1. Helping Children with Mathematical Problems www.cemcentre.org

2. Reasons for Maths Difficulties Institutional/Environmental School/classroom/teacher Language –Both reading and maths involve manipulation of abstract symbols

3. Reasons for Maths Difficulties Motivational Status of maths in society Position within the class (up to 5 years difference in age-equivalent scores in a single class) Lack of intrinsic motivation

4. Reasons for Maths Difficulties Neuropsychological Magnitude representation –Non-verbal system to understand quantities –Enables estimations in non-exact way –Also known as internal number line

5. Reasons for Maths Difficulties Neuropsychological Symbolic representation –Gives semantic meaning to quantities –Provides a tool to perform exact calculations

6. Reasons for Maths Difficulties Neuropsychological Spatial representation –Clear link –Subitising

7. Reasons for Maths Difficulties Neuropsychological Memory –Working memory (links to other problems e.g. ADHD) Limited capacity Prone to errors –Long-term memory

8. How to help Instant Feedback –Computer programs –Peer tutoring Evaluate incorrect responses Encourage cautious children to try new strategies Memory aids for children with working memory difficulties Tackle comorbid literacy problems

9. The Number Race Open source software: www.unicog.orgwww.unicog.org Reinforces link between number sense and symbolic number representations Remediation strategy but also useful for children in early stages of learning arithmetic