speech therapy math word problems

Busy Bee Speech

Buzzing about Speech & Language

Candy Math Word Problems for Language Disorders

July 3, 2013

A few months ago, I was assigned to administer our state test to a small group of fourth graders.  For the most part, they were troopers and hung in there during a week of long and tedious testing.

What surprised me, though, was where they became the most frustrated.  It wasn’t during reading comprehension or proofreading; it was during math word problems!  They would sigh and raise their hands for help and try to ask me questions.  I felt really sad that I couldn’t help them.  They know me as the lady who gives them strategies, breaks things down, explains difficult words.  All I could do was say, “I’m sorry, I can’t help you.”

I decided that day that I needed to make a math product.  Something that I could use to teach the kids how to break down and understand math word problems.  There is a TON of language and vocabulary involved in math, and I know that half their battle was reading comprehension.

According to THIS article, addressing the language of math is well within the SLP’s scope of practice.  Here are a few other articles that show the importance of an SLP supporting students in math:

• Speech in the Schools: Math and the SLP
• The Language of Math: What is the SLPs Role?
• Supporting Students in the Language and Vocabulary of Math

I am so very excited to show you this new product!  Check out Candy Math Word Problems for Language Disorders !  It’s based on Common Core State Standards and geared toward kids in grades 2-5.

I’ve also included math terminology gumdrops.  Match the word to the definition to help students understand math vocab.

There are 18 word problem comprehension cards for each grade (2-5).  Four questions are addressed on  each card: 1. What happened in the story?  2. What key words do you see?  3. What do you need to find out?  4.  How can you solve this problem?

I want my students to think about these questions whenever they go to answer a word problem in class. My LD kids need to practice breaking down the questions and implementing strategies.

The cards for each grade are color-coded for easy storage and use.  Since some of us SLPs don’t consider ourselves to be “math people,” I tried to go with the standards that could be easily checked with a calculator.

Of course, I included an answer key.  This is math after all.  😉

You can grab this product at my TPT store HERE !

What do you think?  Do your kids struggle in math because of their language disorder too?

July 3, 2013 at 3:26 pm

This looks great! So many of the kids I see struggle with Maths language. Helen

July 3, 2013 at 11:54 pm

Thanks, Helen! I know math is hard. My kids performed lower on the math portion of the standardized tests than the ELA!

July 4, 2013 at 3:08 am

This looks AWESOME! I added to my wishlist. Love the strategies. Can’t wait to use this in September.

July 5, 2013 at 6:23 pm

Thanks so much! I hope you can get some good use out of it. 🙂

July 5, 2013 at 4:46 pm

I LOVE this packet!!! I am definitely keeping it on my wishlist for when I have kiddos that need to work on word problems. It’s awesome!!! And I’m sharing on my FB page (which as you know by now I very rarely share things that cost money but I think its an awesome packet for SLPs AND homeschooling parents) 🙂 Thanks girl! AWESOME!!!

July 5, 2013 at 6:24 pm

Thank you Maria!! That means so much! It was something that was much-needed for me! 🙂

July 20, 2021 at 11:23 am

I just purchased this from you, however, I have a question. Is there any way for me to eliminate the grade levels that are written on the top of these slides? Because I work with students with disabilities, they aren’t necessarily working on their grade level but at the same time, I didn’t want them to see that it is grade 2 or 3 because I don’t want them to feel bad about that. Is there a way that I could put each word problem separately on a slide instead of the while set to show the class and also delete the grade level listed on it? Hope this makes sense.

July 25, 2021 at 7:53 pm

Hi Lisa, I’ll definitely consider removing them on a future update. In the meantime, you can just cut off that part on each card after printing it. If you are using it digitally, you might have to use the snipping tool.

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Solve word problems

Description

Exercise helps people with cognitive, speech, or language disorders improve reading and foundational math skills by solving functional word problems.

Helps improve: Combining reading and math

#of difficulty levels: 5

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Clinical evidence

• Delazer, M., Bodner, T., & Benke, T. (1998). Rehabilitation of arithmetical text problem solving. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 8(4), 401-12. • Des Roches, C., Balachandran, I., Ascenso, E., Tripodis, Y., & Kiran, S. (2015). Effectiveness of an impairment-based individualized rehabilitation program using an iPad-based software platform. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2014.01015.

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The Secret to Decoding Basic Word Problems

• March 12, 2009
• Ideas , Language , Math

There comes a time in a student’s life when a dreaded thing happens to their math assignments… the numbers start getting overrun by words!  There are words everywhere and numbers hiding here and there.  Ahh!

