TouchMath Review Procedures and Implementation Strategies Green Goblins

1
TouchMath ReviewProcedures and Implementation
Strategies Green Goblins
Tara Discepolo Karen Gozzo-Scanlon Jen
Jakiela Justin Piwonski Kelly Young
SPED 517 12/03/07
2
Philosophy of the Program

• TouchMath is the leading multi-sensory teaching
  approach that bridges manipulation and
  memorization.
• Innovative math-learning system specifically
  designed to help young students develop math
  skills.
• Instills lifelong love of math, instead of the
  fear many children feel when tackling this
  subject.
• It works- students interact directly with
  numbers.

3
Philosophy of the Program

• Students see, say, hear, and touch numbers in
  order to arrive with the correct answers without
  guessing.
• Auditory reinforcement, flashcards and timed
  tests.
• Students learn the math facts they need to
  succeed.
• Utilizes sequential learning strategies.

4
Supporting Research using Evidence Based
Practice Identification Criteria (CEC)

• TouchMath multisensory approach meets the
  recommendations by Gardner (1993) who has
  suggested a variety of approaches to match the
  variety of multiple intelligences in the
  classroom.
• Scott (1993) examined the effects of a
  multi-sensory program called TouchMath with three
  (3) fourth grade students with mild disabilities.
  Her results show that it can be an effective tool
  in teaching addition and subtraction with and
  without regrouping. The subjects had success in
  maintaining and generalizing the TouchMath
  approach to other mathematical problems.  
• Hanrahan (2000) discussed research that had
  success teaching addition and subtraction to a
  small group of mildly to moderately
  intellectually disabled children using an
  adaptation of the TouchMath approach.

5
Supporting Research using Evidence Based
Practice Identification Criteria (CEC)

• Mather Goldstein (2001) recommended using the
  TouchMath approach with children who have
  weakness in the processing block. They benefit
  from a multi-sensory approach to learning math
  facts. The visual, auditory, and motor skills of
  the symbolic blocks are used to aid memorization.
  
•  
• Research has shown that the TouchMath approach
  appeals to children through three distinctive
  learning styles auditory, visual, and tactile.

6
Pros of Touch Math

• Students interact directly with numbers
• Multisensory/tactile
• Makes math concepts visible to students
• Free materials before you buy

7
Cons of Touch Math

• High cost
• Regular education teachers will need extra
  support when first implementing

8
Target Audience

• The target audience for TouchMath is pre-K to
  12th grade and includes children with learning
  disabilities and children of different aptitudes,
  learning styles, and cultures.
• TouchMath has become the most accepted and widely
  used basic math supplement in general classrooms,
  special education, Chapter 1 programs, and home
  learning environments, throughout the United
  States and in many foreign countries.

9
Understanding the Student

• Does the child have difficulty comprehending
• Math problems?
• Is the child very concrete?
• Does the child need visual cues to perform math
  operations easily?
• Does the child have working memory issues?
• Is the child behind in Mathematics?
• Does the child have learning problems?
• Is the child a Special Education student?
• What is the current grade level that the
• student is performing at?
• What else to look at
• Previous grade level Math tests
• Curriculum reviews
• Standardized tests if the child is being
• tested for Special Education
• CMT Scores/prior assessments.

10
Compare and Contrast

• Class notes and text TouchMath
• Students must be taught relevant concepts and
  meanings associated with addition and
  subtraction (Mastropieri, 2002, p. 175).
• We need to create authentic mathematic learning
  contexts. If students do not know the meaning of
  addition and subtraction, they will have trouble
  with problem-solving examples (Mastropieri, 2002,
  p. 175).
• Students need to learn concrete to
  representational-to-abstract instruction (C-R-A
  Instruction).
• Addition and subtraction concepts are generally
  communicated through manipulation of concrete
  objects and use of count-ons (Mastropieri, 2002,
  p. 175).
• If student are not instructed in math
  appropriately, they will feel anxiety, experience
  lack of motivation, and will avoid math (Prof.
  Senft, class notes).
• Students with mathematical learning disabilities
  have trouble understanding mathematical concepts
  and executing relevant procedures and choosing
  among alternate strategies. Teachers need to
  discuss the relevance/meaning of the
  skill/concept (Prof. Senft, class notes)
• Work Cited
• Mastropieri, M.A., Scruggs, T.E (2002)
  Effective Instruction for Special Education (3rd
  ed.). Austin Pro-ed.

11
Compare and Contrast

• The TouchMath program has been designed to
  cultivate rote memory skills, but the program
  also develops their understanding of underlying
  concepts.
• We teach children to associate numerals with
  real values, actual number quantities. Children
  learn that the numeral five is not just a word or
  a squiggle on a page. The five represents
  something and has meaning (TouchMath, December 4
  2007).
• TouchMath ensures success for students at the
  concrete level of development first. It then
  moves to a pictorial level at the students pace.
  After these needs are met, student use symbolic
  math learning, or memorization. They see, say,
  hear and touch the numbers, in order to arrive at
  the correct answers, without guessing
  (TouchMath, December 4, 2007).
• A student receiving TouchMath once felt
  frustrated with using memorization and
  flashcards. After using TouchMath, she liked
  going to school and enjoyed math.
• Students with mathematical learning disabilities
  using TouchMath will always have computational
  accuracy in real-life situations (TouchMath,
  December 4, 2007).
• Work Cited
• http//www.touchmath.com/storeworks/searchresults.
  cfm 2007 , December 4

12
Student Progress

• Student progress can be monitored in a variety of
  ways
• Curriculum based assessments, such as worksheets,
  projects,
• quizzes etc. tests can also be timed.
• Pre and post testing
• Peer mentoring
• Continuous evaluation will point out weaknesses
  to work on
• Teacher feedback and encouragement
• Visual observations
• Have parents work with student at home to
  reinforce learning
• As the student continues to use Touch Math, and
  math facts
• improve, watch for his/her hand to be raised
  in response to
• questions asked.

13
Addressing Learning Differences

• Attention TouchMath gets children involved,
  actually having to use tactile inputs to figure
  out answers. Colorful materials also keep
  children focused and interested.
• Spatial and Sequential Processing Students touch
  and see the numbers and can sequence them by how
  many times they touch them. Uses sequential
  learning techniques used by Jean Piaget and
  Jerome Bruner.
• Language students associate what they see, hear,
  touch with what they say, which will help
  language. Flashcards and timed tests could be
  accommodated for if student had major language
  difficulties.

14
Addressing Learning Differences

• Memory Touch Math is great for working memory
  because
• the student can retain the number as they
  are counting due to
• the multi-sensory approach of this program.
  Touch Math specializes
• in teaching students who have difficulty
  with memory issues,
• it is mostly targeted for students with
  short-term memory issues.
• Higher-order thinking Lessons can be created in
  combination
• with the Touch Math program to promote
  higher-order thinking. For
• example, students could draw the number of
  objects on the number or
• complete worksheets with the touch math
  number. Incorporate
• technology, etc. I would also ask higher
  order thinking questions such as
• Why did you touch those dots twice? If
  there was a dot with two
• circles around it, how many times would you
  touch it?
• Motor Skills the program incorporates fine
  motor because
• the student uses their finger to touch the
  dots or objects on the number. Gross motor can
  be incorporated by drawing a large number and
  dots on
• the sidewalk outside and having the child
  jump on the dots. 55055

15

• This has been a
• Green Goblin
• Presentation
• hosted by your classmates
• Tara Discepolo
• Karen Gozzo-Scanlon
• Jen Jakiela
• Justin Piwonski
• Kelly Young

Happy Holidays!
16

• The End