Lose, Lose, Lose

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Children with learning difficulties or disabilities and their parents face a “lose, lose, lose” situation, Sir Keir Starmer has said, as he pledged to press ahead with reforming special needs support in schools.

Downing Street backed Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, after she was criticised by Labour MPs and campaigners for refusing to guarantee that children with special needs would continue to have the same legal rights to bespoke support in school.

Ministers said that retaining the existing system would end up “failing children and failing parents” and insisted that reform should not result in the overall level of support for special needs being cut.

Read the whole article HERE

Every day activities with children

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The Development and Research in Early Mathematics Education (or DREME), shares a wealth of information you can use free of charge.

See all their resources HERE

And see Dr Schreuder’s video series to Master Arithmetic with Tools at Home HERE

Dyscalculia Services Brochure

The Lasting Impact of Math Manipulatives in Early Childhood Education

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Many adults might not realize that young children first understand mathematical ideas through physical actions and concrete experiences, not abstract symbols. Manipulatives are grounded in learning theory, particularly Bruner’s (1966) framework of enactive (physical), iconic (visual), and symbolic (abstract) representations. This progression is essential: children manipulate objects, see and create patterns, and later connect these experiences to formal symbols and procedures (Bruner, 1966; Gravemeijer, 1999). Manipulatives serve as a bridge, making abstract concepts tangible and accessible.

Read the research overview HERE

Master Arithmetic with Tools at Home

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A video series that helps parents work with their children on their math problems or Dyscalculia. It splits out the various causes of trouble with math; early numeracy problem, memory, processing speed, visual spatial issues, math anxiety, and dyscalculia. Dr Schreuder offers hand-on help for all these causes and then goes on in a vast number of demonstrations of the most popular tools and shows how to use them and what to use them for. Finally, she discusses a number of programs available either in books or online that may help your child. The video series is a great toolbox to have and to use over and over with various problems you want to tackle.

See it at PracticalMathHelp.com

DYSCALCULIA is caused by cell wall biomechanics

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A recent study revealed the following in flytraps:

………………….The refined transcriptomic analysis uncovered widespread misregulation of cell wall related genes in DYSC, implicating altered cell wall plasticity in the sluggish mutant. Cell indentation studies by atomic force microscopy revealed a strictly localized and strikingly enhanced stiffening of the cell wall for DYSC that may hinder rapid trap closure and snap buckling. Together, these genomic, transcriptomic, and biophysical data identify cell wall elasticity as a key constraint on voltage and Ca2+ dependent trap kinetics. This finding documents the interrelationship between mechanosensing and Ca2+ signaling in the ultrafast capture organ of the Venus flytrap.

Read the full article HERE