[Uplifting Music] >>Welcome to A World of Difference: Embracing Neurodiversity.

I hate math.

It's a common refrain uttered by many a young student taxed with solving for X or computing the hypotenuse of a triangle.

Or if they don't hate math, many students fear it as though it was a scholastic Freddie Krueger.

One study found that for 11% of American collegians mathemaphobia was so intense that they turn to counseling.

But for some who get cold sweats, anxiety, or depression when tackling math, their struggles aren't based on hate or fear, but neurology.

One of the more uncommon learning disorders, dyscalculia affects one's ability to comprehend numerical based information and mathematics.

The good news is that kids who have this learning difference can learn skills and workarounds to succeed in math.

On this episode, we visit a Pennsylvania school where students with dyscalculia get a feel for math by touch and the use of their other senses.

Next, our panel of national experts share strategies that add up to math achievement for students with dyscalculia.

Later you'll meet our latest Difference Maker, a workforce futurist for whom a past discovery ignited her accomplished present.

We begin at the Delaware Valley Friends School where math teachers throw in the veritable kitchen sink of senses to instruct students with dyscalculia through hands-on learning, involving manipulatives, drawing, and more.

Chief correspondent Cindy Peterson brings us the story.

[Cheerful Music] >>We ventured to Paoli, Pennsylvania to explore the innovative approach to multisensory math at the Delaware Valley Friends School.

Many students with learning differences including dyslexia, often grapple with varying degrees of dyscalculia, which can pose challenges in comprehending and working with mathematical concepts.

>>So multisensory math is kind of a carryover from the Orton-Gillingham pedagogy approach to language where it is explicit direct instruction, there's a lot of repetition.

We are using all of the student senses to help anchor those skills and those basic foundational concepts.

It's essential for some, but helpful for all.

So even if you are not officially diagnosed with a math disorder or any other sort of learning difference, it will absolutely help support you, especially when you go from these, you know, multi-step processes, which will enable more kids to be able to access algebra and beyond.

>>The complexity of long division can confound even those without learning differences.

Fortunately, this multisensory approach provides students with unique and highly effective strategies to navigate mathematical problems.

>>Every single time I do a certain kind of problem, I use the same language to break it down.

So whether that's division or operations with fractions, queuing phrases to help them.

Fraction bar means division, we will break down, especially if we have kids with dyslexia or other language-based learning differences, we will break down the terms.

It's often said you need more language in math than you do in language arts because you have to do the steps and every part has a name.

>>Sometimes mastering math is as simple as turning the paper sideways.

>>We will also use sideways loose-leaf.

A lot of times I'll say hold at the top so that if we are doing something like multiplication or long division, the alignment of those digits really matter.

So that offloads that pressure and it lets, it lets the paper do the work for them for that.

It also helps our kids with orthographic needs if they have dysgraphia to limit the space that they have to work on or at least have complete white space so it's not too much crowded on the page.

But again, it gives them that structure for what they need to support their success.

>>Benefiting from smaller teacher to student ratios, each student progresses at their own pace ensuring that no one advances until everyone is on the same page.

>>So when I was younger, when I would work on math problems, I, I didn't know how to approach it.

I just looked at it and it scared me.

And I feel like as I've gotten older and as I've gotten support from my teachers and like my peers and I've been shown these methods on how to make it easier for myself, I feel like even if it's on a piece of paper and I, there's nothing I can do about that and I can't ask as many questions as I am here or I can't access like a whiteboard.

I can still use the tools that I've been shown and I can still break it down in my head and I can use scrap paper or a bigger marker if that helps.

>>At my old school, it was like, just do it.

But like here, it's like she says do it, but with like parts and like another thing at my old school, there was no notes.

It was just she would teach us and then just expect us to do great on the homework.

So here like we have a full binder full of notes, so we'll just write like we can always refer back like even when we take test and quiz, it's never, we're completely on our own.

>>The school employees engaging hands-on learning activities such as math cereal, blocks, probability challenges with bubbles, along with music and dance.

>>I just really like for me, like I don't know really how to explain it.

Just like having something to like visually see and like touch and like physically be hard to try to understand why we do this, why it happens has always just helped me better understand it.

>>So Kelly uses these like sayings like, which really helps me because I have a, a bad, a bad short-term memory.

So with these sayings and how like I can remember them really helped me remember what I'm doing and the steps that I need to take.

Divide, multiply, subtract, check, bring down.

>>And like anytime I have a division problem, I always sing that in my mind.

I'm like, now I remember how to do it.

>>Ultimately, students acquire foundational concepts and techniques that will illuminate their educational journey.

