Enhancing Motivation and Resilience in Children with Learning Challenges
Today’s world is evolving rapidly, and the ability to adapt to changing problems, people, and environments is quite significant to have in your skill set.
This skill, known as Dynamic Intelligence, enables individuals to solve complex problems, maintain meaningful relationships, and achieve long-term goals. In educational therapy, especially for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and learning challenges, fostering dynamic thinking is decisive for their development and success.
Dynamic thinking focuses on relativity and perspective-taking, helping children to engage with their environment adaptively. Unlike a static brain, which searches for a single response to specific stimuli, a dynamic brain continually seeks new potential responses, broadening perspectives and problem-solving skills.
Contextual Processing
Contextual processing is vital in making mathematical concepts meaningful by applying them to real-life scenarios. For instance, children should understand how mathematical operations with decimals are used in everyday activities like purchasing items from a store. Understanding simple and compound interest, taxation, and installment plans are also essential in personal and household finance.
Example: A child learning about percentages should relate it to discounts while shopping, understanding that a 20% discount on a $50 item reduces the price by $10.
Attributing
Identifying attributes is fundamental for categorizing and understanding mathematical concepts. This skill develops from a young age, as seen in how preschool children recognize shapes by their attributes.
Example: A child identifying a square will note its four equal sides, while recognizing a triangle will involve noting its three sides and sharp corners.
Appraising
Appraisal involves making critical judgments in various situations, a skill especially important for children with ASD. It requires productive uncertainty, allowing children to navigate new information.
Example: While grocery shopping, a child can appraise which store offers better value, considering factors like price and quality.
Anticipating
Anticipation is crucial in everyday life and business. It involves predicting future outcomes based on trends and data.
Example: In business, anticipating market trends helps capitalize on opportunities, similar to predicting stock market movements.
Assimilating
Mathematical concepts are often interconnected. Understanding this is essential for a comprehensive grasp of mathematics.
Example: Knowing that 50% equals 50/100 and 0.5 helps students relate these concepts in various contexts.
Integrating and Synthesizing
Mathematical knowledge must be integrated with real-world applications. This dynamic thinking skill involves constructing new ideas and applying them to social and physical environments.
Example: The Pythagorean Theorem in geometry requires integrating different mathematical concepts to solve problems involving right triangles.
Deconstructing
Deconstructing involves breaking down complex problems into manageable parts. This skill is vital for solving word problems.
Example: To solve the problem, "You have 5 pieces of candy. Your mom gives you 3 more, but your brother eats one. How many pieces do you have left?" a child must deconstruct each sentence to find the solution: 5 + 3 - 1 = 7.
Differentiating
Differentiating between objects and concepts is a natural mental process crucial for learning.
Example: Recognizing geometric shapes, such as differentiating between a square and a circle, is fundamental for fields like architecture and design.
Expanding
Mathematical concepts build on each other, necessitating an understanding of their interrelationships.
Example: Addition expands to multiplication (repeated addition), and subtraction expands to division (repeated subtraction).
Fuzzy Thinking
Fuzzy thinking involves making judgments with incomplete information, a skill used in estimation and rounding off.
Example: Estimating the total cost of groceries without calculating the exact amount.
Inferencing
Inferencing links given information with existing knowledge to draw conclusions.
Example: In math problems, a child must infer whether to add, subtract, or perform another operation based on the context.
Innovating
Innovation in math demonstrates a deep understanding of concepts through metacognition.
Example: A child creating new problem sums or finding multiple solutions to a problem showcases innovative thinking.
Internalizing
Internalizing math concepts involves fluency and automatic thinking, applying them in everyday scenarios.
Example: Observing how varying car speeds affect travel distance demonstrates internalized mathematical understanding.
Monitoring
Monitoring requires awareness of multiple demands and accurate execution of instructions.
Example: A student checking their work while solving problems ensures accuracy and understanding.
Reflecting
Reflecting involves critically assessing knowledge gaps and learning from mistakes.
Example: A child recognizing what they know versus what they need to learn fosters growth and continuous learning.
Postponing
Postponing involves delaying attention to small details until the bigger picture is understood.
Example: Children with ASD benefit from this approach, reducing anxiety and promoting skill development.
Representing
Representing in math involves constructing and experimenting with abstract ideas.
Example: Drawing model diagrams to solve word problems helps students visualize mathematical concepts.
Summarising
Summarising mathematical concepts demonstrates a comprehensive understanding.
Example: A child explaining their problem-solving process concisely aids memory and application to similar questions.
At Total Communication, we develop dynamic thinking in students by preventing a static approach and using various tools to visualize and interact with mathematical ideas. Our educational therapists create dynamic learning environments for math, fostering skills such as contextual processing, deconstruction, and integration. This approach not only enhances mathematical understanding but also prepares students for real-world applications.
Through dynamic thinking, children with learning challenges can achieve their full potential, equipped with the skills to navigate and excel in an ever-changing world.
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