I must teach an autistic girl.

[arithmetic]

Hi people
I'm an experienced and effective teacher of maths - to normal people. But I'm in trouble, I think.

A senior man of my extended family ( I'm Maori) asked me to teach his 15 yr old daughter, because she cannot calculate the change she should receive at the shop. "We know you're brilliant".

Whereas, I know from my own experience that information can NOT be pushed into me, and I imagine that it must be the same for this child.
"Sweetness" has been living overseas with her Mum, who is a professional remedial teacher, for the last few years, and is reported to have made no progress whatever. She does not retain the learning.

My own experience might be relevant. When I was younger I was really driven to succeed in some kind of work. I studied for years to gain professional skills in engineering. I floundered for a long, long time, learning the grammar of mathematics, while not really understanding how saying things in math means something in the real.
There came a moment when the mathematical descriptions of things suddenly clicked with my experience of the real world.
I had had difficulties uniting my understanding of the abstract with my experience of the real. When I clicked, my understanding became grounded and it all began to mean something.

Things "clicked" for me. Are such things ever likely to "click" for our little girl? She will be here in a few days... I'm trying to get ready.

The Big Question:
Does anyone have any advice at all on how I might proceed?
I'd really like to hear from some girls on the forum please please. This little one, whose name is too distinctive to mention, is in real trouble.

 

[Captain Caveman]

How does she think?

What non-mathematical subjects is she good at or ok at?

Why I mention this is because it may give an idea of how her mind thinks as to how to teach her basic maths in a way that she can grasp.

Example with me and my Mum as we both differ in the way our minds think in maths.

I am very much a picture person in that as someone reads something to me (A story from a book) I will immediately turn it into pictures as if I was really there or as if I was watching TV. I can design things in my mind and know they are about 80-85% likely to work before trying them out and I can design multiple parts to something and put them together in my brain IF THE THING INTERESTS ME. (If not, I would struggle).
The way I do maths, is I can do maths the normal way if I can surface think, but any deep thinking and I have to turn to visual pictures of dots in my mind, and I can not do this with letters. Only numbers like one sees with domino's or dice which is why advanced maths was a struggle as I had to give the letters numbers to picture them.

My Mum could read and write from a very early age. Two and a half onwards. By the time she was six she had read most of the books in her local library which was easy for her as she lived opposite it and her aunt ran it!
For her, she has to do maths by writing out any sums in word form, so where I would do it in picture form like this" :+:=" (And I would bring the groups of two dots together in visual form and then hold them in my mind while I count the individual dots to come up with the answer, she would do it like this "TWO PLUS TWO EQUALS" and somehow work out the answer. For her, it has to be in written and not numerical form for her to understand it and calculate it. Both of us are slightly higher than average in IQ level).

Now if one can work out what she excellent in, one may find a way to adapt that to use it so she can do basic maths... But what will not work is if she is into art (Or another example if she is into something else) by painting a sum on a picture as one will not have understood what I mean by adapting things to how people think. (Doing this will just bring frustration. Try painting dots instead and then counting them would be a means of helping someone who's mind works visually to do maths...).

It is about finding how her mind will work.

And finally, sometimes touch helps. Coins are different sizes. Blind people can add up and subtract by feeling the coins. Now just because she may not be blind, touch and feeling could be highlighted, so it might just work? Likewise colours of coins can also be used. Is about finding ways to help her in a practical way, as let's face it, around 99.9% of the maths we use in our practical daily lives involves buying and selling for the majority of people. Is only a smaller percentage of people who use maths in jobs where money isn't involved. I have met a number travellers (Gypsies) who can't read or write BUT they are good financially using money! Actually expert! BUT no part of what they do in their mathematical calculations is ever written down, and yet they are sharp as razors in their monetary calculations and I am not joking!

