Rosette Gatt.

Parents need to understand that some children’s problems with understanding mathematics cannot be solved by sending them to private lessons, according to Rosette Gatt, an educator.

“The problem could be whole gaps in the learning process, usually in the very basics. Students might, for example not understand the value of a number: Do one and three make four, or 13?

“Some think that by sending children to private lessons they are tackling the problem, but they have to first find out why they are finding it difficult to understand maths,” said Ms Gatt, who sits on the panel of consultants of Inspire, the organisation for persons with disabilities.

Spreading out cards with the numbers zero to five, Ms Gatt points at the first card, noting that some children confuse it with the letter “o”, while others cannot tell the difference between the number “3” and the letter “B”.

Others cannot come to terms with addition or symmetry, while some get frustrated trying to understand the difference between odd and even numbers.

Ms Gatt pulls out a box, much like the ones containing board games, containing flat plastic shapes and blocks.

These shapes, representing numbers from one to 10, form part of an innovative multi-sensory system called Numicon created to support the learning of maths.

Unlike boring, abstract numbers written in a textbook, Numicon shapes come in all colours, and the shapes can even be used as cookie cutters at the foundation stages, taking maths learning to a fun, multi-sensory level.

Through Numicon children understand complex mathematical concepts by using coloured patterns, and can even correct themselves when the shapes do not fit.

Ms Gatt came across Numicon some eight years ago at Portsmouth University and she brought it over to Malta to use it with children with disabilities.

“When we started using it with children with Down Syndrome, some of them progressed to levels beyond our dreams. Since through Numicon they can see and feel numbers, they can understand them better and the colour-coded system also helps them retain information,” she said.

They can see and feel numbers, they can understand them better

However Numicon was actually designed for children who do not have a disability, but find it difficult to grasp maths.

Numicon goes hand-in-hand with the academic curriculum, but it takes a multi-sensory approach.

Ms Gatt, who is an accredited Numicon trainer, manages Inspire’s programme for intellectual disabilities and difficulties.

This programme includes a learning centre launched last year that deals with children who do not have a physical or intellectual disability, but their learning difficulties are specific to numeracy or literacy.

Numicon is used at this centre with some 60 children who are referred by psychologists, schools or their own parents.

It is also used by the San Andrea School as part of its whole-class approach, where every single pupil – including those with learning difficulties and others with disabilities – are introduced to the system.

Due to its multi-sensory approach, the system is very interactive, and the children, who are split in groups, can discuss mathematical problems and experiment with the Numicon shapes until they get the right answer.

Ms Gatt noted that those children exposed to this innovative system from nursery stages find it easier to solve mathematical problems later on.

Numicon can be used to teach concepts of time, fractions, graphs, decimals, ratios, percentages and even algebra at higher levels in a visual manner, and Inspire hopes that schools understand its potential and use it in conjunction with the academic syllabus for the whole class.

Its designers are now working on the fourth Numicon kit. Owned by Oxford University Press, the system is used all over the world, from Ireland to New Zealand. Russia and Dubai are even adapting it to their own number system.

Inspire will be holding a workshop about Numicon on Wednesday at its premises in Bulebel between 9am and 3pm for a nominal fee.

More information on rosette.gatt@inspire.org.mt, 2092 8114 or 2092 8100.