>>My approach has always been just because your brain is not wired to allow you to do some of this automatically, it should not limit you from the math that we think you are capable of doing.

Knowing that as it gets more abstract, it could be trickier, but I can still give you the tools that you need to access the information so you can play with the understanding.

So for me, it's like anything's possible >>For A World of Difference.

I'm Cindy Peterson.

[Cheerful Music] >>Thanks Cindy.

Next, our experts demystify dyscalculia and help moms and dads solve for success for their students who learn differently when it comes to math.

[Cheerful Music] Jodi Livingston is a mathematics instructor at Beacon College in Leesburg, Florida, which is America's first accredited baccalaureate institution dedicated to educating neurodivergent students with learning and attention issues.

Before Beacon, she served as a math teacher at several high schools and as a mathematics textbook editor at Harcourt School publishers.

Kristin Gray is a nationally board certified math educator and executive director of math suite at Amplify, a company that creates K through 12 core and supplemental curriculum assessment and intervention programs.

Before that, Gray served as director of K through five curriculum and professional learning at Illustrative Mathematics.

She received the 2014 presidential award for excellence in mathematics and science teaching and developed math content as a teaching channel laureate.

Judy Hornigold is an international educator and the co-founder of the British Dyscalculia Foundation.

In addition to developing inclusive mathematics curriculum, she focuses on training teachers on how best to support students with numeracy difficulties.

In the past year, she co-founded an ed tech company called Everybody Counts an award-winning math curriculum and teacher training program that engages kids of all backgrounds and abilities through a digital platform.

And we're gonna start our conversation with Jody.

Jody, what is Dyscalculia and how can it affect children's ability to learn mathematics?

>>Dyscalculia is a specific learning disability that affects a person's ability to learn basic math skills and concepts.

It affects their number sense.

They have trouble understanding what the number represents, even relating the number with the written word, they have trouble with equivalent numbers, fractions, decimals, money, what it means, placing numbers on a number line in order, estimating, telling time, distance, working with a ruler, memorizing multiplication facts, even simple addition and subtraction multiplied division needs to be done on a calculator and they do switch their numbers, write them incorrectly and put them correctly into the computer or calculator.

This can obviously affect their learning.

Math creates math, anxiety and fear of math.

So the sooner we can identify it and work with them, then the quicker they can get back on track and it's possible at any age to turn it around and they can be successful.

>>Alright, well Kristen, what are some common signs of dyscalculia?

>>Yes, I really appreciate Catherine Lewis's description out of University of Washington as a cognitive difference that leads to atypical difficulties.

So much like was just said, some difficulties that I would see students having in the classroom, students with dis dyscalculia would be in younger students, a lot of numbers sense.

So when we ask them to subitize, you know, no quantity without counting them all, counting one-to-one correspondence was often difficult, which leads to comparison difficulties, understanding patterns is challenging.

And then as students get older, we start to see them having trouble recalling math facts and organizing sequences of steps and then tracking them and understanding what those steps mean, which that leads to trouble generalizing the mathematics, which we know as we get into higher level mathematics.

Generalization is the thing that is really helpful, being able to connect ideas and know how they're connected.

So you'll see students struggle with things such as understanding the magnitude of a number, for example, putting it on a number line and then understanding how the operations impact that is something.

And then just in the weeds of the mathematics, things like counting money and telling time tend to pose problems.

And in terms of the atypical, it's easy to notice something that takes a student much longer than everyone else.

And so those types of things help us see what types of signs might be prevalent in the classroom for students with dyscalculia.

>>Alright, thank you.

So Judy, can you share with us some of the current research and developments as it relates to dyscalculia education?

>>Yes, I can.

Dyscalculia research is in its infancy really and we need an, we need to do an awful lot more research.

But what we do know is that the way that our brains talk to our fingers is really, really important.

And this is called finger representation.

So the more that parents can play nursery rhymes that involve counting with their fingers, the the better chance their children are going to have to develop their, their numeracy skills.

And we also know there's a link between dyscalculia and phonological awareness.

And this may be that there's a, a higher co-occurrence of dyscalculia and dyslexia than you would statistically expect.

So there may be something going on there with phonological awareness and also in terms of magnitude processing.

So it's not only that dyscalculic children find it difficult to appreciate their magnitude of a number, it also may be related to intensity of tone and even the passage of time.

So often people with dyscalculia don't have an inner built kind of clock and understanding of the passage of time.

They have no idea whether 10 minutes has passed or an hour has passed.

And we have people in the UK who've brought up strategies to deal with this.

And one person in particular didn't have an idea of how long 10 minutes was, but she knew that it was three Taylor Swift songs.

