Math made enjoyable: How Madras Dyslexia Associations toolkit helps kids with dyscalculia

Imagine studying arithmetic with out the anxiousness and worry historically related to the topic, surrounded as an alternative by vibrant tiles of mathematical operations, small arithmetic pies, and numbered tender balls. This is strictly the expertise that the Madras Dyslexia Association (MDA) has got down to supply kids.

Launched in July, the MDA has launched a toolkit titled ‘Count on Me’, designed primarily to assist kids with dyscalculia, a studying incapacity that impacts the power to grasp numbers, arithmetic, and mathematical ideas.

“It isn’t just for kids with dyscalculia; math will be scary for lots of people. The goal is to make studying math enjoyable and pleasant,” mentioned Swetha Krishna, particular educator, MDA. She, together with two others of the affiliation, labored with arithmetic specialists to deliver out the toolkit, which consists of 18 activity-based studying materials, 64 worksheets, analysis guidelines, and academics’ guide, in addition to movies for the actions.

“Children with dyscalculia might discover it onerous to quantify numbers and infrequently battle with spatial consciousness and visuals, so we determined to start out from scratch when designing the toolkit,” Ms. Swetha mentioned.

What does the toolkit comprise?

The toolkit has playing cards with numbered dots to assist kids first establish numbers, step by step perceive ascending order, and finally progress to fractions as they get older.

“The kids aren’t restricted to activity-based studying, as they in the end have to jot down an examination. They apply this information via worksheets, the place the issues are modeled on the actions they full utilizing the package. This means, they will revisit the ideas and relate to them extra successfully,” mentioned Yasodhara Narayanan, head of latest initiatives at MDA.

The results of three years of labor, the package consists of supplies designed to assist kids from kindergarten via Class V in studying arithmetic. It accommodates 64 colour-coded booklets structured progressively, masking addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, decimals, and different mathematical ideas. Each operation is damaged down by digit complexity (from one-digit to four-digit) and colour-coded into crimson, yellow, inexperienced, and blue, based mostly on the extent of steering college students require. The package is presently being utilized by academics in 50 faculties throughout town.

The group wished to make sure that every baby might relate to what they wrote and noticed on paper. From tracing numbers utilizing sandpaper to figuring out them in real-life contexts, each element was fastidiously thought-about.

As a part of this course of, the group felt it was essential to symbolize the quantity 9 as it’s generally written by folks. “Nobody writes 9 like an inverted six. When we write it by hand, it seems to be nothing just like the printed model. Children ought to be capable of see and use the types they’re accustomed to. So, we went on a hunt to discover a approach to print the quantity 9 the best way we really write it,” she added.

With optimistic reception from academics, the group is just not stopping with simply the toolkit. “We are continuously evolving and hoping to broaden the package to cowl extra facets of arithmetic,” mentioned Ms. Swetha.