How do you help a child with autism understand 2 + 4 = 6?

Even if we help our kids memorize all the addition equations, do they really know what these symbols mean?

We take it for granted that we know the above equation means that adding two things to four things amounts to six things.

Most experts will tell you that helping students understand what they’re doing in math is important to success.

So how can we help them see the meaning of what we’re teaching them?

The best way I know of to overcome this diffculty is to present these concepts in a concrete form.

What do I mean by that?

We need to show them exactly what the math concept means by demonstrating it with real objects in real life.

Videos help, and YouTube has many to choose from, which I highly recommend.

But there’s nothing like presenting math concepts with objects that your child can touch, see, count, add, subtract, etc.

So if you present the number 4, show your child what that means by having him count four objects. You can use four pens, four toys, four blueberries, four apples—anything you have around the house.

After he counts them, ask him to write down the answer. You want to reinforce in his mind that the number 4 represents four things.

For more information on how to teach your child math using concrete examples, you can check out my article at the link at the end of this message.

I’ve also reposted an article I removed from my site some time ago due to a search engine issue. If you were on this newsletter list at that time, you may remember seeing it.

In the updated article, I explore some reasons why our kids may be having behavior problems. It’s important to know there are causes of behavior problems for which there are remedies.

If we as parents put on our detective hats, we can observe, investigate and do research to find out why our kids behave as they do.

The newly updated article is the first in a three-part series I plan to be posting in the next few weeks.

To see part 1 of the series on causes of behavior problems, click the link at the end of this message.

Warm Regards,


Kay Donato