Anyone know anything that can help?

Ok i just posted that Tom got his SATs results for maths and he did great, but the school have pinpointed a problem with Discalculia.(number blindness) bit like Dyslexia but with numbers and something else has been mentioned.

They think he may be showing ADD tendencies.

Can anyone throw any light on it?

Hi, I dont know if this will help, but im an adult who has had similar problems, although i have not been diagnosed , Tests at uni pointed to this problem. To get a diagnosis is good. Anyway, maths and number problems have always alluded me. For example, in primary I was in a good set for maths, but then my advancement in maths just froze. It was as if id lost it! I found that I could do pages of certain problems such as long division, then turn the page and would have totally forgotton how to do them. If i went away from my work then came back i would have totally forgotton how to do it. Learning times tables was a nightmare. By the time i got to high school my confidence was shattered when it came to maths. The good news is that without maths skills you can still do well, although you have to go the long way around and it can be frustrating. I work with children in school who have special needs. I teach! I have been to uni and have a degree and a masters. I have been selfemployed and employed! I have qualifications in maths although it isnt a high grade. Its best if you have many different ways of being able to work out maths problems and many of these are taught in school. You could see if your son is elegable for funding for extra help in school which may pay someone to help him in numeracy lessons, as many children do. I hope this had been of some help.

Jane x

Thank you, his problems lie with times tables, hes really confused by them, he can do algebra, and problems like that.

I wondered for a long time if he was just lazy, the school hae been no help. They say he can do it and hes proved he can do it, but he has this very blinkered attitude if i cant do it i wont do it.

He doesnt do anything thats out of his comfort zone, i blame myself for that, hes been a little spoiled, but if i shout he tends to do it, i use the 1-2-3 method and it gets him moving buyt hes not motivated, hes cunning and thinks i wont notice, and his ADD although undiagnosed is still present.

He can be very independant but i think its because he doenst want me to know what he really does or doesnt do.

Hi there Lucy, what i can tell you from learning about Joshuas sensory processing disorder and ADHD is that these disorders all run under the same umberella, with dyslexia , dyspraxia ect. They are all very closly linked and often the child can suffer with one or more all together. As for the motivation I see that all the time in Josh, although if it is something that he is finding really stimulating he is there in a flash,this can cause much frustration to both of us as in life i need him to do the more mundanr things in life so we can just get through the day but his perception is totally different, unless it moves fast has bright colours,twists, bounces or makes as much noise as possible he often cant see the piont in doing it so will then seek out something that will do the above which will then lead to more often than not frustration from me and behaviours from him. What i suggest and its not easy believe me is to take some time to observe your son, get to see his pattern of working note his quiet times see if there is a pattern and then try to input infomation in these times as otherwise the distractions around which of no fault of there own will lead to them not retaining the infomation and then them feeling under pressure. I hope this helps. will be thinking of you. Kel xx

Thankyoy Slice, but i have to admit he 15! hes quiet all the time, hes a boy with hormones!!!!!!

He likes computers music, singing, we thought that learning the guitar would help his maths, but hes got a good ear and doesnt bother with sheet music.

Hes quite physical, he likes to skateboard, and his sport Parkour (il explain another day what that is!). He is a very capable boy, just not willing to move from his way of thought.

Hes very fussy with food, only has a limited diet although it has got better and he drinks milk and fruit juice, so hes not unhealthy and hes a very respetable weight for a boy of his height, hes 5'7" taller than me!

But the school think he has borderline ADD this i am releuctant to take him to the Dr not because i dont beleive them but i want him to co-operate and get the results needed to make progress, but until hes in that place, we have left it.

I think he can do it when he trys just doesnt try, personally i think its history repeating itself, i recently was set a maths task, something my 12 yr old ccould do and i could not do it, it made me cry and now i know how he feels when hes in a maths lesson and finds it hard, i struggle with maths and i struggle specially with fractions, his is times tables, fractions, divison etc alkthough the algebra..seems very easy!

anyways thanks for your comments i shall take them onb board and giuve it a go

Thats fine hun, just take care and good luck , always around for a chat if you need one. x Kel

Thanks Slice, i may take you up on that!

Ill let you know how he goes, he takes his GCSEs this coming acedemic year, you never know he may surprise us, his grades are predicted to be DS and Es thats more than we expected and the are going up accordig to his tracking at school, so for that we are grateful and he now got that incetive to go into 6th form next year, so he needs to pull his grades up to get there, thats given him food for thought and hes now realised hes got to work that little bit harder.

Hopefully this will be the making of him!

On the GCSE issue, there a lot of things you can do to help him bring his grades up a bit. Ask school for past papers for each of his subject and the mark schemes. That way he can become accustomed to the style of the questions so he knows what to expect and by you having the mark scheme you can show him exactly how to improve his answers, it can be things as simple as writing absorption instead of absorbed.

Get GCSE revision guides as well, they are cheaper if you buy them from school. You can get a schedule from his teachers so you know when he is learning what, that way you can work through the same work at home as well as at school. If he knows a bit before he is taught it at school it will make him more confident, and he will be able to retain more info if he has an idea of what he is being taught.
The answers for practice questions are at the back of the book, I'm useless as maths as well, so use the answer section when going through his work. If you have the answer as well with maths, then you can normally work out how to do the sum. If not, get him to arrange some extra time with his maths teacher to explain how to work out each question and make sure he writes everything down.

Get coursework mark schemes from his teachers or a peace of model coursework for a grade, such as D, C, etc. Then make sure he does his at home coursework with you and you can use the guide to go over it when he has finished, that way you can point him to areas where he could improve without giving him the answer.

There is something called SAM learning, it is an online program, some schools already have it, if so make sure he uses it on the computer at home, it is a really good tool and has work for all levels at GCSE. If the school doesn't have it, you can suggest it to them or enquire about similar programs that can be signed onto at school and at home. Plus you can log in and track his progress, so you don't have to nag him about what he has and hasn't done.

If all else fails, I bribe people with mars bars to do work

Thanks Samuel thats some great advice, i looked at SAM learning its a subscription service, i tried to sign up but it woont let me!!!!

I will talk to the school about it i dont know if they have it so ill look into it.

Thanks for all the info its given me food for thought!

There is website my son goes on which has been great for his maths. It's called mathletics but I'm not 100% certain if they have a section for his stage of schooling but it might be worth lookin ginto. It is a subscription thing but you might be able to get his school to get funding for it. My son's school pay's for all the children to have a username on there and once a month they have a massive reward assembly were the children that have earned enough points over each week gets there certicates and depending on the highest certificate they get depends on which prize they also get from the head-teacher