[I hope you did not mind me writing as I am a man. I just wanted to give ideas which can help, and the key is that once one can find out how her mind thinks with a hope to invent a suitable way to help her, do not do too much at a time... As with me, I had to do two part learning in maths. What I mean by this is a teacher could in one lesson get me to do something and go over it and I would do it again and again. But come next lesson on another day and it would be as if I had never been there the lesson before and he would have to teach me all over again. It would take a few goes before I could do it on another day on my own... BUT when I left education it kinda went! Languages with me is worse! I am told by foreigners that they liked using me to learn from as I keep to simple easy to learn words and I speak slowly so it helps them learn to speak english, so I am glad I come in useful! ]

 

[arithmetic]

I'm looking for all answers, Captain Caveman - definitely including yours.
Thank you

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

In teaching specific skills to people with varying abilities, I’ve found that turning it into a game can help.

For arithmetic, using actual money is a good tool. Not play money. Real money. For the very basics, I would put a coin on the table. If the person could identify the coin, she got to keep it. Most students learn their coins quickly with this method.

The next step is to put two coins down and ask for the numeric total. If they get it right, they get to keep the coins. Rather than a number, I would also accept a higher coin for the right answer. For example, if two nickels were on the table, I would want to hear the answer 10, but I would accept a dime.

FWIW, I am female, retired now, but with more than two decades of teaching children with special needs. And I used my own money for these games.

 

[arithmetic]

In teaching specific skills to people with varying abilities, I’ve found that turning it into a game can help.

For arithmetic, using actual money is a good tool. Not play money. Real money. For the very basics, I would put a coin on the table. If the person could identify the coin, she got to keep it. Most students learn their coins quickly with this method.

The next step is to put two coins down and ask for the numeric total. If they get it right, they get to keep the coins. Rather than a number, I would also accept a higher coin for the right answer. For example, if two nickels were on the table, I would want to hear the answer 10, but I would accept a dime.

FWIW, I am female, retired now, but with more than two decades of teaching children with special needs. And I used my own money for these games.

I can't imagine a more helpful reply. Thank you so much
I'll try this game soon.

 

[Rodafina]

Does anyone have any advice at all on how I might proceed?

I would recommend talking to her about it. During your first teaching session, you could spend some time asking her about how she likes to learn and what she likes to learn about. Encourage her curiosity in the topic and work with her, trying first her ideas to figure out how she learns best.

It sounds like possibly there may be some emotions around this where the topic has become frustrating for her because she has tried to learn it without success. A gentle and affirming approach that builds her confidence while also giving her some agency over her own learning might be helpful.

Also, I would say don’t be afraid to try all sorts of different things even if some of them seem outlandish. Even if some of them don’t work, one might stick and it would be such a valuable lesson for a young autistic person to learn that if a traditional way of learning things doesn’t work for us, it doesn’t mean that we can’t learn. We can keep trying and find our own unique and effective way of learning and doing things.

Good luck to you. Sounds like important work.

 

[arithmetic]

Thank you @Rodafina
This certainly will take some very careful and gentle handling.
Other than @WhitewaterWoman's excellent suggestion above, I've also been thinking of baking, which has plenty of opportunities to introduce calculations.
The fatal trouble with most of the ideas which readily come to my mind is that they involve too much money and/or preparation.

 

[UFO]

Captain Caveman pointed out that the topic need to be interesting... Find out what is her special interest and use that.

When I was a child I was told that I am talented in math. However, my attitude towards math varied (and still varies) from dislike to hatred, which affected my grades. Still, I had learned matrix calculation before the end of grade school, because it was essential to my special interest in computer programming (especially 3D rendering engine development), while I had troubles with some more basic stuff like interest calculation.

Now my special interest is more in the movies, so I would - for example - teach me basics with something like "Have you noticed that group of heroes usually consist of five persons?" and develop math problems from that like "They have taken out three bad guys, how many of them there is left?"

 

[Aspychata]

These are excellent ideas. l do remember teaching my five year-year old the concept of multiplication by way of bright little mini m&m candies. It clicked immediately, and she knew she could eat them afterwards. So if she is buying little packets of candy, she may actually be more motivated to learn if she is quite young. Then using real money to complete the transaction will bring it home. So the candy packets can be different prices, can be bought alone, or she could buy 5 candy packets and need to pay for or sell you the packets and make change. And at the end, perhaps take some of the candy as a learning reward.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

I am an adjunct instructor at a university, and yes, I do run across students with ASDs... mostly, ASD-1/Asperger's variants.

