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Math Problems and Difficulties:
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The effects of math failure throughout years of schooling, coupled with math illiteracy in adult life, can seriously handicap both daily living and vocational prospects. In today’s world, mathematical knowledge, reasoning, and skills are no less important than reading ability. Mathematics is a subject that consists of two aspects: Knowledge: There is much in math that one simply has to know and therefore has to learn, for example many terms, definitions, symbols, theorems and axioms. These are all things that the learner must know, not things that he must know how to do. Skills: There are, on the other hand, many things in mathematics that the learner must learn to do, like, for example, the skills of counting, of adding and subtracting, of multiplication and division. Furthermore, one of the most important skills for math is logical thinking, which makes problem solving possible. Much of the basic knowledge and many of the skills mentioned above, that relate to mathematics, are taught and exercised by means of Audiblox, like for example counting, adding and subtracting, and multiplication tables. In addition, the skill of logical thinking is also taught. In the case of a younger learner, this should in most cases be sufficient to solve his math problem adequately. In fact, one often finds that math is the first subject to improve in younger children (see case study below). When an older learner has problems with math, it may be because he has so far been unable to acquire the math skills adequately and to learn the knowledge that has been presented to him. Through the Audiblox exercises, he will certainly acquire the skills required for math, but he may also have fallen behind as far as the knowledge aspect of math is concerned. It may therefore be advisable to send him for extra math classes also, so that he may catch up on the knowledge aspect. In the case of a severe math problem a combination of Audiblox and Kumon Math is recommended. Only doing Audiblox usually delivers results, but not good enough to completely overcome a serious problem. The same applies to doing only Kumon Math — it delivers some results, but not enough. However, following a combination of Audiblox and Kumon usually delivers excellent results! The two programs seem to support one another extremely well and we usually see quick progress in learners who do both programs. Case Study Sean Borgne in Michigan started with Audiblox in August 2002. Six week later, his mother reported: “Since Kindergarten we have had problems with Sean. The teacher upon meeting him thought he would be one of the advanced ones because he had very good speech, however, he had a great deal of difficulty paying attention and completing tasks. “This continued into 1st grade, but when 2nd grade came school just became impossible for Sean. He could not read, write or do math well enough to keep up with the other children. After being tested they found that he was at a kindergarten level or 1st grade level on most things they tested him for…there were several different categories. "It was frustrating, because Sean always had a good understanding of concepts such as for science and he had good reasoning skills, as long as it was all done verbally. According to the tests they concluded that he had a learning disability in reading and math so he ended up in special ed. for a couple hours a day. It wasn’t of any real help, just easier work. “This April to end of July 2002 we did vision therapy with Sean, after finding he had vision problems involving slow focus change, and the ability of his eyes to work together. His right eye seemed to be the biggest problem. He favored his left eye, and sometimes would cover his right eye when trying to read. He had a sneaky way of doing this. I did not notice this until it was brought to my attention. “After vision therapy was done Sean did have some improvements, but they seemed rather limited. He still struggled with math, and writing. Reading had improved for the main reason he could now not loose his place, yet he was still about a year behind. “It was suggested to me to try Audiblox. It became interesting to me because I saw that it worked on visual memory and sequencing, two things I knew were problems for Sean. “Sean started Audiblox on August 26, 2002. After six weeks the improvements were very obvious. For one he is actually doing 3rd grade math, which for him is amazing. His reading speed has improved, plus he doesn’t get stuck on nearly as many words. He was also incapable of writing any of his thoughts down, and now he is starting to be able to do this with some help, while before his writing was totally unreadable unless I told him letter for letter how to spell the words. The neatness of his writing has improved too. His attention span and attitude have also improved. He is getting so much more done than before. Since we have only done this for six weeks and are already having good progress I am now wondering what will Sean be like in a year?"
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One-on-one tutoring: In the case of a learner who has reading and/or spelling difficulties (like in the case study above), it is recommended that one deals with these problems first before attending to a math problem. In most cases, one should see at least some improvement in math simply by following the relevant Audiblox programs. Once the child’s reading and spelling are on par, and still needs help with math, or if math is the only problem experienced by the learner, the Audiblox Math Program in the Supplementary manual is highly recommended. Group tutoring/classroom tutoring: The skills that underlie math are addressed on a regular basis. |
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