Mathematics and autism spectrum disorder at P level 7

This section refers to high-functioning autism and Asperger’s syndrome. Begin by reading about the main challenges for children with autism and Asperger’s syndrome across subject areas.

P level 7 requires new vocabulary that can be specific to maths but also used in many other contexts – backwards, forwards, one more, one less. Counting is extended to 10, and the child should recognise numerals 1-5.

For the child with Asperger’s syndrome, and to a lesser extent any child, the meaning of the numeral 5 may be linked to counting rather than what the number represents. So a child will need to recount the objects in a set each time they are asked ‘how many?’, even if they have already matched the numeral 5 to that set of objects. They may answer correctly because they have been told there are five objects, and may call an object number five because it was the last one they counted. However they may not understand that the objects as a set make five

You can:

• Help the child understand the cardinality (the value of a number) and ordinality (in effect the order a number comes in, such as first, second and so on) of a number  through practical examples. Try using different examples of sets of five. Use the same objects within one set, and then create a set using different objects. Help the child count out each object.
• Count both forward and backwards in games. For example be a rocket ready to launch, crouched on the ground, counting five, four, three, two, one, blast off. This helps with the one more, one less concept
• Practise comparing quantity, counting out and matching in different activities across the curriculum to reinforce the language and purpose of the task

Now you might like to look at:

• Mathematics and autism spectrum disorder at P level 6
• Mathematics and autism spectrum disorder at P level 8