Often times they will struggle with the "classroom" situation in different ways... but as @Captain Caveman asked "How does she learn?" So, before you dive into any sort of teaching, it can be helpful to assess where she is at and how she learns. Sometimes, it's memorization with flash cards, sometimes it's relatable analogies, sometimes it's physical demonstrations, so on and so forth. Take that time to figure out the best approach.

Another thing to assess... is she a "right brain" or "left brain" thinker. If everything in her world is controlled, logical, OCD-like, ordered, organized, highly filtered... left brain... then you can approach things with that in mind. If she is super open-minded, seemingly disorganized, metaphysical, emotional... right brain... then words like "yes" and "no" are trigger words for her brain to shut down. "Describe to me what this is... how this works."... allowing her to work through the problems with little "nudges" on your part to keep her on track. Don't get frustrated and jump in... patience is a virtue. If emotions rise... the brain shuts off. Pause for 45 minutes... chill out... try it again with a slightly different approach.

One thing I do know about math... at least the more basic forms... is that there are several different methods. When my boys were in grade school and learning math, I brought home a book called "Magic Math", and in it, there were at least 5-6 methods of doing addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, etc. I am sure there are similar books to be found that may be helpful. "Your" method might be confusing to her, but some other method might be easy.

 

[Mary Terry]

There are some great suggestions here. I taught my nephew how to count his money and to make change, but his problem is that he would willingly give all his money to anyone who asked for it. His sweet, naive and trusting nature tends to make him vulnerable.

 

[the_tortoise]

There are some great suggestions here. I taught my nephew how to count his money and to make change, but his problem is that he would willingly give all his money to anyone who asked for it. His sweet, naive and trusting nature tends to make him vulnerable.

That's a useful thought - sometimes it is good to include other related life skills lessons like the fact that you don't have to give money to anyone who asks and maybe should not, at some point of money-maths mastery, or part of the process all along. (Depends on the person -- for me it would be better to mention after basics or I would get derailed and confused.)

Something I was taught growing up was to always count your change yourself before you leave a store to make sure you are not short-changed. (Also to always check receipts before leaving the store to make sure you aren't double charged for something accidentally scanned twice, or charged the wrong amount for something). It made for good mental arithmetic practice and gave me confidence that it was okay to question people about mistakes that might hurt me.

 

[dadko20]

be prepared for stubborn behaviour

 

[arithmetic]

be prepared for stubborn behaviour

I myself was beaten several times a week for years; and told I was stubborn and bad; and deprived of meals; and ostracised within my own family... but the information just would not go in. It was only after I left my abusive parents that I developed an interest in math, of all things.

That's a useful thought - sometimes it is good to include other related life skills lessons like the fact that you don't have to give money to anyone who asks and maybe should not, at some point of money-maths mastery, or part of the process all along. (Depends on the person -- for me it would be better to mention after basics or I would get derailed and confused.)

Something I was taught growing up was to always count your change yourself before you leave a store to make sure you are not short-changed. (Also to always check receipts before leaving the store to make sure you aren't double charged for something accidentally scanned twice, or charged the wrong amount for something). It made for good mental arithmetic practice and gave me confidence that it was okay to question people about mistakes that might hurt me.

Thanks everybody
The presenting problem, which I have been asked to address, is that Sweetness cannot do the arithmetic to determine whether she has been cheated at the shop. It is an urgent issue for her family. Thankfully they have not as far as I am aware ever hit her or hurt her in any way.

I don't quite believe in "stubborn" - I'm more inclined to think that perhaps little one cannot join the ideas with the reality. One thing I'm sure of is that no force will avail!
I'm a believer in Kindness; I'll ask Kindness to help me.

 

[the_tortoise]

I don't quite believe in "stubborn" - I'm more inclined to think that perhaps little one cannot join the ideas with the reality. One thing I'm sure of is that no force will avail!
I'm a believer in Kindness; I'll ask Kindness to help me.

I am glad you will be her teacher, I wish more people thought this way.

I am sorry you were abused ... it happens way too often.

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

There are some great suggestions here. I taught my nephew how to count his money and to make change, but his problem is that he would willingly give all his money to anyone who asked for it. His sweet, naive and trusting nature tends to make him vulnerable.

This was a common problem with many of my clients.

