Targeting Math Struggles: Brain Training vs. Tutoring
As many parents themselves can attest to, challenges with math are not unique to any particular generation. In fact, math struggles have little to do with genes, age, gender, study habits—or even intelligence! Plenty of very intelligent people have dyscalculia, which just means “trouble with numbers.”
The cause of math struggles
So, what is to blame for the math struggles of so many—from elementary school to adulthood? The truth is that most people with dyscalculia have underperforming cognitive skills—such as visual processing, memory, and attention. You may see these deficits manifest in your student in ways that aren’t as prevalent in their same-age peers. For example:
- Trouble with sequencing
- Taking longer than “normal” to complete homework or tests
- Reversing or transposing numbers (93 becomes 39)
- Confusion over math symbols
- Difficulty with mental math
- Telling time and direction
- Problems grasping and remembering concepts
Assessing brain skills
While repeatedly scoring low on classroom math quizzes and standardized math tests may serve as strong indicators of dyscalculia, a Brain Skills Assessment can provide specifics around which cognitive skills need a boost to help your student maximize their potential.
The assessment, which only takes about an hour, will provide an accurate measurement of your student’s specific brain skills, such as working memory, computation skills, numerical fluency, sequencing, planning, and processing speed. For many families, the results of this Brain Skills Assessment serve as an “Aha!” moment, providing answers to questions about why an otherwise smart child or teen might be struggling in math.
Addressing math struggles: Tutoring vs. Training
In moments of desperation, many parents turn to tutoring in hopes of helping their student “get through” math. But while tutoring has its place in terms of academic interventions, it doesn’t typically address the root cause of most learning struggles (weak cognitive skills).
Instead, tutoring is most effective when academic material is simply missed the first time. For example, if your child has fallen behind in a subject matter due to a lengthy absence from school (e.g., due to an illness or a family move), tutoring can provide a short-term fix to help them catch up on the material.
But if your student has fallen behind in math due to underperforming cognitive skills, no amount of rehashing math facts and formulas will help long term.
Instead, look for a one-on-one brain training program to develop the broad set of underlying cognitive skills that are required to efficiently and effectively learn mathematical concepts, solve problems, and perform mathematical calculations faster and easier.
How does personal brain training (also known as “cognitive skills training”) work exactly?
By putting neuroplasticity—the brain’s ability to change at any age—to work.
At LearningRx, for example, every student is paired with a personal brain trainer who uses fun, game-like exercises to give core thinking and learning skills a workout. The MathRx® program is customized for different ages, skill levels, and learning styles to help in four basic areas:
- to help students become fluent in the language of math, making sense of written equations and math concepts in spoken language
- to teach students how to see the world in terms of numbers and quantities, including concepts like amount, weight, and size
- to help students break down math problems into easy-to-understand pieces and then put them back together to understand the whole problems
- to train students to think in mathematical terms more quicky and accurately, allowing them to understand math concepts and solve problems faster
Key features of MathRx include:
- SEQUENCING: Teaching math skills in order, using basic skills as a foundation for complex concepts
- INTENSITY: Adjusting the intensity of training to match the learner’s skill level in each session
- REPETITION: Repeating activities and concepts to rapidly build
- FEEDBACK: One-on-one training with immediate feedback and encouragement
- CUSTOMIZATION: A customized MathRx training plan for every student
Results of MathRx Training:
Among the 3,521 LearningRx math program clients between 2010 and 2018, the average gain in math skills was 3.3 years, with the largest gain of 3.6 years in Quantitative Concepts following training—and all changes were statistically significant!*
If you’re ready to give your student a fresh start with math, we encourage you to begin with a Brain Skills Assessment at your nearest LearningRx personal brain training center. There’s no obligation to enroll in a cognitive skills training program and the results can inform your decisions regarding what type of interventions might best help your student.
*These are results of past clients. You or your loved one may or may not achieve the same outcomes.
