"Dyscalculia No More"

Of the many areas of study a young person takes on in elementary and then secondary school, math is perhaps the one that is of greatest concern for parents and teachers alike in terms of assuring the students grasp the subject and move along with the material in step with the curriculum. Unlike history or many other topics, math is heavily structured so the students must understand each mathematical concept along the way because each lesson is a building block for the next one.

So when you have a student at any level of the academic hierarchy that is approaching a new school year and with it a new level of complexity in their math skills, it is important to know that the young person is well grounded in the basics of their math knowledge so they do not start at a deficit of knowledge when the instructor gets the class moving on the new curriculum. A math assessment test is just the thing to make that determination and to discover early on if there is a need for any remedial training so the student doesn’t walk into class already behind the other students in his or her math development.

There is nothing more discouraging and frightening to a young student than to sit in a math class without the background education that he or she needs and to listen to a lesson that there is no possibility of understanding without those core mathematical principles well understood by the student. Many times students will hide their lack of knowledge from the teacher and their parents so week after week they fall further and further behind. It doesn’t take long before the situation is a crisis which could have been avoided if the child’s parents had simply utilized a good assessment process to make sure the young person was ready for the new academic year in mathematics.

It isn’t difficult to find grade appropriate assessment tests to measure where the student is in his or her knowledge of fundamental math concepts. Many are published by commercial book sellers so you can access them at a book store or on Amazon and get the assessment to your child quickly. There are also online assessment sites that can do the same job for a reasonable fee. Often these are preferable because the child enjoys working an internet testing software system more than working from a book.

The academic counselor at your child’s school can also provide assessment opportunities and follow up with tutoring or remedial math classes that can be taken to get the young student up to speed with their grade level before week one of class begins. This is an excellent step to take the summer before the next grade level to prepare for the next step in the child’s academic life.