WHAT IS MULTISENSORY MATH?

Orton-Gillingham is a multimodal approach to literacy instruction. It entails using auditory, visual, sensory, and kinesthetic components to assist primary arithmetic students in comprehending the relationship between language and letters or words.

Multisensory arithmetic is based on the same concepts as traditional math education. It involves the use of touch, sight, hearing, and movement when learning a new concept or diea. This method was extended and improved further by Marilyn Zecher, M.A., CALT, a licensed academic language therapist and multisensory math specialist, speaker, and former classroom demonstration instructor and Orton-Gillingham math tutor. She used and integrated the Orton-Gillingham Approach with evidence-based techniques based on neuroimaging research and NCTM and What Works Clearinghouse guidelines.

Zecher stresses the importance of the math language, highlighting the need to teach language throughout idea creation and skill development for application. To help learners best understand basic arithmetic topics, multisensory math employs the Concrete, Representational, and Abstract (CRA) teaching sequence with expressive language.

Learners must be clearly instructed, practice skills regularly, and acquire new ideas via CRA to guarantee successful basic arithmetic teaching utilizing the multimodal math method.

Touch (Concrete) – This element of multisensory math relates to touch. Westchester multisensory math tutors utilize physical items to illustrate ideas or numbers, such as fractions, which are shown by breaking apart foam forms (or using other manipulatives).

Representational (Drawing) – Following the physical or tactile demonstration, instructors introduce the representational or drawing component. The multisensory approach in teaching invites pupils to develop their visual representation of the topic they have learned. It also helps pupils make their connections and enables them to put down their thoughts.

Abstract (Symbols) – After students have entirely comprehended multisensory math lesson plans presented and built upon during Concrete and Representational, they will go to the abstract or symbols sequence. Traditionally, basic arithmetic classes were presented by instructors using solely abstract ideas (numbers and symbols). While this has succeeded for some students, others find it challenging to comprehend arithmetic concepts without tangible or visual representation.

According to Zecher, in basic math, students must understand four conceptual boundaries that serve as the basis for later arithmetic levels. They are as follows:

• Pattern Recognition and Subitizing – The ability to quickly recognize quantity, also known as subitizing, is a fundamental idea in arithmetic and one of its foundations. Patterns are the greatest method to perceive quantity. Developing a good number sense requires the capacity to visualize numbers. It paves the way for operational fluency and a better grasp of numerical connections. Recognizing dice patterns is an example of subitizing: Without having to count or touch each dot, the amount or quantity may be best understood visually. Similarly, it is critical to identify number bonds and comprehend that numbers may be deconstructed or broken down (8 into 3 and 5 or 2 and 6).

• Place Value – Using craft sticks to teach place value is a perfect way to use multisensory tutoring methods. Learners may watch the amount change and feel a greater weight as the number becomes bigger. Similarly, it assists students in visualizing the difference between a number’s standard (the number’s name = 125) and extended form (what it is composed of = 100 + 20 + 5).

• Distributive Property – This relates to a learner’s capacity to act on larger amounts while also knowing that those quantities may be broken down or decomposed and then worked on. Consider the number 15 multiplied by three. Students must first learn that 15 may be broken down into 10 and 5. They may then distribute (multiply) 3 and combine the results to get 15 x 3.

• What exactly is ONE, and what are its many names? – This relates to the idea that every number written over itself equals one. As a result, multiplying or dividing by one affects the composition of the amount rather than the quantity itself.

Literacy and reading instruction was the first to use multisensory math course teaching techniques. However, learning experts have shown that the same multimodal method may be successfully used when teaching arithmetic, mainly in basic math using the CRA framework.

When starting with multisensory math tutoring, it is important to start with the students’ abilities. The CRA technique may then be used to teach new ideas. Manipulatives are essential in multimodal math teaching, particularly in primary school, but they do not have to be costly. The following are some examples of frequently used items:

• Craft sticks
• Beads and string
• Base ten blocks
• Interlocking cubes
• Color tiles
• Foam stickers
• Flat marbles
• Dice/Dominoes (only up to six)

Here are some multisensory basic math teaching techniques suggested by Westchester multisensory math tutor:

• Visualizing using manipulatives such as beads, color tiles, or blocks is a great way to teach fundamental operations such as addition and subtraction. Young learners get a better grasp of how arithmetic operations operate by seeing how amounts change. Visualization also aids in the understanding of quantities and the development of number sense in youngsters.

• Building forms using cubes or tiles provides youngsters with a tangible and physical representation of dimensions and characteristics.

• Drawing math problems is an excellent method to reinforce hands-on exercises since it allows students to demonstrate their reasoning and the idea they have learned.

• Children may “feel” the worth of numbers by tapping out numbers. It assists pupils in better understanding and connecting symbols and real numbers.

• Songs are used to assist students in remembering arithmetic principles and teach new ideas.

• Through play and games, we can include movement in arithmetic.

• To teach regrouping and place value, use bundling sticks or coffee stirrers. This may also be accomplished using base ten blocks.

• A hundreds chart is a great method to educate youngsters about number connections.

• Fractions are introduced and taught by cutting pizza into pieces. When you cut up a paper or cardboard pizza, children may see what fractions look like when they choose pieces.

Here are helpful resources:

1. Free, ready-to-use classroom resources for all students
2. Applying the Orton-Gillingham Approach to Math Lesson Planning
3. ASDEC Multisensory Math I Course
4. Math Print and Digital Resources
5. XtraMath® is an online math fact fluency program and App that helps students develop quick recall and automaticity of their basic math facts.

