For budding young minds, mathematics can be a struggle to comprehend. Constant guidance is a necessity to help them establish their foundations and understand the subject in ways that allow them to familiarise themselves with it. The important thing is first to identify the early signs of their struggle, and take actionable steps to address it.
Spotting Early Signs of Maths Difficulties
Difficulties with Basic Maths Concepts
Mathematics is composed of an incremental set of concepts, where learning each one builds a child’s mathematical understanding and solidifies their grasp of more complex concepts. For example, addition is a core concept that helps them learn about multiplication. If a child does not grasp the basics, it can quickly become a hurdle to understanding later concepts. A poor number sense can also impact their ability to count and make it harder to grasp the basic foundations, further making their learning journey feel more frustrating.
Conceptual Troubles
Even when a child learns a new mathematical concept, they may not fully understand the “why” behind the concept. For example, when subtracting two numbers, they might not understand how the subtraction actually works and why “borrowing” is a core part of the concept. It may also result in difficulty spotting patterns that contribute to their confusion and frustration, as these patterns inform the concept. Memorising steps will not help your child learn more complex mathematics problems, making it challenging to connect their maths lessons to real-life situations where these problems may be applied.
Mental Maths Challenges
Mental maths skills are an essential tool to help young children understand and apply higher-level maths concepts. However, some children struggle to perform simple calculations in their heads, often relying on visual aids (such as charts) or even counting with their fingers. As number values and equations become more complex, the lack of mental maths skills can significantly prevent young minds from fully grasping these advanced concepts.
Inability to Apply Concepts
In some cases, children who excel in mathematics classes may struggle to apply what they have learned to real-life situations. Whether it may involve counting money or measuring lengths and widths, they may suddenly blank when trying to solve these problems. Part of it may be due to an inability to fully process the maths problems being presented, either because they cannot interpret the question’s requirements or are unfamiliar with how to effectively apply what they learned to an unfamiliar scenario.
Aversion to Maths Homework
As your child finds it harder to solve maths questions, they may gradually become less interested and motivated in learning the subject. Their reluctance may manifest as poor attention spans, verbalising their frustrations (such as saying, “I am not good with maths”), and heightened anxiety or stress when attending mathematics classes or lessons. Their fears of making frequent mistakes or failing the subject form a negative feedback loop, perpetuating the belief that they are not cut out for maths.
Overcoming Mathematics Difficulties
Your child’s reluctance to learn mathematics may stem from various factors, including incompatible teaching styles that do not account for the different ways children learn. Understanding the root cause helps you find productive ways to teach maths in a more encouraging way that maintains and piques their interest in learning more.
Identify Problem Areas
The first step is to identify which concepts your child is struggling with the most. Perhaps they have a hard time grasping the basic building blocks, or cannot comprehend how a particular concept works. It could also be an inability to connect their mathematics lessons with real-world applications, such as measurements, further imparting their learning journey. Once you identify the cause, talk to their teacher or tutor to come up with a tailored lesson plan to improve these areas and get them on the right track.
Start Slow
As the saying goes, practice makes perfect, and regular study sessions at home can help reinforce what they learned. Going at a slow but steady pace, your child may improve their understanding over time, especially with repeated revision to gradually familiarise themselves with the concept. Keep these sessions short to maintain their attention span and reduce their stress levels.
Connect Lessons to Everyday Things
As you help them with tutoring or maths homework, take the time to connect their current lessons with everyday items or occurrences. For example, if they are learning about multiplication, you can use their favourite toys to illustrate its concepts visually. You can also incorporate these into other daily activities, such as during a walk in the nearby park or while counting groceries at the local mall.
Make Lessons Fun
Maths should not feel overwhelming to learn, so adding a fun factor to lessons can offer engaging ways to teach maths concepts. Various entertaining and educational games can easily be incorporated into any home or outdoor activity. Each game you play will connect to the current maths concepts being taught, so addition lessons can focus on sorting plush toys by adding them into similar groups. Other games you can try to include guided number hunts to teach multiplication or division, sorting games to teach sizes, and connect-the-dot drawings to show number sequences.
Gentle Encouragement
Your child may still feel frustrated occasionally, even when you and their tutor are supporting their efforts. It always helps to offer them constant encouragement, even if they may get it wrong the first few times. Work closely with them and gently nudge them in the right direction, but always ensure they provide the answer based on their understanding. Celebrate small wins whenever your child answers something correctly or understands the lesson. Gradually, they will be more eager and willing to learn mathematics.
At Read With Me, we understand the challenges children may face as they learn more complex mathematical concepts. We can help them grow with our tailored learning programmes, which teach these concepts through engaging activities and provide exciting classroom sessions to develop their foundational numeracy skills. Enrol with us today!
