You will be surprised how many times I hear – “He knows his numbers to 10 but he does not know what to do with them!”
To gain insight into why this is, we have to go below the surface and look at the underlying issues…..
When a pupil has no real understanding of number knowledge or facts to 10, and is operating within the Performance Indicator levels (P Scales), try working through the three levels of the first Stern programme using the supporting equipment. This is often referred to as the ‘tool kit’ for moving forward. There are other factors to consider because it's not simply about the maths content that makes it impossible for a child to learn about numbers and arithmetic.
Cognitive processing systems and skills – are central to ALL learning. To explain what this means I like to use a computer analogy.‘Human beings’ are the ‘hardware’ and the 'cognitive processing systems' are the ‘software’ Let’s say you wish to create a beautiful power-point presentation with all the bells and whistles. If the software is not there, how can you create your beautiful power point presentation? Likewise, if we have deficits in our cognitive processing systems then we would find learning, on many levels, difficult and for some, almost impossible. Simply put, we ALL need to draw on these systems everyday for all our ‘thinking’ and ‘doing’. Imagine if for some reason your memory ceased to function properly?
The Stern equipment stimulates and strengthens these systems- every single time the blocks and cube patterns are handled a child is developing h/her spatial, discrimination and sequencing ability. The unforgettable visual imagery is stimulating a child's visual-perceptual processing ability. Moving blocks on to a table nearby and giving the instruction - "Go to the table and bring back 3 and the block one bigger than 3." encourages receptive language as well as memory. These are examples of how these functions develop and as they do there will be progress in other areas and other subjects.
Something simple like being able to button up a blouse came as a result of strengthening a teenagers fine-motor ability!
Numerals, number concepts, the number system – are abstract by nature, maths is also the fastest moving subject on the curriculum and very quickly moves into abstract notions and this is the point where children can be left behind. Further, deficits in cognition can mean that the child does not have the ‘infrastructure’ for abstract thinking and yet is still being taught abstract concepts. Would this not be bewildering for the child? Try to imagine learning maths in Russian because to the non-Russian speaking individual this would be as abstract as it could be? then you would begin to understand the raft of emotions these children may be feeling every time they have maths.
Numerals are abstract symbols - where are the clues to their meaning? yet young children are exposed to numerals very early, beginning in the home where parents may teach them to say a string of names and some even learn to recognise the symbol, but many spend years trying to crack the code. Imagine if I gave you a sheet of heirogyphs and asked you to tell me what it says. Where would you begin? How would you decipher the code? What emotions would you be feeling? Not easy is it? Wouldn't it be better to have a set of number blocks representing numbers to ten so your child can hold a block and feel its size, and have a board to put it in? They would discover where all the blocks live and begin to order them... first, in go the small ones. Next come the bigger ones, then the biggest! Learning through play and discovery provides children with insights that they would never get from numeral cards or sheets or rote chanting. The boards act like a puzzle which is appropriate for all young children and so important for children with special needs.
I believe there are thousands of children who go into school without special needs and they get their special needs in school!
Young children learn about their world from what they see, hear, touch, taste and smell or from using their senses, better known as the ‘sensory-motor’ stage of development. This is why learning through play is so important from nursery through key stage 1. Children with summer births would have almost one years less development of cognitive functions, yet are expected to keep up with the rest of the class. They would still be operating within the sensory motor stage, and if using Stern's approach this group would keep up and move forward because of the cognitive stimulation and the VAK input.
The Stern programme was developed by child psychologists & mathematicians who carefully designed the equipment and activities so that teaching would follow a child’s natural stages of learning and development. This is the key to the successful nature of the Stern programme.
When no progress is made – I have many examples of children who have made little or no progress in five years, eight or even ten years! There are many schools in the UK who have numbers of pupils in this group. These children are still operating at the sensory-motor stage and require learning to be ‘concrete’ ‘visual’ and ‘tactile’. Numbers need to be presented in visible form to enable children and young adults to handle them and 'see' the meanings that lie within.
To gain insight into why this is, we have to go below the surface and look at the underlying issues…..