While word problems can be intimidating to any typical student, they can seem downright impossible to figure out for the student with language disorders.  But what can we do about it?  Is math really something we should address in our language sessions?  Absolutely!  And here’s why… it’s about decoding the language of math.

I teach students how to decode the question and figure out what it is asking them to do.  The calculating is up to them and their teachers to work on.  Once students know what to do with the numbers, the battle is half won.  To work on the specific vocabulary, you can make flash cards with the students, make reference sheets for their desks, make posters to hang on your walls, or play math word bingo.  Do whatever you need for them to learn the following words and what they mean.  Then, do example word problems from their math books to help them practice decoding the questions.  Have them look for the “key words” in the question and figure out what to do.

I recently printed out business cards with these words on them for my language students in third-fifth grades to have on their desks.  All of their teachers asked me if they could have some for the rest of the class too.  Of course!  You can have them too!  Print them out on standard perforated business card paper or on plain paper and cut them apart.

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Becky, We learn more and more everyday that this Math vocabulary is the key to Math success in the upper el grades! You are completely right – we now have literacy activities during Math time, including writing and word study, which boosts students’ problem solving abilities. Thanks for sharing the cards!

Where can I find your math vocabulary cards? Any materials that can help my students with math vocabulary would be so appreciated. Thank you.

There is now a link to them on the “Printables” page at the top of the website.

Great cards. Great for my adult ELs too.

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Math CCSS Lessons for the SLP {Describing}

April 20, 2015

Yes, you read that correctly. Math and SLP are in the same sentence. Even though it’s the complete opposite side of the brain, we CAN work on math concepts and what’s more is that our students NEED us to work with them on math concepts.

Grab a Common Core State Standards Packet and you don’t need to read very far before you start seeing words such as:

describe, identify, compare, contrast, recognize …sound familiar? THIS is what we do 🙂

Or…just look at this sample third grade math question on a PARCC assessment:

Third grade students took a total of 1000 pictures for the year book during the school year.

• Ted took 72 pictures
• Mary took 48 pictures

Part A:  What is the total number of pictures taken by the rest of the third grade during the school year?

Part B:  Ella took 8 more pictures than Ted took. How many more pictures did Ella take than Mary?

Wowzers these are tough questions. I see vocabulary such as “total, rest of, how many more” that students need to understand in order to answer this question correctly.

Today I’m sharing a few activities from my friend Miss DeCarbo’s class on ways to incorporate both language and math into your therapy room. If you haven’t checked out her blog , she has some AHHHMAZING ways of incorporating oral language into her whole and small group lessons.

One of the easiest ways to work on math is simply having the student bring what they are working on from class to you. We have a unique understanding of language and are some of the best people to be teaching it-whether it comes from math or reading or social studies or science class.

Lately Miss DeCarbo has been working on some fun math activities when one of our friends comes to speech. I have my speech friend bring his work because

1. This gives me a great opportunity to work on some of the language and speech in his math curriculum

2. He doesn’t need to make up what he missed when he comes back from speech. Sometimes, he’s even ahead of his friends because he receives my small group support!

Check out this fun activity we worked on a few weeks ago. Students had to form a picture using shapes and then write a description for someone else to build.

“I used a hexagon for the head. I used 2 rhombus to make a hexagon for the belly. I used 2 triangles to make the hands. I used the rhombus to make the feet. I used the triangle for the hat.” I was so proud of this little guy!

Since this student is in first grade, let’s look at some of the CCSS standards this activity addresses:

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.G.A.1 Distinguish between defining attributes (e.g., triangles are closed and three-sided) versus non-defining attributes (e.g., color, orientation, overall size); build and draw shapes to possess defining attributes.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.G.A.2 Compose two-dimensional shapes (rectangles, squares, trapezoids, triangles, half-circles, and quarter-circles) or three-dimensional shapes (cubes, right rectangular prisms, right circular cones, and right circular cylinders) to create a composite shape, and compose new shapes from the composite shape. 1

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.1.4 Describe people, places, things, and events with relevant details, expressing ideas and feelings clearly.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.1.5 Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions when appropriate to clarify ideas, thoughts, and feelings.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.1.6 Produce complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.1.1 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

This week, we’ve been working on sorting and explaining the reasoning behind the sorting.

“This side has four vertices and four sides and this side does not.”

