In my book, I share a quote from Marie Rippel, who explains that the brain must connect with what it already knows to retain information. I tried this approach for years with my son, Harry, and got nowhere. I know from experience it is almost impossible for a dyslexic child to pick up the multiplication tables by rote memorisation. In a school staffroom, I heard a teacher say to a colleague, “How hard is it for a child to remember their multiplication tables? If they just practised for five minutes a day, they’d have them in no time.”ĭespite being in the school to teach creative writing, not maths, I felt I had to respond, so I mentioned how helpful multiplication stories are for children with dyslexia.
Teaching multiplication tables using stories helps anchor these tricky facts. Children with dyslexia need a way to anchor facts in their memory to stop them from floating away.
