re: increasing writing and math skills

Lisa - posted on 12/31/2011

My son struggled with writing (handwriting specifically) do to fine motor skills issues. We got him magnetics toys and kinectx (sp?) and other building with small parts sorts of toys. It really helped his fine motor skills and his handwriting has improved a ton. We've never really had difficulty with math, so I have nothing there.. GL mama!

Shannintipton - posted on 12/25/2011

Is he still struggling.

Indra - posted on 12/12/2011

Usually children on the spectrum have trouble with writing because their thoughts are coming too quickly and it's hard to get things down on paper. Or it's an executive functioning piece and their having trouble with sequencing. Too many things are being thrown at them. There are a lot of steps to the assignment, or there are a lot of distractions in the room (sensory) so it's difficult to concentrate leading to impulsivity. Breaking down those steps is vital in a visual fashion. So take a piece of paper and have your child tell you what needs to get done first on his paper and label that 1) etc. until the steps are finished. A keyboard or voice system might help too. An O.T. in your school district addresses these concerns or a private O.T. can help to figure out what exactly is happening. Sometimes a child can also have poor motor control. American Girl books have great advice on writing skills. One of their books is tailored toward writing and should give some really good practical advice but the reading is tailored for this age level. I hope this helps for the writing piece.

Heidi - posted on 11/30/2011

My grand son struggled with math as I did when I was younger. Since we frequent the Public Library so much oneday I decided to look up Math DVD's and found several. It was fun to learn and review at home on the weekends. Plus using the forward, replay and quizzes were wonderful!

Lika - posted on 11/08/2011

Many autistic children are into technology. Rather than over struggle with writing, see if there is any technology that can help him with written communication. I'm sure there are plenty out there.

As for math, what's helped mine (ADD) is using math charts and oneline math games.

Bobbie - posted on 11/07/2011

The writing skills may improve with age. By writing skills do you mean his penmanship or his sentence structure? For math you get flash cards grade appropriate for him and do them over and over. Also you can get math computer games and work sheets for math. I used all 3 for my daughters.

Indra - posted on 11/07/2011

Has your child ever been in a program called Count Math? Also, if you use a ladder looking grid on your floor with numbers written in each box. Teach your child visually to advance by moving in the boxes. So you write 1-10 in the boxes on the floor then (like a ladder), then you tell your child to stand on the number 1 box, say what is 1 plus 2? , add two boxes or advance 2 boxes. The answer would be 1 plus two is 3. He would be standing in the number 3 box of the ladder if he advanced correctly. Once you get addition and subtraction down ...multiplication is basically teaching them to add in groups. It was easier for my daughter to start using a calculator sometimes to start memorizing. With writing skills I went to the library after finding my child's DRA level at school (you have to ask the reading teacher their RTI level or DRA level). Then you go to the library and ask which books fit into this category. This helps your child read at exactly the reading level they are tailored at...It's not too hard and not too easy. My children started flying once I did this (I have three very high level readers and one child who struggles)...because the text wasn't too difficult and wasn't too easy. Also, I found literature that was always something they were interested in so reading was like a gift. I would pull a book out of the bag and say, "Look what I found for you." Books were treated like tokens in our house! I hope this helps you! Oh also, look up dysgraphia and see if your child's problems with writing and reading might be because of this issue.

Jennifer - posted on 07/14/2011

i dont no if you have on near you but they have place called totole rehab help kids with add & adhd and autism, i just was told about it other day. my friend just signed her daugther up i was thinking about my boys.

Jodi - posted on 09/26/2009

Kristen, I purchased some workbooks from the local bookstore to help my son. His handwriting was shocking, and these books can be purchased at different levels. He has also had some issues with his more advanced maths, and I have found these workbooks helpful with the practice :) And the best thing is that the workbooks I purchased locally were issued with the state school curriculum incorporated, so it meant that what he was practicing was appropriate for his year level at his school.

Sue - posted on 09/26/2009

increasing your childs writing skills is having them write it over and over again. It may sound harsh but if its written wrong erase and do it again. Create a journal so they can see how much they can accomplish by looking back at what they have done before.