I would work on this with role play. They were already familiar with the concept of role play from other learning activities.

I would pretend to ask her for money and she would say no, in whatever way was normal for her (polite, aggressive, nonverbal.)

After a very brief passage of time, I’d be myself and I’d tell her “Janie, I forgot my lunch money. I have nothing to eat and I’m so hungry. Could you lend me some money?”

Most of them would then give me the money. I’d laugh and remind them of the lesson and we’d all laugh and then do it all over again.

 

[Poppy98]

I haven't caught up on the whole conversation yet, but

She does not retain the learning.

When there's something I'm incapable of, I make a guide or device to fix the problem.

For her, she has to do maths by writing out any sums in word form,

!!! This is a good trick! Especially for advanced math (high school level). I've seen people write notes to themselves as a checklist on the right or write out how they're thinking about the problem, ex "I think I remember that I'll need to simplify the fraction at the end."



What is she able to do in general? Is she nonverbal? Or is she nearly a genuis in some things? What about somewhere in between?

This was a common problem with many of my clients.

I would work on this with role play. They were already familiar with the concept of role play from other learning activities.

I would pretend to ask her for money and she would say no, in whatever way was normal for her (polite, aggressive, nonverbal.)

After a very brief passage of time, I’d be myself and I’d tell her “Janie, I forgot my lunch money. I have nothing to eat and I’m so hungry. Could you lend me some money?”

Most of them would then give me the money. I’d laugh and remind them of the lesson and we’d all laugh and then do it all over again.

Darn it, I could have used your class! Accursed earlyish 2000's lack-of-awareness.


Edit: to the original question, I would consider having a chart with coins starting from the bottom and labled with numbers for the coins. She could just use dimes and pennies for the change part. There would have to be a separate chart for the money she gets though.

 

[the_tortoise]

Is she nonverbal? Or is she nearly a genuis in some things? What about somewhere in between?

These are not opposites....

(i.e. "nonverbal" and "genius" are not opposites on ANY spectrum of overall ability nor any spectrum of specific ability except for ONE: speech...there is no "in-between" them unless you are stating that they are opposite ends of a linear spectrum...)

Language skills are one of many, many types of skills, and are NOT (not at all) required for genius in literally everything and anything except language itself.

(Nevermind the fact that being unable to speak does not automatically mean having no language skills!!

Speech is a subset of language skills that also requires certain physical abilities that have absolutely nothing to do with cognitive aptitude for language -- simply having very severe oral-motor dyspraxia or some kind of facial/or laryngeal paralysis alone could mean you cannot speak but have genius language skills otherwise!)

Please check your assumptions and possible implicit (ie not intentional) prejudice. I know that many nonverbal individuals have global limitations in cognitive capacity but I stand by my comments ...

I do not mean to erase the reality of those who are severely globally impaired in all cognitive (and in that case sometimes also all physical) abilities; I mean to stand against harmful presumptions and ignorance about diversity and I am frustrated whenever I see stereotypes reinforced and perpetuated here.

(Especially frustrated when they are personally hurtful and remind me of the first time I was exposed to the truly awful and ridiculous [and, for me: effectively erasing-/invalidating-of-me] idea that language skills are the foundation of consciousness and sentience and that without language there can be no intelligence - that is 100% FALSE AND WRONG. I threw away the textbook I read that in and dropped the class it was for and have carried the hurt and the realizations about my life and how others have treated me that the words imparted to me ever since. This is a sore point for me, I openly admit that. But it is not an irrational sore point - my feelings about this stupid prejudicial idea are valid.)

 

[arithmetic]

Well, I guess I'll take it as it comes.
The child already knows and loves me; the door is open. I'll let Kindness direct me, for Kindness is the best person to be in charge.

......................... (dot dot dot ...) .........................

Almost hijacking my own thread here a little -
I have silly ideas about people's honesty, too, and I imagine there are probably a few other autistic things I do that could use some examination. It makes sense for me to be on the lookout for elements of the autistic syndrome in my life.
Learning what I did just then, from @WhitewaterWoman - about giving stuff away too readily - is a reward for my plans to help someone. Now I'm a little bit better equipped to deal with life
The new understanding is valuable to me, and I'll definitely pass it on to my little one when she arrives.