Category Archives: Tools

How the use of manipulatives can help dyscalculia

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See in the link below how cleverly AI answered the question about how manipulatives can help dyscalculia.

See the question and the answer HERE

Guidelines for parents, thoughts for activities and tasks

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  • play math games and riddles
  • be encouraging, don’t ever tell kids their math is wrong but find the good thinking in their answers (for what is 3×4? an answer of 7 makes sense because 3+4 = 7, then say lets look at 3 groups of 4
  • don’t go for speed but for connection: many activities are mentioned 
  • never speak bad about math of tell kids that you were bad at math or dislike it
  • encourage flexible use of numbers: for 29 + 56 take one from the 56 and put it with the 29 now you have 30 + 55, a lot easier!
  • encourage a growth mindset, let kids know they have unlimited math potential and that they can make progress by working hard, keep trying and not giving up

See all the activities and tasks HERE

Resources for Parents

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Jo Boaler has great resources for parents. Go take a look.

And you can also look at Dr Schreuders rich demonstration site at https://practicalmathhelp.com

See the resources from Jo Boaler HERE

News from the easyCBM team ICYMI

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The easyCBM team has some exciting announcements for the 2025-2026 school year.

New Manual
We have updated the easyCBM User’s Manual — now in a new, easy-to-read format. Be sure to check it out!
Updated National Norms (2025)
Every five years, the easyCBM team at the University of Oregon updates our national norms to ensure that interpretation of student performance reflects current grade-level expectations. Although the vast majority of norms remain quite stable from one norming cycle to another, small changes are to be expected. Data for the updated national norms were pulled from SY 24-25. Our next update will occur in 2030. A technical report, which describes the 2025 national norming in detail, can be found at: https://brtprojects.org/publications/technical-reports/
Updated Default Risk Ratings / Percentile Rank Association
In addition to updating our national norms, we have updated the default settings for the percentile lines (which appear on individual graphs) and risk ratings (which appear in group and benchmark reports). The new settings are: 25th percentile = “high risk”, 26th – 40th percentile = “some risk”, and 41st percentile and above = “low risk”. These settings are empirically grounded and reflect current research on student performance in relation to their peers and successful attainment of “grade level content and performance standards” by the end of the school year. These updated defaults match the guidance provided in the easyCBM User’s Manual.

Please note: We understand that individual school and district policies may require you to use different percentile ranks for your risk ratings. Deluxe subscribers have the ability to override the default settings. To do so, log into your account, click on the Account tab, then on the Manage Settings button, then adjust the settings in the Percentile Line Thresholds section.

Read it all HERE

No more need to be afraid of math

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Scared of math? Madras Dyslexia Association’s toolkit makes it easy and fun to learn
Developed after three decades of working with children who learn differently, the kit is already being used in 50 Chennai schools.

While the kit was initially created to support students with developmental dyscalculia and math learning difficulties, it has also proven to be a powerful learning resource for all students, making mathematics joyful, accessible, and deeply meaningful.

Read more about it HERE