When a pupil has no real understanding of number knowledge or facts to 10, and is operating within the Performance Indicator levels (P Scales), try working through the three levels of the first Stern programme using the supporting equipment. This is often referred to as the ‘tool kit’ for moving forward. There are other factors to consider because it's not simply about the maths content that makes it impossible for a child to learn about numbers and arithmetic.
Cognitive processing systems and skills – are central to ALL learning. To explain what this means I like to use a computer analogy.‘Human beings’ are the ‘hardware’ and the 'cognitive processing systems' are the ‘software’ Let’s say you wish to create a beautiful power-point presentation with all the bells and whistles. If the software is not there, how can you create your beautiful power point presentation? Likewise, if we have deficits in our cognitive processing systems then we would find learning, on many levels, difficult and for some, almost impossible. Simply put, we ALL need to draw on these systems everyday for all our ‘thinking’ and ‘doing’. Imagine if for some reason your memory ceased to function properly?
The Stern equipment stimulates and strengthens these systems- every single time the blocks and cube patterns are handled a child is developing h/her spatial, discrimination and sequencing ability. The unforgettable visual imagery is stimulating a child's visual-perceptual processing ability. Moving blocks on to a table nearby and giving the instruction - "Go to the table and bring back 3 and the block one bigger than 3." encourages receptive language as well as memory. These are examples of how these functions develop and as they do there will be progress in other areas and other subjects.
Something simple like being able to button up a blouse came as a result of strengthening a teenagers fine-motor ability!
Numerals, number concepts, the number system – are abstract by nature, maths is also the fastest moving subject on the curriculum and very quickly moves into abstract notions and this is the point where children can be left behind. Further, deficits in cognition can mean that the child does not have the ‘infrastructure’ for abstract thinking and yet is still being taught abstract concepts. Would this not be bewildering for the child? Try to imagine learning maths in Russian because to the non-Russian speaking individual this would be as abstract as it could be? then you would begin to understand the raft of emotions these children may be feeling every time they have maths.
Numerals are abstract symbols - where are the clues to their meaning? yet young children are exposed to numerals very early, beginning in the home where parents may teach them to say a string of names and some even learn to recognise the symbol, but many spend years trying to crack the code. Imagine if I gave you a sheet of heirogyphs and asked you to tell me what it says. Where would you begin? How would you decipher the code? What emotions would you be feeling? Not easy is it? Wouldn't it be better to have a set of number blocks representing numbers to ten so your child can hold a block and feel its size, and have a board to put it in? They would discover where all the blocks live and begin to order them... first, in go the small ones. Next come the bigger ones, then the biggest! Learning through play and discovery provides children with insights that they would never get from numeral cards or sheets or rote chanting. The boards act like a puzzle which is appropriate for all young children and so important for children with special needs.
I believe there are thousands of children who go into school without special needs and they get their special needs in school!
Young children learn about their world from what they see, hear, touch, taste and smell or from using their senses, better known as the ‘sensory-motor’ stage of development. This is why learning through play is so important from nursery through key stage 1. Children with summer births would have almost one years less development of cognitive functions, yet are expected to keep up with the rest of the class. They would still be operating within the sensory motor stage, and if using Stern's approach this group would keep up and move forward because of the cognitive stimulation and the VAK input.
The Stern programme was developed by child psychologists & mathematicians who carefully designed the equipment and activities so that teaching would follow a child’s natural stages of learning and development. This is the key to the successful nature of the Stern programme.
When no progress is made – I have many examples of children who have made little or no progress in five years, eight or even ten years! There are many schools in the UK who have numbers of pupils in this group. These children are still operating at the sensory-motor stage and require learning to be ‘concrete’ ‘visual’ and ‘tactile’. Numbers need to be presented in visible form to enable children and young adults to handle them and 'see' the meanings that lie within.
