I’ve awarded a grant (£500 - £1000) to help Ioana Mischie complete a set of maths books to help autistic children. She writes:

“It is a known fact that Maths is hard for a high percentage of the population, especially for primary school children. 

There is a myth going around that autistic children are Maths geniuses and have an amazing memory. This is true but only for a small number of them. Most autistic children are struggling with basic maths concepts due to its abstract nature. Having stated that, you would expect that mainstream school that accept these children will have some adapted resources in order to facilitate learning. However, even the highest-ranked schools are not prepared for full inclusion.

I have been an autism Tutor (1:1 - shadow), working in mainstream schools for over 5 years. During this time, I had to develop the skill of teaching tricky Maths to children that could hardly do basic addition. I had to come up with my own strategies of breaking down abstract concepts to very small and simple steps using various strategies such as errorless teaching, backward chaining and endless repetition. I did this for so long as it became second nature creating strategies on the spot. Over the years, I gathered all my strategies having in mind that this might help other children too. That's how I came up with the idea of publishing a workbook.

When it comes to word problems, I came across a strategy that fits the level of understanding of ASD children, called SCHEMA, which refers to the underlying structure of the problem. The workbook will be focusing on additive SCHEMA (combine, difference or change).

Having access to a workbook containing over 100 word problems gives autistic children the opportunity to systematically move through SCHEMA  word problems concepts and consolidate each level of difficulty.

Additionally, it facilitates teaching as the workbook is designed to be worked on independently, once the strategy has been fully explained. The workbook will be accessible to children as young as 7 years old as the emphasis is mainly on comprehension including basic addition and subtraction equations. It will be finalised within the next couple of months and with Ben's support for founding, published in the spring time, on Amazon.”

Congratulations to Ioana.

More on the £1K grants for people making positive impact here.