Math and Reading help

[AVDesigns]

Hi. I don't homeschool DS, but I thought this would be a good place to ask. DS has aspergers and some learning delays. He's in 1st grade and is behind on Math and Reading.
He's supposed to be able to get a certain number of math problems completed in a total of 5 minutes and he isn't getting anywhere close. He has to work out each problem (simple addition and subtraction). He doesn't seem to be able to recognize the same problem when he sees it. Like 4+5 then 2+3 then 4+5 again. When he gets to the second 4+5 he has to work it out again. Does that make sense.

I was hoping for some tips or resources to help him in Math and REading.

[Dmpmercury]

What are his issues in reading? I have been working with my kids with that and they have had to work at it.

[AVDesigns]

I'm not really sure actually (I've got a meeting with the teacher coming up so she can explain everything) He's on level F (ABCDEFGHIJ23456 are the levels and they have to be at level 3 to be promoted) At this nine weeks he should've been H-I. He does well when he reads at home. They do sight words and he wants to sound them out instead of learn them by sight. I don't know if that's hurting him.

[missydawn]

Does he have an IEP? How does he answer problems now, does he use malipulatives to answer the questions? What are his stuggles in reading?

[AVDesigns]

yes, he has an IEP. They do assessments in math where he has a total of 50 questions and he has to do it alone. He only did 4 on the last assessment. The one before he got 13. He has manipulatives here at home and he uses them sometimes and I think they use them at school, but I'm not sure if it's all the time. He says he uses the unifix cubes (I just bought some right before christmas to use at home)
On his report card he's got "does not meet expectations" for UNDERSTANDING AND USING PLACE VALUE and FLUENCY WITH ADDITION/SUBTRACTION FACTS.

[missydawn]

Sounds to me like he has no number sense, it is very common for children who struggle with numbers. So my guess if you show him three to five objects he has to count them to know how many there are, he can't just look at three objects and say there are three. If you have four blue cubes and five red can he tell you which has is more with out counting?

[AVDesigns]

Originally Posted by missydawn Sounds to me like he has no number sense, it is very common for children who struggle with numbers. So my guess if you show him three to five objects he has to count them to know how many there are, he can't just look at three objects and say there are three. If you have four blue cubes and five red can he tell you which has is more with out counting?

yes, that's exactly right. He cannot look at a picture of 3 birds and tell that it's 3 without counting them each. I just tested that with quarters in my hand and he counted them. I tested asking him which had more and he got that right without having to count. I had 4 in one hand and 3 in the other.

[missydawn]

So he stuggles with number sense. Couple of things you can try 1. online programs like starfall to play games working on numbers. 2. Just work on counting everything. The more practice the better. 3. If you want more a program I suggest Right Start Math. I use it for my soon to be 5 year old and it is great for number sense and does not take much time. It uses an abacus for helping children visualize numbers and is a very hands on. Here is the web site http://rightstartmath.com/

Just give him time most of all. He will get it, it just might take him longer.

[AVDesigns]

thanks for the help. He likes starfall, but mostly does reading stuff on there...I don't think I even knew there was a math section. I'm working on trying to get him a computer set up so he can work on things like that since he enjoys computers so much.

[AVDesigns]

Can you suggest when I might need to look at in the Right Start Math program?