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.1.1 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. (We’re still working on capitals and punctuation)

Just look at all these standards you can work on when you incorporate math and language into your therapy! Here’s a fun little freebie  from me to use in your room. I hang my posters in my room and it reminds me work on math vocabulary!

I hope you found some new ways to incorporate math into your lessons. Tell me, how do you work on these skills?

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I love these ideas! I’ve worked a bit on math vocabulary in the past, but you reminded me how important it is to work on these concepts year round. Thank you for sharing! 🙂

I love your blog, and I nominated you for the One Lovely Blog Award. Check it out here:

http://themodernslp.blogspot.com/2015/04/one-lovely-blog.html

I love this idea. I was just curious about what your IEP objectives would look like for the 1st grade example provided above. Thanks!

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• Supporting Students in the Language and Vocabulary of Math

Kathleen Aiken Babineau

• Language Disorder(s)

Introduction Math is more than just numbers and operations. Math is rich with concepts and terminology. The language of instruction in math classrooms and wording in textbooks and on tests, includes complex vocabulary, terms, phrases, and symbols. To do well in math, logically students need to have a solid understanding of math vocabulary and concepts as well as strong listening and reading comprehension skills. According to Harmon, Hedrick, & Wood (2005), some students do poorly on math tests because they have trouble reading and understanding the language of the problems presented to them. "Mathematics presents challenging reading because this content area has more concepts per word, per sentence, and per paragraph than any other area" (Harmon, Hedrick, & Wood, p. 266). In addition to understanding the complex language of math, students are also often expected to articulate orally and in written form their approaches to math problem solving. Students are not only responsible for solving math problems, they are also required to explain how they solved them. While it may appear easy to separate math from language arts and reading, the subjects and skills needed for each are increasingly intermingled. Because math is language-based, students with communication disorders may need support in the language and vocabulary of math. With federal mandates requiring specialists to teach to academic standards, addressing the language of math is within the scope of practice of speech-language pathologists. Literature Review Although research into the area of math vocabulary is limited, researchers report that vocabulary and concept knowledge are an important part of mathematics. For example, Stahl and Fairbanks (1986) found that vocabulary knowledge greatly improves comprehension. If children do not know the meanings of words used in math instruction, and do not understand math specific words in textbooks and math problems, they likely will struggle to learn and to perform well when tested. Pierce and Fontaine (2009) also report that language skills are becoming more and more important in math instruction and learning. According to the San Diego County Office of Education (SDCOE, 2007), math contains three distinct language elements: symbolic language, content vocabulary, and academic language. In the past, math instruction has primarily emphasized the symbolic language. Symbolic language refers to numbers, tables, graphs, formulas, etc. Content vocabulary refers to math's technical language (e.g., fraction, equation, degree, exponent, etc.). Academic language refers to the language often used in the instruction of math and academics in generalterms such as summarize, simplify, evaluate, convert, etc. When students do not understand the meaning of content vocabulary words and/or academic knowledge terms, they will not accurately comprehend verbal instructions, written language in textbooks and workbooks, or terms in word problems, and they will struggle to explain their approaches to problem solving. Fletcher and Santoli (2003) found that math vocabulary is often not taught directly in math classrooms and stressed the need to teach it. They administered vocabulary checklists to high school students to assess their knowledge and understanding of mathematical vocabulary terms. The results demonstrated that many high school students had difficulty defining even the simplest of math vocabulary terms. Blessman and Myszczak (2001) found a correlation between the reading comprehension scores of fifth-grade students and their understanding of math concepts. In their research, students did not possess adequate vocabulary to explain their approaches to problem solving in mathematics. Further, they found that students showed significant improvement in math when learning strategies, such as math journals, student-created math dictionaries, and literature to reinforce concepts were incorporated into the math instruction. Larson (2007) studied the affect of incorporating math-related vocabulary teaching into math instruction. He worked with a group of 6th grade students. As part of their math instruction, the students kept vocabulary folders in which they held lists of relevant math vocabulary words, vocabulary word search puzzles, pictures created out of vocabulary words, and vocabulary word definitions. Additionally, the students took weekly math vocabulary quizzes and these were kept in the vocabulary folder for periodic review. Larson demonstrated that students' understanding of math concepts and their scores on standardized assessments could be improved with such teaching techniques. The National Reading Panel (2000) suggests that in order for children and adults to fully appreciate and understand word meaning, they must encounter the word in multiple contexts. This does not mean that repetition and drill of definitions is recommended. Rather, reading the words, discussing the meaning, and using the words in a variety of contexts will help to store the definition in memory and to give it true meaning.

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