Need help from DUers with Aspergers

[bleedingheart]

My son is an Aspie.

He has the worst problem with word problems in math class.

I am working with him to help him, but I want to know if any of you have some suggestions.

He is such a concrete thinker that these word problems are just so bizarre for him.

His math skills are great, but word problems, as are most communication issues an enigma to him.

[mzteris]

1. Hey - I'm reading

The Mislabeled Child - and they're just getting into "math issues".

The Eides (who wrote the book) have a blog, too - you might find some immediate help there.

http://www.eideneurolearningblog.blogspot.com/

I can't remember off the top of my head if Mel Levine's books are any help in this particular issue - but in general they're great for learning differences. One is - A Mind at a Time; the other I recommend is: The Myth of Laziness.

[bleedingheart]

4. I bookmarked that for a read ...

[tigereye]

12. Mel Levine is wonderful!

I've seen him speak ,unfortunately I haven't been able to attend any of his conferences.

[NewWaveChick1981]

2. My niece has Asperger's and has problems in math too.

I'm going to ask my sister what kind of techniques they're using (my niece is 8 and now in second grade) since it seems to have helped her. I will PM you when I find out. :)

[bleedingheart]

3. thanks!

[everythingsxen]

5. The love of my life is an Aspie...

I will direct her your way as soon as she gets home!

[bleedingheart]

6. thanks so much..

I am teaching him how to break the problems apart but he is struggling so much and I just feel so bad for him.

[uppityperson]

7. no aspie but a child with the opposite math problem, leading to a question.

couldn't do straight numbers, dividing especially, but could whip out answers to word problems with barely a pause.
"what's 38 divided by 6" "I DON'T KNOW!!! I CAN'T DO IT!!!"
"You are setting up tables for dinner and 6 people can sit at each table. How many tables do you need for 38 people?""7 but the last table will only have 2 people."

It was a shocker to both jr and me, but then we figured out how to change number problems into word problems and eventually jr figured out how to do it on his own.

Question: Does he need to be able to do word problems, or can they be changed into just number problems?

[mzteris]

9. you might want to look up

dyscalculia (also spelled dyscalcula).

The book I cited in my first answer to the OP talks about this. ROTE MEMORIZATION is an impossibility for some children. It is for my son. He could refigure it faster than he could "retrieve" the math fact.

There are a lot of kids who are great at math concepts and poor with math computation. The trick is to not hold them back because of it.

[AlienGirl]

8. Is there any way to draw the problems on paper?

I'm an Aspie, and I found it helpful to draw out word problems so I could figure out which parts went where. That was the hardest thing for me, figuring out the order in which to do the pieces of a word problem (it is also the hardest thing about organizing anything, cleaning the house, or filling out a form: where to start and what steps to do in which order).

I like to have things down on paper in front of me. I'm a very visual thinker and actually read by the shape of words rather than sounding them out, and I have developed a system for visualizing numbers in terms of sets of four dots that helps me remember the number value that goes with the shape--4 has a dot at each corner, 6 is 4 and 2 more dots, 8 is two sets of four dots, and so forth. I worked that out for myself in elementary school, and later found out when I was tutoring a learning-disabled neighbor kid that it was an actual technique taught to LD kids with dyscalculia. Maybe something like that would help?

Tucker

[mzteris]

10. organization -

is a huge issue for me. It is for my son, but in a different way, I think.

Not knowing where to start sort of "paralyzes me" a lot of the time.

[tigereye]

11. I'll be glad to dig around and see what I can find

I'll pm you when I think of some stuff.

:hi:

[joneschick]

13. I found this at the bottom of the page

and it looks like bleedingheart could still use some input.
kicky

[BlueStorm]

14. I have Asperger's

Word problems were a b*&^ch for me. I still can't do them. I think it is because most people with Asperger's are very visual spatial.

I would recommend this book but the title eludes me right now.

Blue

[Feron]

15. Word problems were always tough for me..

What helped was to have someone go through it step by step slowly with me and translate it into a problem I could solve. Usually there are typical words that show up in a equation and it helped if I had someone clue me into them.

Otherwise I would just read the word problem and my mind would start to wander. I'm bad with using associations with things in them. Like for example, if it was a problem estimating the speed of a baseball, I would start thinking about how boring baseball is to watch and how fun it is to play. :)

I found that on-level math classes tend to rush through things without much explanation. While some equations are straightfoward, the word problems associated with them can be written vaguely. And there is no explanation of how to decipher the word problem in class.

[bleedingheart]

19. part of my son's problem is also understand the vocabulary

for example,...he understands that the word raise can be used to apply to farming, (raising animals, raising wheat)...so recently he encounters the phrase...."raising money" and he was so perplexed until I explained to him what it meant.

After we get through the idioms or strange vocabulary use...then we must tackle the questions and that is another problem.

[Porcupine]

16. Write the problem out triple spaced and diagram the functions

they tend to statement A (train x is travelling at 30 mph), statement B (train Y is travelling at 65 mph) function statement (if train y leaves the station 1.5 hours after train x on the same track, how many miles/hours before they collide)

The trick is to chop the sentance up and express it in numbers and functions. Once an Aspie has numbers and functions he's 9/10ths done.

[bleedingheart]

18. I am going to try this tonight.

he is so visual that this may help him out.

Thanks!

[NC_Nurse]

17. My son is an aspie too.

He is great at math but had problems with the more abstract stuff too. He went to the teacher's help sessions and
that helped tremendously. I couldn't really help him myself because our brains work so differently.
He's off at college or I'd have him answer you.
Organization was always the biggest issue for him. I'm holding my breath over his first semester grades
right now! He keeps saying that everything's fine - but that's what he always thinks...sigh....
Since he is a freshman, this is the first time I have not been able to monitor things (monitor =nag). I've got my fingers crossed. :)

[bleedingheart]

20. I wish your son the best

and I hope that the first semester was a success.