October 3rd 2007
Numeracy for Very Special Learners through Host Curricula
and Host Environments
Numeracy
is an ability to think numerically and to use mathematics
at the level necessary for a particular person to function
reasonably well at home, in school, at work and in the
community. In his introduction to the numeracy strategy
documents now used in all schools, David Blunkett lays the
foundation for this interpretation, stating “Numeracy is a
key life skill”.
Everyday life requires a level of numeracy that is usually
concrete (as opposed to abstract) and based very much on
problem solving “in the here and now”. This “real life
numeracy” is particularly relevant to learners with
profound and complex learning difficulties. The key life
skill of numeracy gives them the opportunity to
sense,
to perceive
and to
begin to form an understanding
of
themselves and of their immediate environments. It also
offers the opportunity to take an active role in
influencing themselves, others, objects and events, through
a numerical approach. Real life numeracy can only be
achieved by such learners through numeracy that is:
•
concrete,
•
connected
to reality,
•
relevant
to their restricted life style,
•
based on
the earliest levels of intellect,
•
rich in
the contexts of learning,
•
repetitive
(and then some!),
•
horizontal
in its progression,
•
interactive
and manipulated using all the senses.
A main
aim for an appropriate numeracy curriculum might be:
to provide a realistic concrete numeracy programme that
provides learning for life.
Certainly this main aim must include a toolbox of skills
for the early levels of numeracy, such as attention,
perceptions, movement, communication, simple abstract
thought, sensory awareness and simple concept formation. It
is difficult for special learners to make the leap from the
concrete to the abstract, but numeracy is “cradle to
grave”, i.e. the opportunities are always there.
Early
numeracy development.
Thinking begins well before we are born. A baby in the womb
listens to sounds, moves their body to suck a thumb,
becomes aware of same and different tastes and smells, is
aware of a bright light outside the womb and is constantly
carried around in space. Numeracy begins on the first day
of life as early sensory perceptions are interpreted in
ways shown below.
These simple benchmarks can form a concrete platform upon
which to build perceptions of numeracy.
One way of providing a rich numerical environment for such
early benchmarks is through the use of host
curricula. A host
curriculum is used as a showcase
in which
to present numerical concepts in a meaningful manner, for
example via cookery, rebound therapy, Sherborne movement,
physical education, hydrotherapy and massage.
Looking at the host curriculum of massage, this sensory
experience can concentrate in a concrete way upon “number”
through:
•
sequence
of movements,
•
awareness
of angles of body and limbs,
•
sensation
of rotation and motion,
•
temperature,
•
direction,
•
gravitational
pull,
•
enclosure,
•
patterns
on the skin,
•
feeling
of weight or heaviness,
•
midline
of the body (halves),
•
sensation
of stopping,
•
relaxation
or tension of muscles,
•
speed,
•
pressure,
•
“1, 2,
3”,
•
cause
and effect,
•
and on
and on and on!
Thus, the host curriculum of massage offers a concrete,
sensory-based method of presenting numeracy to the very
special learner, directly through the skin and body.
Targets for “number massage” will be drawn from the
learner’s individual education plan. Some will be
specifically from the toolbox of prerequisite skills and a
selected few for numeracy. The targeted goals fall in some
of the following areas:
•
shapes,
•
rhythm
and sequence,
•
cause
and effect,
•
spatial
relationships,
•
problem
solving,
•
measurement,
•
language
of numeracy.
Numeracy targets set through this host curriculum should
not be established in isolation, but should be reinforced
in other numerical sessions. For example:
A
project on “circles” would increase the circular and
rotational techniques used in the session. It would also
increase use of circles and rotation in cookery (the egg
whisk, the pastry cutter, the stirred soup).
A target
on volume and enclosure would increase the emphasis on
cradling body parts and wrapping body parts during the
massage session. It would also increase the cradling of
body parts in hydrotherapy and being “the mummy” in a drama
session, wrapped in bandages!
A target on temperature – measurement – would increase the
use of warmed oils, the use of an ice pack or quicker
movements on the skin (creating friction) to increase the
perception of heat. Temperature would also be included in a
host environment such as the multisensory room set up as
Africa or Alaska.
What do I mean by a host
environment? For
the concrete interaction required for numeracy to develop,
a host environment is so much more meaningful than being
parked around a table in front of a form board or box of
textures. Host environments, such as the dark room, using
ultraviolet light, really motivate and challenge
perceptions, e.g. the glowing switch in the dark that
controls and moves a fluorescent circle on the wall. You
really learn
about
circles and enclosure when under the parachute in a
“Mongolian tent” while using the school hall for numerical
parachute play. The hydrotherapy pool provides an
environment where a relaxed body can absorb the geometry of
angles of limbs, feel the pressure and pull of the water
and the swirls of rotating in the pool.
In
conclusion,
numeracy is a vital part of life for very special learners,
but it must be on their levels of understanding. They are
apprentices in number, learning the simple steps first
before more complex interactions can develop. The educator
must be assertive as the master craftsperson in enabling a
vigorous approach to numeracy through host curricula and
host environments – not through meaningless chanting of
number rhymes or matching rings on a pole.
References:
Bremner, J. Gavin, 1998. Infancy,
Blackwell Publishing.
Butterworth, Brian, 1999. The
Mathematical Brain,
MacMillan Publishing.
Dehanne, Stanislas, 1997. The
Number Sense,
Penguin.
DFEE, 1999. National
Numeracy Strategy.
Longhorn, Flo, 1997. Enhancing
Education through the Use of Ultraviolet Light and
Fluorescing Materials,
Catalyst Education Resources Ltd.
Smith, Ann Montagu, 1997. Mathematics
in Nursery Education, David
Fulton Press.