We believe that if a pupil is making no progress with maths, regardless of chronological age, h/she needs to switch to a concrete, multi-sensory, structured form of learning without abstract notions until understanding is evident, then one can begin to use other resources in a way that takes the concrete knowledge to a secondary resource which I call 'semi-concrete'until the child demonstrates transfer. Still further resources - semi-abstract, again looking for indication of transfer. Ultimately arriving at the point of introducing abstract resources enabling the child to use h/his newly acquired knowledge with fluency. Then it's back to the concrete structured form to learn another topic. We can also teach children to recognise some that they already know in other learning. For example the Stern pattern number structure is very distinct, making it easy to lean about the oddness and evenness of a number. Once the pupil is fluent we can introduce counting in twos using the even number patterns. The 6-Pattern - we can count 2, 4, 6. The 8-patttern 2, 4, 6, 8 and so on. Later on this understanding will form the basis of the two times table. I recall a 6 year old once exclaiming "Hey! there's three twos here.!! after building his 6 pattern with cubes. He had discovered a multiplication fact, but would not know it as that at this point, never-the-less it will be stored in his memory for later use.
consistent factor of the Stern programme is evidence of progress in cognition and number understanding in one single term. That said, it can take some schools over one year before they implement this programme, if they do at all. How much learning could have taken place in three terms? How about this example …. using our structured Charlotte Clock programme, my own daughter, who has Down syndrome and was 12 at the time, took approximately one year to master telling the time using both digital and analogue formats using a mix of formats!
Progress in 9 months - Stewart is a Year 2 pupil with moderate learning difficulties. Despite the level of carefully targeted support, using a range of materials and being in classes with very
experienced and skilled teachers, he was still unable to count with 1-1 matching and with no real understanding of number values. Stewart began working with Stern and within a nine month period he has gone from having no understanding of number values to being able to confidently add and subtract and record his work.
Progress in 5 months - 12 year old Peter, with Down syndrome, moved to his secondary school still operating within the P levels for maths. His parents recommended the Stern programme to school and they put him on the programme. After using the programme for 3 lessons a week in school, and at home, Peter made significant improvement. He was assessed five months later as operating at level 1, with his number bonds securely in place.
Progress in 6 months - We started using the Stern programme 6 months ago with an 8 year old girl with Down syndrome. She has shown remarkable developments in maths skills and in understanding of concepts. For the majority of topics she has such a solid grasp of what she is doing that she regularly completes assessments without the Stern equipment.
The above factors are the main causes of delayed progress, get these right and your children will begin to move forward with confidence, enjoy learning about numbers and maths AND without wasting so many vauable years of learning potential. We ALL need to develop the basic arithmetical skills for everyday living ....................
Vikki Horner
(See the structure of teaching with the Charlotte Clock Resource pack, and Stern Structural Arithmetic Kit A. http://www.mathsextra.com/)
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Progress in 9 months - Stewart is a Year 2 pupil with moderate learning difficulties. Despite the level of carefully targeted support, using a range of materials and being in classes with very
experienced and skilled teachers, he was still unable to count with 1-1 matching and with no real understanding of number values. Stewart began working with Stern and within a nine month period he has gone from having no understanding of number values to being able to confidently add and subtract and record his work.
Progress in 5 months - 12 year old Peter, with Down syndrome, moved to his secondary school still operating within the P levels for maths. His parents recommended the Stern programme to school and they put him on the programme. After using the programme for 3 lessons a week in school, and at home, Peter made significant improvement. He was assessed five months later as operating at level 1, with his number bonds securely in place.
Progress in 6 months - We started using the Stern programme 6 months ago with an 8 year old girl with Down syndrome. She has shown remarkable developments in maths skills and in understanding of concepts. For the majority of topics she has such a solid grasp of what she is doing that she regularly completes assessments without the Stern equipment.
The above factors are the main causes of delayed progress, get these right and your children will begin to move forward with confidence, enjoy learning about numbers and maths AND without wasting so many vauable years of learning potential. We ALL need to develop the basic arithmetical skills for everyday living ....................
Vikki Horner
(See the structure of teaching with the Charlotte Clock Resource pack, and Stern Structural Arithmetic Kit A. http://www.mathsextra.com/)
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.
