How can I help my child with maths?
Developing a positive maths mindset
If your child finds maths challenging, you might hear them say things like “I’m just rubbish at maths” “I just don’t get maths” or “I’m just not a maths person”. Sadly, in my work with my students, I hear phrases like these a lot. Alongside the belief that maths is somehow an innate ability we are born with (or not!) of course the children I work with have additional challenges, such as Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, Dyscalculia or ADHD. With brains that are wired differently, the way maths is taught in many schools can create additional challenges for them. It’s no wonder they feel they might as well give up! However, all is not lost. In this blog, I bust some myths around what makes people “good at maths” and also provide some tips for helping children overcome their maths anxiety.
So what makes you good at maths? Are you born with it? In fact, many studies have found that it is not innate ability that drives a student’s success in maths, it’s their mindset. Students with growth mindsets have been found to achieve better grades than those with fixed mindsets. Alongside that, students with growth mindsets tend to transition more successfully from primary-level to secondary-level maths. A fixed mindset is one based on the belief that intelligence and ability are fixed from birth and can't be significantly improved, whilst a growth mindset is based on the belief that intelligence and ability can be developed with effort, plus the right strategies and support. As a tutor to neurodivergent children who has made it my purpose to support children with learning strategies, you can guess which mindset I have! I see time and time again that the biggest thing that holds my students back is their confidence around maths, not their ability.
Here are some ways to help build your child’s confidence around maths and develop a growth mindset:
1. Make it physical, for example with a resource such as Numicon
A recent student of mine has been struggling with maths in the classroom and experiencing anxiety around the subject, causing her to completely shut down. Sometimes she freezes so badly she can’t even remember how to count! My approach with her has been to focus on building confidence by making maths physical. We have been going through maths questions structured in different ways and she has been coming up with different ways of using Numicon to answer the questions. Her confidence and understanding have grown massively as a result.
2. Make it fun
Like many of the children I work with, one student I have is really into football! So to build his confidence with maths he goes in goal and I try to score as many goals as the answer to a maths question. Some of the numbers are really big and I’m not the best at football, but we laugh a lot. Linking in with his passion, plus making it active, fun, and light-hearted all contribute to keeping him engaged and ultimately increasing his confidence around maths.
3. Make it a game
Much like the football example, another route with children can be to pick a game they like such as a board or card game. This works really well if they have a competitive streak! Monopoly is a great game for practicing not just addition and subtraction, but budgeting and negotiation - all great life skills that link with maths and help to build confidence with numbers.
4. Watch your mouth!
It might sound silly, but pay attention to how you talk about your own relationship with maths in front of your children! Kids learn what they see, not what we tell them, so make sure you speak confidently about your maths abilities in front of your children. If there’s an area where you are less than confident, perhaps there is an opportunity for you and your child to learn and practice together.
I hope this has been a helpful summary of the impact of a growth mindset on your child’s ability to do well in maths. For more thoughts on growth mindset in general please read my other blog here: https://www.learnwithadifference.com/blog/growth-mindset