Math Struggles Part 1 — Math anxiety?

By: Ann Wittman, Math Specialist

Although our organization is named Dyslexia Reading Connection, we also offer services for students struggling with math through our Rock Solid Math program. We’ve had some who truly struggle with understanding the basics of math, how it relates to the world around them, and how manipulating numbers actually works. Some of our students have had…let’s say less than positive experiences with math at school, and they freeze up when asked to work on their math homework. There are others who do fairly well, but there are holes in their learning that just need to be filled in for them to continue successfully.

Most people on this planet can relate to math anxiety. It’s what makes math one of those subjects people either love or hate. Our tutors are wonderful at taking the weight off, being gentle, yet encouraging growth and exploration without fear of ridicule or teasing. Many of our students have difficulty memorizing addition, subtraction, and multiplication facts. They have trouble remembering the steps in multi-step problems like double-digit multiplication or division. They have trouble remembering the months of the year in order or how many days in each month. And the list goes on. Our math program is a multi-sensory approach to helping our students remember the multitude of math related facts they need in order to be successful. We’ve had multiple parents who’ve said their child used to cry just at the mention of doing math, but after tutoring in our math program, they can now confidently approach it! 

As the Math Specialist at Dyslexia Reading Connection, Inc. I absolutely love my job because I’m on the front lines of helping our students understand math. I love being able to show them tricks and hands-on ways of making it “easy.” One of my students actually said, “I like math, now that it’s easy!”