcomings in the area of general executive functions. Memory and processing speed deficits are also warning signs. Without comorbid dyslexia or pure MLD, these students have a hard time memorizing and remembering mathematical facts and performing procedures precisely, not with the conceptual understanding of mathematics itself.
In addition to the ADHD-related difficulties with working memory, speed of treatment, and managerial function, students with attention-deficit disorders face unique challenges.
Since the brain gets used to stimuli very quickly with ADHD, it can be difficult to focus on repetitive tasks such as practicing mathematical data. In fact, children with ADHD sometimes become less accurate when they remember their facts better. Because? Memorizing is a challenge at first, and it engages your brain. The closer you get to memorizing, the more boring it becomes and the more misguided mistakes become.
The brain with ADHD also has a low tolerance for frustration. Tracking down difficult content and working with mistakes is, in the truest sense of the word, worse for these children than for peers without ADHD. Worse still, people with ADHD probably have what researchers call a "reward deficiency syndrome." Dopamine is the reward neurotransmitter. A shine makes us feel good when we do something. Brains with ADHD have less dopamine and weaker dopamine receptors. This means that tackling this difficult issue or the boring homework side does not feel as good as it does for other students.
When people without ADHD get used to a reward, we simply get a dopamine injection by simply looking forward to it. So if you just sit on this side with the homework, you can get a little boost when you think about the reward that you're done. This is not the case with a child with ADHD. To further insult injuries, people with ADHD are often sensitive to rejection: mistakes and difficulties affect their self-image more than others. Various strategies to help the brain in ADHD include:
- Games, preferably with public recognition - wins, no losses - (in parentheses it is surprising how much I win when I play with my students!), Preferably also on the computer, who is brilliant and brilliant, even in the second. on the second level, at the pixel level
- Explicit instructions for self-control, goal setting and progression of the map
- Any stimulation to keep the prefrontal cerebral cortex awake, such as restless toys, music, inflatable balls and chewing gum.
- Stimulant medicine
Dyslexia and mathematics
About 70% to 80% of dyslexic children also have a learning disability in mathematics. This means that teachers who work with dyslexic children are more likely to work with children who have a learning disability in mathematics. In contrast, 50% to 60% of children with LDM also suffer from dyslexia. Children with LDM and co-morbid dyslexia have more severe learning disabilities in mathematics than children with only one LDM.
Keep in mind that dyslexia is not just a language-related learning disability, but is often associated with a low working memory and slow processing speed. It also sometimes occurs in connection with receptive or expressive language difficulties affecting both oral and written language. It is tempting to focus on reading and writing as the main deficiency of dyslexia, but remember to also evaluate and treat math.
A person who has no mathematical knowledge is susceptible to manipulation as a consumer and citizen. And that does not even fit into the correlation between careers that include mathematics and income.
The content of this article is from Diana Kennedy's CHADD lecture titled "Learning Disabilities in Mathematics, Dyslexia and ADHD: Understanding and Correcting MLD".
Fountain
1 Berch, Daniel B. and Michèle MM Mazzocco. Why is mathematics so difficult for some children ?: The nature and source of the difficulties and disadvantages of learning mathematics . Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brooke's Pub., 2007.
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Updated on December 11, 2019
