Parent resources

A child who finds reading hard can understand a math idea and still miss the problem, because the directions or the word problem used up their energy. Reading difficulty and math difficulty are different things: dyslexia mainly affects reading, while a separate learning difference, dyscalculia, affects number sense and math facts, and some children have both (Understood, The difference between dyslexia and dyscalculia). At home, the goal is to take the reading load off the math so you can see what your child actually knows. The suggestions below are our own practical advice, not clinical guidance.

Read word problems and directions to your child, or turn on read-aloud. Then ask them to say the problem back in their own words before solving it.

Timed drills reward speed, not understanding, and a child who reads slowly loses time before the math even starts. Practice untimed; speed comes with confidence.

Five problems done carefully beat twenty rushed. Stop while it is still going well.

Cover the rest of the page, or give one instruction at a time. For a multi-step problem, write the steps as a short numbered list.

Number lines, coins, blocks and drawings let a child reason before they write. Ask "show me" before "write it."

If lining up numbers is hard, use graph paper or let your child say the answer while you write it. Score the reasoning, not the handwriting or spelling.

Two minutes: one warm-up problem, read aloud and solved out loud together. Six minutes: three to five problems at the level your child's class is working on, untimed, read aloud as needed. Two minutes: your child explains one problem back to you, and you name one thing that went well. A few minutes most days builds more than an hour on Sunday.

If math facts stay hard even when reading is taken out of the way, mention it to the teacher. Only a qualified evaluator can say why a child is struggling; this routine is about practice, not diagnosis.

Baccare's math practice can read every question aloud, run with no clock, give one step at a time, and use fewer questions per round. You set those supports once and every activity follows them, and every activity is matched to the Texas standard your child's class is working on. See the supports.