pattern learning, part two

My favorite book about Asperger's Syndrome is Helping a Child With Nonverbal Learning Disorder or Asperger's Syndrome, by Kathryn Stewart.

It was one of the few books I've ever encountered on this topic that really felt like its recommendations might apply to my son, even though I've never felt that either diagnosis really fit him very well. In this parenting business, though, you take good advice wherever you can get it.

Tonight I was looking for any advice it had to offer on teaching math, and I came across this tidbit in a section on pattern learning (Catherine and I have already written about pattern learning a bit).

A problem seen in both NLD and Asperger's students is their overreliance on learning patterns. This style of learning is often seen as a strength that the student relies upon for skill development. Teachers and parents have used this strength to help the child develop success in playing sports, memorizing facts, and learning the routine for the day.

Unfortunately, this strength brings problems when the child relies solely on the pattern without learning the concept or recognizing the overall point of an activity...

Many NLD and AS students experience difficulty with math, especially fractions. Well-meaning teachers often teach these children the pattern of converting fractions to decimals to make adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing fractions easier.

My first reaction was: who the heck does this?

My second was: surely they don't think multiplying and dividing fractions is harder than multiplying and dividing decimals?

However, to continue:

This method may be useful in the short run: there is less stress, and the child gets the right answer. Yet they have no idea of what a fraction is; the concept still eludes them. When they get to algebra and formulas are presented in fraction format as part of equations, they don't know what to do.

In short, having learned a pattern for turning fractions into decimals does you little good if the problem you're faced with is:

1/(1+x) = 4/(3-x).

Normal kids pattern-learn too to some degree, especially in learning skills that should be automatic or nearly-automatic, like riding a bicycle or doing a fraction problem. Kids don't know what the big picture is, at first: all they see is the small bit that we are teaching them, and they trust us to lead them wisely. When we teach them fraction manipulation in 5th grade, they don't know they'll use it again, at a more abstract level, in algebra. We're letting them down if we teach them reliance on a method that only works sometimes, or doesn't generalize as fully as it ought to when it's time for them to do algebra.

I hope noone is really doing this. I hope Dr. Stewart made it up.

(To sum up, I didn't find much in Dr. Stewart's book that is specific to learning math, or to any other one subject. However, if you have a kid with NLD or similar problems, the general advice she gives on how to help a kid with AS or NLD be successful in school is the best I've encountered. This is a really terrific book.)


PatternLearning (format shock)
PatternTraining

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