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studiash · 5 years

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Or How to Survive School with Learning Difficulties

I recently got officially diagnosed with a significant specific learning difficulty (SpLD) in the area of mathematics or Dyscalculia after years of struggling with the most basic parts of mathematics, and I felt this was a suitable topic for a studyblr post.

My numeracy and maths fluency (addition) on the WIAT III both were in the 2nd percentile (Meaning I scored lower than 98% of people), and the highest percentile on any of the maths subtests was my problem solving, coming in at the 18th percentile, which is still disastrously low

And yet despite of all this, I’m currently in IB Higher Level maths, and actually doing somewhat alright, and I had to be pretty good at maths in school throughout the years in order to allow this to fly under the radar for so long, so how did I do it?

Showing. Every. Single. Step. Of. Your. Work.

I know for a lot of people it seems like just a waste of time to show everything you do, especially if it’s something supposedly as simple as “2-1″ when you could just write “1″ right away, but if you’re like me... it’s not as simple as that and as it gets to more and more complex “basic” bits your likelihood of messing it up is higher.

I can’t speak for any other curriculum but in the IB the majority of your marks in maths come not from the answer itself but the working, even if your answer is completely wrong if you’ve shown every step of your work you will get the majority of the marks, but sometimes they will only award the marks if they see where you went wrong, and if it’s not clear why you might’ve messed up you could lose a mark.

Proofread, proofread, go over your work, proofread

Whether it’s an essay, a lab report, or an exam, always proofread and check everything over again n again. You can never be too safe.

Your calculator is your best friend

You know all those memes that have a picture of a calculator with 1+1=2 and a caption like “just to be sure”, yea that’s been my entire life. The majority of my maths tests in IBMYP were with a calculator, and that’s a huge part of how I managed to actually be one of the star students, it wasn’t until the last year or so of MYP and then this past year of DP that I started struggling because things became non-calculator, and that’s how my dyscalculia finally got picked up on, and I’ve got accommodations now (which I will go over in the next section) that will help with that.

But when it comes to calculator exams like DP paper twos, you get your graphing calculator, and even for people who are great at mental maths, your calculator should still be your best friend because it saves so much time, and if your calculator can do something for you, don’t waste the time doing it by hand.

You need to graph a function? Put it in the calculator and use that as a reference. You need to solve an equation? Graph it. You’ve got an integral or some other long calculation needs doing? Don’t bother to simplify it heaps to do it on paper, just type it in.

Your graphing calculator saves you time and provided you type everything in properly your answer will be difficult to get wrong, just make sure you show some sort of “working” on your paper. If you graphed something to solve it, do a quick sketch with basic labels to how you got your answer paired with “GDC” written somewhere in the corner. Whatever you type into your calculator, make sure that’s written somewhere on your paper (and whatever steps you had to take to get to that point).

Access Arrangements (Accommodations)

If you have a diagnosed learning difficult or any other condition that may affect your performance (This includes stuff like ADHD and Autism and even most mental illnesses), you may be entitled to inclusive assessment arrangements, different schools will have different processes for different things but most school/exam boards, from the IBO to APs and the US college board, to AQA and Edexcel and all other GCSE/A Level exam boards have systems in place for inclusive assessment arrangements.

Whilst schools are supposed to have processes themselves in place so that you don’t have to be the one looking at all this, sometimes you have to be the one to self advocate. Remember that these arrangements exist for people who need them, not just because you want an extra advantage, do not abuse them if you don’t need them. If you’re doing IB your school’s IB coordinator is the one who has to submit the applications for any arrangements requiring authorisation, most schools will also have a dedicated special education or learning diversity team for these processes, approach any people involved about these arrangements if you believe you do need them.

I don’t know much about other systems but it should be fairly easy to locate information online (If you can’t, feel free to HMU and I might be able to help you with my googling prowess) but click here for IBO’s document detailing the possible arrangements and requirements to receive those arrangements

The most common arrangements that people get however are:

Separate exam venue, you don’t actually need authorisation from your exam board in order to receive this, your school may require certain things like a diagnosis or evidence that you would be better suited for it than others to consider it but ultimately this is usually one of the easiest accommodations to get. Additionally, or by itself, if you have difficulties with noise/your surroundings, even if you’re in the main exam venue you should be able to wear noise reduction earmuffs (they mustn’t have any sort of audio capability or electronic function, think construction earmuffs) and/or have mini “walls” placed around you on your desk to block external viewing.

Rest periods, similar to separate exam venues you don’t typically need authorisation for this either, in fact all students (at least in the IB) are technically entitled to a certain amount of break time per hour (for the IB it’s ten minutes per hour), your school may already provide all students with this option or it may reserve it only for people who’ve asked in advance, if you feel you’d need it, ask about it. It’s also possible to apply for additional rest period time if you need it but that does require some form of diagnosis or doctor’s note giving proper reasoning why and depends on exam board/school/why you want/need it.

Extra time, now this you need authorisation for pretty much no matter how much it is BUT the requirements are fairly lenient, with the IB as well as most other boards (I believe) you can easily get 10-25% extra time for the majority of conditions provided it can be shown you need it, so even if you only have a diagnosis of depression, if it’s shown that your depression interferes with your speed or quality of work you can very easily get 10% extra time and possibly even 25%. Once you’re looking at higher percentages like 50% or 100%+ it gets increasingly more difficult to qualify, 100%+ is incredibly rare and 50% is somewhat rare, but the process is similar. Either way: Talk to your school about it

Modified papers (large text, braile, coloured paper), a reader, a scribe, or the option to use technology to type written responses. There are specific requirements for obtaining these arrangements, and they differ from board to board and school to school, typically you will know if you require this sort of thing or not and it’s easiest to do your own research, and then get a doctor’s note or other medical certificate for these applications. Talk to your school about what you need for them to consider it.

And my personal favourite: four function calculator. This is possibly one of the hardest accommodations to get and you need to have a certain standard score on a mathematical related psych test (IB wants below 90 on a test of mathematical fluency), which means you need to get properly evaluated by an edpsych to even have a chance at receiving it.

And last but not least:

Do not be afraid to ask for help if you need it

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7wiseways · 3 years

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