by James | Feb 28, 2023 | JamesEd
Dyscalculia is a congenital condition that affects an individual’s ability to acquire and perform mathematical tasks. It is a lifelong condition, and here is a Numberphile YouTube video on it.They say 3-6% of people have it!
Having dyscalculia does not mean a person won’t be successful and happy, but it can often mean that academic or other life tasks are not well-designed for them.
I read a pretty long academic paper, or five, on the condition, it’s identification and possible “treatments” (awful word choice by the academics, imo). Funnily enough, when seen through the eyes of technology-integration, a large amount of the “treatments” fell into things I do anyways for all of my students.
Here is a list of things, you can imagine how without tech these things might require a lot of work especially just for a few students. Imagine applying this stuff to paper worksheets:
- Offer students the use of Microsoft Teams Immersive Reader
- Use sans serif fonts as a default.
- Use “dark mode“
- Format your content nicely, or copy/paste other content into a new doc
- Use bullet points
- Don’t justify paragraphs
- Add whitespace with page breaks or extra space between paragraphs
- Add hyperlinks
- Add images (PowerPoint auto designer is awesome for this btw)
- Allow students individual access to documents, so they can review at their own pace. The Teams “Assignments” function does this really well.
- Encourage note-taking directly on the study materials; once again “Assignments” is useful to get each student their own copy of the lesson doc that you can later review.
Finally, just raise awareness in class over learning difficulties, so that students can self-advocate for themselves.
Credits:
- Words by James Simpson
- Images by Thufir running DiffusionBee
by James | Feb 7, 2023 | JamesEd
In my 2018 classroom, I had the privilege of working with 18 students, two of whom presented with disabilities. Specifically, Theo was diagnosed with moderate autism, which impacted his social abilities, and Maria had a sensory processing disorder that resulted in high sensitivity to certain sensory experiences, such as physical stimuli and sound. My personal experience with misophonia helped me to connect with Maria and understand her challenges.
Theo, sitting in the corner
The seating arrangements in my classroom were designed to cater to the diverse needs and preferences of my students. Theo was granted the privilege of sitting almost exclusively on the floor in the front corner of the classroom. This arrangement allowed him to avoid unexpected social situations and be in a familiar and predictable environment. Furthermore, he was permitted to start working before my instructions had concluded, which facilitated his active learning and information retention, as well as reduced his dependence on support from his peers.
Maria, experiencing distress from a sound
Maria, on the other hand, did not receive specific seating arrangements but was provided with the privilege of changing her physical location as required to avoid highly sensitive stimuli. This was particularly important in light of her high sensitivity to stimuli, such as the crunching sound made by scissors when cutting certain types of paper and proximity to electronic devices. As a result, Maria often had to move her seat in the middle of a lesson, which could have been a hindrance to her learning process, but instead helped her to develop resilience to painful stimuli and allowed her to resume her work without disruption.
In my opinion, Maria’s experience was greatly benefited by the understanding and support she received from her classmates and the school. This understanding not only improved the empathy that other students had for Maria’s condition but also resulted in more positive social experiences for her.
In conclusion, I believe that I was fortunate to have had a classroom with clear challenges, as it provided a valuable learning experience for my students and myself. I am aware that other classrooms took different approaches, some that did not work as well or support diversity, and I wonder what internal lessons my students took away from comparing my class with others.
Related Reading
Credit
- Author: James Simpson
- Artist: Thufir running DiffusionBee