So she knew that if she played three Taylor Swift songs then 10 minutes would've passed.

>>So Jodi, "I hate math" is a common refrain that parents often hear from their children, but what are some of the common challenges that parents who are raising kids with dyscalculia face in trying to help engage them in mathematics?

>>Probably in the first challenge is where to start.

So talking with the teacher, other parents going online, looking for resources, having them tested at school so they can re receive accommodations there.

But then also setting up one-on-one help outside of school, whether that's with you or tutors, family members, neighbors.

I know there's neighbors that will on Facebook, you know, and they all are struggling with the same thing or different things and maybe one of the parents is good at math.

So setting up that one-on-one interaction is very important and keeping it consistent.

The other challenge is the motivation.

A lot of times they refuse to help or having them present while you are working one-on-one with them, especially when they're older, that's hard to do.

So starting conversations, asking them questions and keep trying, even if they don't answer or they refuse the help, the more you try, eventually they will receive it.

And once they do and they have a few successes, it just snowballs from there.

So it's, you know, it's getting started trying, being creative, you know, what's important to your child and just never, you know, don't stop trying.

>>Alright, well Kristen, we heard a little bit about the positive side on this.

Let's drill down a little bit on the negative.

What are some of the mistakes that parents who are raising children with this condition, some of the mistakes they make?

>>Yeah, and I, I would call them mis mistakes probably based on perceptions in generalizations we've made from our own schooling of mathematics.

I don't know if everybody else on the panel has felt this, but my experience was very proceduralized grounded in steps and sequences of steps.

And I think what parents take from that is, that's the thing that should be practiced at home.

So it tends to lead to a lot of worksheets where it's students are coming from school and we're sitting and practicing.

It's more of that drill and kill, which we know it just with the frustration and anxiousness that comes with having dyscalculia for students, something like that just makes that amplified.

So I think when we generalize this idea that mathematics is about speed and efficiency and repetition and practice and the way that we experienced it in school, we translate that into what we think is helpful for our own children when they are struggling with mathematics.

So I think that's something that we typically see is, is these myths and perceptions that we have from our own schooling, being translated into helping in the way that we learned, which we know for students with dyscalculia might not be the thing that they need.

>>Alright, well Judy, Kristen makes a wonderful point about the anxiety that builds from not being able to successfully complete math.

What are some ways that parents can help their children develop coping mechanisms to kind of blunt that anxiety that they feel when they're dealing with math?

>>I think a lot of it comes down to mindset and, and there are two, two schools of thought here.

The growth mindset and the fixed mindset.

And I think a lot of children have a belief that they can't do maths and they're never going to be able to do maths.

And it's not something that can be avoided in life.

They have to do it.

So I think if, if we can instill in the children the belief that everybody can learn maths, given the right environment, the right support and the right circumstances, so they will be able to achieve in maths, they just need to ask for that help and get the right support around them.

And I think the other thing that parents can do as well is not convey their own anxieties about maths onto their children.

It's quite easy sometimes to, to kind of convey your own fears and anxieties to your children.

So be very positive about the way that you talk about maths, show enjoyment about maths, and make it part of everyday life so that it's just an incidental part of the day rather than a kind of scary thing that they have to do for their maths homework in the evening that's gonna make a big difference.

>>Watch the full Ask the Experts segment on our website at AWODTV.org if you wanna learn more about this topic.

You can also watch or listen on Facebook, YouTube, or on your favorite podcasting platform.

Next, let's meet our latest Difference Maker.

For Giselle Mota, the future is now, at least when it comes to work as an inclusive, futurist and thought leader.

She is laser focused on pairing diversity and inclusion with the future of work, whether it be regarding artificial intelligence, automation and more in her roles as chief of product inclusion at ADP and as the founder of Versd, an inclusive innovation and strategic ventures group.

Yet it was a moment in her past that changed her future As a young child struggling in school, Mota was diagnosed with dyslexia and that discovery unlocked a shiny future for her that has seen her achieve a master's degree, a stint as a college professor and become a hot ticket on the global speaking circuit.

You might even say her future's so bright, she's gotta wear Metaverse Shades.

Chief correspondent Cindy Peterson brings us her story.

>>Giselle Mota, the founder of Versd an inclusive innovation and strategic ventures group, is a true pioneer in her field.

This TEDx speaker was recently named in the Top 100 Future of Work Thought Leaders and serves as the chief product of inclusion at ADP.

She's also the creative force behind the NFTY Collective, an initiative that's pushing the boundaries of what's possible in the world of technology when it comes to neurodiversity.

However, Giselle's journey to her current success was far from glamorous.

