Teaching Math Successfully Through the Cognitive Science of Math Learning and Modifying English Math Language

Increasingly complex language is required for mathematical learning and reasoning. From early quantitative and spatial language to advanced algebraic reasoning and beyond, language serves both as an essential tool for learning math and as a medium for expressing mathematical thinking. Thus, language deficits often lead children with dyslexia, Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), and other language challenges to struggle with mathematics. Children may struggle primarily due to insufficient language support rather than fundamental difficulties with numerical or spatial reasoning. Yet, math instruction in the United States today is heavily language-based, relying on number talks, peer discussions, and word problems. Cognitive research on math learning for all children has exploded in the past 15 years, and this workshop will provide key findings of the essential components of successful math learning.

Presenter info: Karen Tzanetopoulos, M.S., CCC-SLP — author, speaker, speech-language therapist, and expert in how children learn math and reading. She provides professional development for educators, while also working directly with children, focusing on the language of math, cognitive processes, and strategies that help all learners succeed.

Learning Objectives:

1. Participants will identify strategies to modify the abstract English language of
math for more transparent instruction.
2. Participants will summarize ways to reduce the language load in math instruction
and increase the use of specific manipulatives to demonstrate math concepts.
3. Participants will describe the link between language, spatial skills, and math learning

Register at: https://aetonline.org/events/workshops