LETTER TO MY MATH TEACHER

Dear Math Professor:

(1.) On tests, please allow me scrap paper with lines and ample room for uncluttered figuring.

(2.) I need instant answers and a chance to do the problem over once if I get it wrong the first time. Often my mistakes are the result of "seeing" the problem wrong. To AVOID this, you would have to watch as I went through each problem and correct any mistakes in recording as they happened.


(3.) Problems written too closely together on the page cause me mental confusion and distress.

(4.) Please make the test problems pure, testing only the required skills. They must be free of large numbers and unnecessary distracting calculations. These side-track me into a frenzy!

(5.) Please allow me more than the standard time to complete problems and please check to see that I am free of panic (tears in my eyes, mind frozen).

(6.) If possible, please allow me to take the exam on a one-to-one basis in your presence.

What is a Special Needs?

"Special Needs" is an umbrella underneath which a staggering array of diagnoses can be wedged. Children with special needs may have mild learning disabilities or profound mental retardation; food allergies or terminal illness; developmental delays that catch up quickly or remain entrenched; occasional panic attacks or serious psychiatric problems.

INTRODUCTION

Mathematics for children with special needs including the identification of such children and the diagnosis and remediation of the problems they encounter in mathematics. Student will also be exposed to designing appropriate intervention programmes to remediate children's mathematical errors, uncluding those with dyscalculia and dyslexia. The characteristics of children with special needs in mathematics and strategies to support them will also be covered.