Abstract
Difficulties in learning mathematics are the most “resistant” within the intervention programs for children with autism. However, mathematics cannot be excluded from the curriculum because it forms abilities which would ensure better social adaptation for the child. It is not about academic level of mathematics in this chapter, but a professional and social one. In day-to-day life, the child with autism encounters mathematical situations generated by simple self-serving actions, space orientation in spaces loaded with symbols, etc., which requires intellectual operations of a minimal abstraction degree. Along with the social component which mathematics has, learning it can also be considered therapeutic as it involves a process of mental organizing which children with autism need. The chapter offers a few basic methodological solutions in forming mathematical abilities for children with autism.
TopHow Should The Learning Process For Mathematics Look Like?
Research regarding teaching mathematics for children with autism are reduced in comparison with the studies for other types of disabilities. Probably a potential explanation would be that many children with autism cannot grasp the logical-mathematical concepts. They are forming their concepts within the limits of certain levels of abstraction. Even if in many cases they are acting based on some concepts, they are doing that based on a reduced semantic level.
Starting from Bruner’s idea (1970) that anyone can learn anything, if the designed methods corelate with the mental structure and the contents of the material, we think that offering mathematics learning methods and procedures is an important step towards a new perspective regarding organizing and selecting a mathematical content based on the functioning level.
The abstraction of mathematics naturally provides difficulties in learning (Yakubova, Hughes, & Hornberger, 2015). No matter how diverse the autism spectrum disorders are, a few coordinates remain constant, one of these being the difficulty to learn computation skills. The problems related to difficulties in organizing in time and space, late development of language and general development are just a few of the causes which affect learning mathematics in case of children with autism.
Cseh (2010) creates a small inventory of problems children have in learning mathematics:
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Learning mathematical language creates confusion because some words have multiple meanings, for example “mean” as something that is “nasty” or “malicious” versus “mean” as an “average values” of a set of quantities (Yakubova, Hughes, & Hornberger, 2015).
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Some students can do mathematical operations, but do not get the right answer because they do not understand what they were asked to do.
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The vocabulary used in a lot of handbooks is beyond the level of verbal comprehension of the children.
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Adding two digit numbers, instead of adding the units and then the tenths, the children add all the digits at the same time.
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They start doing subtractions and additions from the left side, not from the right side.
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For subtraction, they are subtracting the smaller digit from the larger one, no matter where they are.
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They don’t understand the meaning of “0” that well and its role in the computation.
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Adding numbers of two or three digits, they don’t know how to solve if the sum of the two digits is above 10.
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When they are given a problem, they often do not know what operation to use in solving it.
Because mathematics studies pretty abstract concepts, it is recommended for the teachers to use three ways to represent mathematical concepts (Mușu, 2000):
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Clear approach, which involves doing clear operations and active participation from the student.
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The image approach, which means using pictures or other imagistic support.
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Symbolic approach, using mathematical symbols.
Math teachers or other specialists who work with the child with autism need to use the three methods exactly in the order listed above. Progressively going from a concrete way to a symbolic one, the students learn in a way adapted to their needs.
TopMathematics Learning Schemes
Learning mathematical concepts cannot be done without elaborating some learning schemes. These have a synthetic character and try to structure the essential elements of learning mathematics, with maximum adaptability for children with autism.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Mathematics: School discipline that contributes to the development of students' rationale.
Dyscalculia: Difficulties in learning mathematics, requiring continuous help, differentiated organization of instruction, correctional development procedures.
Orientation: Complex psychic function through which the relationship between one's own person, time, place, and environment is established.
Body Scheme: Body image, integral representative image of the body in our consciousness.
Motor Skills: The ability to react with the musculoskeletal system to external and internal stimuli in the form of movement.
Sensorial: Generic term for the physiological processes underlying the formation of sensations.
Learning Difficulties: Delay in development or inappropriate development of reading, writing, speaking and/or computation skills.