How long will it take for my student to get to grade level?
Great question. Many parents are worried about the length of commitment and how quickly they can see results. As with all things that require sweeping changes, there is no magic bullet. There are four factors that affect students:
1 - The severity of dyslexia/dyscalculia and age of identification
Students diagnosed later than 5th grade take longer typically to remediate. Math is sequential in nature which is why we have to go back to sometimes first-grade content before we can leap forward.
2 - Consistency in Instruction
It’s important that students receive a consistent type of instruction. Multisensory math is best.
If your child has experienced several types and approaches to math from various programs, this may cause them to feel confused for a bit but as they engage consistently, they’ll start to feel the momentum of the sessions. Many of our students have multiple diagnoses and parents wonder which is more urgent to act on: reading or math? We recommend working on reading first and then coming to us.
3 - Math Anxiety
Some of our students are so anxious that they can barely come to the computer. This can take a month or two for students to overcome. In extreme cases, if we find that high levels of math anxiety are getting in the way we will stop sessions and recommend therapy to help with more coping skills than what we can teach students. Most of our students are anxious but the older students can feel the difference in our instruction fairly rapidly and they come eager to work.
4 - Motivation
The student has to want to be here with us. Students that are older sometimes are so wounded by their academic experience that coming to work with us is the lowest priority they have in life.
Our assessment will help us pinpoint the starting point and gauge how severe math anxiety is as well. We’ll start with lower concepts in game form and possibly administer one standardized test based on how the games go.
Well, there you go!
- Severity
- Consistency
- Anxiety
- Motivation
Four clues that help predict the speed at which remediation occurs! The fact that you’ve made it this far in the article speaks to your care and desire. That will go a long way as well!