Our Westchester multisensory math tutors can help your child with the following:

Adding and Subtracting Decimals
Adding and Subtracting Fractions with Like Denominators
Adding Subtracting Fractions with Unlike Denominators
Adding and Subtracting with Negatives
Addition Whole Numbers
Area

Bar Graphs
Basic Operations

Circles
Circles Area

Circle Graphs
Circumference
Common Ratio
Congruent Triangles
Convert Units of Area and Volume

Different Bases

Exponents

Line Graph

Number Lines – A number line visually depicts a number, such as a fraction, an integer, or a whole number. The numerals are uniformly spaced on a straight line, allowing pupils to see numerical sequences. Number lines may be used to compare and arrange numbers and teach counting, adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing methods.

Addition – Addition is defined as merging two or more groups of items into a single group as one of the fundamental arithmetic operations. In mathematics, addition is the sum or total of two or more numbers. Learners must also understand the properties of addition to work with numbers more effectively.

Subtraction – Subtraction is a mathematical operation in which a quantity is subtracted from the total. Subtraction, like addition, has characteristics that are essential for understanding operations. Subtraction is subject to the identity property and inverse operations. However, it is neither commutative nor associative.

Division – This operation refers to dividing a large number into smaller groups or dividing a large number into equal pieces. It is the opposite of multiplication. The commutative and associative properties of real numbers do not apply to division.

Multiplication – In mathematics, multiplication refers to calculating the sum of two or more integers by adding them repeatedly. A multiplicand (the number multiplied by another number), multiplier (the number multiplied by it), and the product or outcome of multiplying are all included in a multiplication statement. Multiplication possesses commutative, associative, identity, and distributive properties.

Fractions – Fractions divide numbers into equal pieces. It is made up of a numerator, which is the number of equal parts tallied, and a denominator, which is the total number of equal parts in one whole. Fractions are classified into three types: proper, improper, and mixed fractions.

Decimals – A decimal is a method of writing fractions. It is made up of a whole number and a bit of a whole number (any portion less than one), separated by a dot or decimal point. Decimals are expressed on a ten-point scale (tenths, hundredths, thousandths, and so on).

Contact us today to learn more about how our multisensory math tutors can come to your Westchester home. Or work with us remotely!

Betsy S.

M.S. Education

Betsy is a second-grade teacher at a private school in the Upper West Side. She received her Master’s Degree in General Education from Hunter College for first through sixth grades. Betsy has a passion for teaching math and reading to first through third-graders, including those who are advanced and those who struggle to learn these fundamental skills.

Betsy teaches through an inquiry-based curriculum and loves to see her students take ownership of their math and literacy learning. She uses a variety of strategies through personalized instruction to meet the needs of her students. She believes in a game-based, hands-on, multi-sensory approach to mastering mathematical concepts. One of her areas of expertise is helping students learn a number sense, building strategies to solve math word problems, and understand maths concepts (connecting abstract to concrete). She is also trained in Everyday Math, Exemplars, Mathletics, and Matific.

Betsy is also passionate about reading and believes in the importance of building students’ confidence at the elementary level. She has experience in the Teachers College Reading Workshop and Fountas and Pinnel reading programs. She loves to find ways to spark reading in young children and scaffold and develop reading strategies to support them as they acquire underlying literacy skills. In a favorite curriculum at her school, Betsy aligns her reading and writing units through transdisciplinary themes.

Location: Rye, Rye Book, Mamaroneck, Harrison, Scarsdale
Type of Services: Initial reading and math assessments, individualized reading, phonemic awareness, phonics, spelling and math intervention, and instruction.
Expertise: Homework help, spelling difficulties, reading comprehension, expository and narrative writing instruction
Ages: First-Third grade

Derycka

Master’s in Special Education, New York State certifications in Childhood Education and Students with Disabilities Grades 1-6

Derycka has a master’s in Special Education from Grand Canyon University and is pursuing a Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership with an emphasis on Special Education. She has New York State certifications in Childhood Education and Students with Disabilities in Grades 1-6. Derycka is also a literacy curriculum specialist, where she designs, organizes, and develops specialized instructional materials for 2nd-grade scholars. Her administrative work enhances scholars’ ELA critical and inferential thinking skills. Derycka has taught and tutored for nine years in various instructional capacities, including a first-grade self-contained classroom, a kindergarten to 2nd-grade integrated co-teaching classroom (ICT), and general education classrooms. Derycka is a 2nd-grade ICT teacher in a New York City Charter School in the Bronx. Derycka has taught students using many literacy and mathematics programs, including Teacher’s College Reading and Writing Project, Bridges Mathematics, Ready Gen, Go Math, and the Engage NY ELA and Math modules. She has extensive literacy experience using Orton-Gillingham, Read Works, Wilson, and Fundations for supplemental ELA intervention. Additionally, she has experience with integrated instructional technology programs such as Lexia, Dream Box, Epic, and I-Ready in her daily small group and individualized classroom instruction. Derycka strongly understands how to support children with special needs through her work with parents and other special education teachers. Her experience includes: advising parents on appropriate services for their children, leading workshops for general education and special education teachers focused on differentiating instruction in the classroom, and presenting workshops for parents on reading comprehension and literacy strategies, which provides a plethora of strategies to support their children at home. Derycka is committed and will continue to help students and their academic growth.

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