My daughter started liking math again.

MOTHER AND DAUGHTER: With the help of the new learning tool I Can Count, Hilde Heimly's daughter has gained a better understanding of mathematics. Photo: Stein Johnsen

When did you start to suspect she had dyscalculia?

– I started to suspect it already in first grade. When my daughter started fifth grade, I got a call from the school about national tests. It was too stressful for her with pluses and minuses. We had seen that the results were a bit up and down, says Hilde Heimly Sæther, the mother of the eleven-year-old girl.

As long as the numbers were put in context, it wasn't that difficult. For example, she knew that it was 6 p.m. when Children's TV started. Otherwise, it was difficult to understand the time. She still doesn't know it properly.

I can count from 1 to 4.

In October 2016, the teacher at Os School in Halden introduced her to a digital learning tool. The recommendation came via Dyslexia Nedre Østfold. Unlike the workbook, the learning tool was I Can Count Visually.

For the daughter, it was the start of a new chapter.

– She had started to develop a math aversion. We struggled to get her to pick up the math book. There is always something she doesn't understand. She was introduced to I Can Count from Kunnskap.no and discovered that it was not necessary to do all the exercises in full. It was enough to fill them in, says Heimly Sæther.

The teacher gave her tasks in I Can Calculate both at school and as homework.

– She has worked a lot with plus and minus, clock and geometry. Otherwise, she now does her homework digitally instead of on paper, says her mother.

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Terper with his daughter

The mother explains that her daughter is not following the fifth grade curriculum, but that the teacher has set a course for her that is similar to third grade. She still makes mistakes with plus and minus, and it is difficult to know why she does not always see the difference.

They still don't know for sure if it's dyscalculia.

– When she started the new program two months ago, she didn't know the number friends. It's now in place.

Hilde Heimly Sæther has worked as a teacher herself in the past, and she spends a lot of time playing with her daughter.

Acquired new learning strategies

– Now she has stopped counting from one every time. Now she can count from eight and nine. We saw earlier that she lacked strategies to get to the goal. In just two or three months it seems like she has learned some new strategies with the help of I Can Count , says Heimly Sæther.

The mother talks about the hopelessness she felt in the past. Her daughter could sit and cry for hours. She doesn't do that anymore.

– The new system has done something to her psyche. Now she just says, "I have math," and goes to the PC. Her comfort is that the PC has saved everything she has done. It is easy for her to go back and continue where she left off.

Competing with oneself

She also says that her daughter takes more initiative when working with math. She believes that the layout in I Can Count makes her daughter feel more capable.

– She gets direct feedback if something is wrong. Her enthusiasm has returned. That is a joy in itself. When the other students are doing math homework in their workbooks, she works with I can count. She has started to compete with herself.

When the daughter logs into the online resource, she quickly gets an overview of what has been done.

– The fact that the learning material is linked to a teacher makes it much safer. She can have managed something in a short time, and have completed everything with good results. The teacher follows up and gives her new tasks based on, among other things, the results overview.

Gained self-confidence

The former teacher believes it is a clear advantage that her daughter does not have to understand the layout of the tasks. She can just fill in. In addition, she receives audio feedback if she has answered incorrectly or correctly.

– There are also alternatives that help her along the way in the form of hints. I notice that she is not so dependent on me anymore. It helps her and gives her self-confidence, says the mother.

My daughter has become more aware of what she can do and what she needs to work on more. It wasn't like that before.

– She bounces around and takes the initiative to work with the digital textbook.