Her years were marked by challenges, particularly as she grappled with her own learning differences.

It was these very challenges that ultimately propelled her to the remarkable position she holds today.

>>When I was growing up, I had dyslexia.

I came from a household of immigrants who came from the Dominican Republic and that was a challenge because I was learning English and Spanish at the same time and I was actually really nonverbal for a long time when I was growing up and it was really hard for me to learn a lot of different topics and retain information.

So I had two other siblings who had to do basically nothing to achieve, you know, well academically.

And I'm over here struggling, like on the struggle bus.

Absolutely.

Like I, I thought I was dumb for a long time.

It was I would write backwards, I would mix my numbers in letters I couldn't put on my, my pants and my shoes in the right 'cause I was always mixing everything up.

>>These challenges gave rise to behavioral issues, which was thought to be just child misconduct.

However, it was a dedicated teacher who went the extra mile to truly comprehend the depth of Giselle's struggles.

>>We found out that I had some neurodiversity with dyslexia and she started to help me to keen in on the things that I was really good at, and she noticed that I was good at pattern recognition, puzzles, math, and even science.

And so she started to give me more assignments like that while I learned how to apply the goodness of like pattern recognition and everything to writing, to reading.

And then I really started to excel in those areas.

>>Giselle soared to becoming a gifted student, taking advanced courses and graduated high school with two years of college under her belt.

She went on to earn her master's degree, graduating at the top of her class and entered the world of academia.

She later stepped into the corporate scene to help develop AI technology, which led to the creation of her own company, Versd.

>>I started to really wanna help people to learn anything anywhere.

And even in the corporate space I was like, how do you use my love for pattern recognition, math And I love algorithms and data science and artificial intelligence.

And I was like, how do we use technology like that to help people learn better at work?

Which ultimately led me to my passion project called NFTY Collective.

And basically what that's all about is helping people with disabilities to be a part of the world of emerging tech.

Well, today we see all these innovations around the metaverse, like we we're hearing about chat-GPT with artificial intelligence, we're hearing about augmented reality use and virtual reality and all of that.

And I was like, well, what about people with like disabilities?

Where are they in this whole conversation?

What if you're neurodiverse or even if you have a scene or unseen disability, can you see yourself in an avatar form or enjoying these worlds, these virtual worlds?

I didn't see it, so I made it, I made it.

I, you know, I, I created this project with that in mind.

>>The NFTY Collective is an initiative aimed at guaranteeing that individuals with both visible and invisible disabilities are not only included and represented, but also provided access to the realms of Web 3, extended reality, and the metaverse.

The fundamental belief is that nobody should be excluded as technology advances rapidly, >>I felt like I needed to get back to a lot of things about myself.

So technology, you know, creation of, of like art, because I, I created these avatars that are real people with disabilities and it's, it's an art form.

And then I just put it all together and made it into these NFTY collective, which is basically, if you've ever played Roblox Minecraft, if you've heard of Sandbox, we've created avatars for the first time that are people with disabilities.

They're in wheelchairs, some of them are dyslexic, they're bipolar, you name it, any kind of physical or not-seen disability, it's represented in these avatars.

And now we're taking those avatars and we're putting them into like augmented reality experiences, virtual reality experiences, games.

We're, we're developing a game in the Sandbox soon, which is a Metaverse gaming platform.

And yeah, it's, we're breaking ground, like we're really doing something different for people with disabilities >>Because of this project, and her role at ADP, Giselle has been a featured subject and global speaker on Ted Talks, Forbes, Yahoo News, Vogue, NASDAQ PC Magazine, cheddar News and Chief Learning Officer Magazine, among others, >>A lot of times like these companies now and people are starting to focus more on Neurodiversities.

So I think it's about seeing it as just another way of thinking.

You could be neurotypical, you could be neurodivergent, and we're all just thinkers.

And so just embrace the difference that people bring >>As Giselle continues to trailblaze for diversity, equity, and groundbreaking technological advancements.

Her impact on the future promises to be nothing short of transformative.

For A World of Difference, I'm Cindy Peterson.

[Cheerful Music] >>Thanks Cindy.

And congratulations Giselle Mota for making a Difference.

And that does it for this edition of A World of Difference: Embracing Neurodiversity.

I'm Darryl Owens.

I'll see you back here next time.

>>You can watch episodes of A World of Difference on the Beacon College, Facebook and YouTube channels, and on the show's website AWODtv.org.

The website also provides tip sheets and other resources for your parenting journey.

You can watch the show from the PBS app available on your favorite streaming device, and you can listen on your favorite podcasting platform.

Thank you for watching and supporting A World of Difference.

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