How can we support children with special
educational needs in mathematics?
An Action Research Project by
Julian Tyley - Headteacher and Mathematics Co-ordinator
Lesley Hutchinson – Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator
Our Research Project – the context
Belford First School is set in rural north Northumberland, serving a catchment area that includes the
village of Belford and rural communities and hamlets roughly along the line of the A1 from
Warenford in the south to Beal in the north. Recently we have taken children from the Chatton area.
The catchment includes a wide cross section of backgrounds which includes agricultural workers,
local business and professional people and a significant number of single parent families and those
with part time or seasonal employment.
The school roll is currently 81, with 28% SEN, one recently admitted EAL pupil and 8% FSM
For a number of years we have been concerned at the lack of resources available to support children
with SEN in Mathematics. While there has been a variety of commercially produced materials and
programmes to address SEN in Literacy, backed up by Local Authority support staff such as the
SENLIT team, there has been very little comparable support in Mathematics. Springboard, while
useful as a catch-up programme in Maths for children slightly below the expected level in Key
Stage 2, is not appropriate for those with more significant needs.
The problem has been acknowledged by Educational Psychologists and Numeracy Advisers in
Northumberland.
As part of our School Improvement Plan we have been addressing the issue of lower levels of
achievement in numeracy in our school in comparison to literacy. We have made significant
progress in this area as a result of placing a greater emphasis on problem solving but the progress of
lower achievers has remained a concern.
At the end of the last school year we identified a small number of Year 2 and 3 children whose
achievement was more than two sub levels below the expected level and whose progress during the
year had been less than we had projected.
Their levels were significantly lower than children in their cohort and it was clear that they would
require a substantial amount of support and individual programmes of work. The gap between these
children and their peers was widening with each year and if we were to avoid giving them a sense
of failure and dislike for Mathematics it was vital that we provided them with something that would
make a difference before their transfer to Middle School.
The opportunity to investigate strategies and existing programmes and resources in use elsewhere in
the country was the reason for participating in the Action Research project. We saw the project as
an excellent means of addressing our main current issue, particularly with these children, now in
Years 3 and 4.
The project is being co-ordinated by Julian Tyley, who is Headteacher and Numeracy Co-ordinator
and who also teaches Numeracy in Year 4; together with Lesley Hutchinson who is the school’s
SENCO and Reception Class teacher. Along with the Key Stage 2 Teaching Assistant who has an
SEN support role in Year 4, these are the members of staff most closely involved with the children
that we have identified and all are committed to the project and determined to find means of
providing more effective support.
Our project demanded that we focus on a very small number of children rather than a class or year
group but as the research developed it became apparent that aspects of our findings could be
adapted to suit the needs of larger groups of children.
The Year 4 child we identified achieved Level 1 in Year 2 Maths SAT; was willing and would
usually give of her best but there were signs that she was becoming aware of the gap between her
understanding and that of her peers and was beginning to rely on support too much.
Of the two Year 3 children one was assessed as Level W in Year 2 Maths SAT while the other had
returned to the UK in the autumn having a year in Greece and had no previous assessment.
Progress against individual targets had been below expectation and these children were often
inclined to offer a wild guess indicating a complete lack of awareness of the value of number.
All three children were operating at least two sub levels below the expected levels for their age and
falling further behind each year. Our first objective was to stop the gap widening and then narrow it
to one sub level by the time they transferred to Middle School. We acknowledged that the second
part of the objective was ambitious but for the sake of the children a challenge worth attempting.
How can we support children with special educational needs in mathematics?
We saw our project as having two clearly identifiable elements. Our first task was to identify
materials and support programmes that had been produced and designed to support children with
SEN in mathematics. Having done this we planned to select a resource to trial with the identified
children for a period of at least six weeks. Evaluation of the trial would inform future steps.
Previous experience showed that we needed to look beyond Northumberland for suitable materials
so we first researched various Local Authority websites, including The Cumbria Grid for Learning,
which we had used in the past to access a useful Year 1 catch up resource ‘Max’s Marvellous
Maths’.
I also contacted several Headteachers across the north of England with whom I had worked during
the NCSL Leading Small Primary Schools project and it emerged from conversations with them and
their Local Authority Advisory teams that they knew of no appropriate resources and were just as
anxious as us to find something suitable.
A breakthrough came in November when we heard of a course ‘Effective Support in Mathematics’
that was to be held in Gateshead. The one day course was advertised as featuring Maths and SEN
and was run by Inclusive Training from Leeds.
We both attended the course and it was there that we heard of Numicon, a multi-sensory approach
to teaching number. Numicon apparatus consists of arrangements of holes in plastic shapes that
correspond to the numbers 1 to 10. The pattern of the holes for each number follows the same basic
system of arranging holes 'in pairs'. So when Numicon patterns are arranged in order, children can
begin to notice important connections between numbers, for instance that each number is one more
than the last and one fewer than the next, odd and even numbers and place value. The course leader
described it as a resource rather than a support programme. She also recommended it as an ideal
Early Years teaching resource.
Staff from a North Tyneside school who were at the course had recently introduced Numicon and
their feedback was encouraging. The material was being used with children with significant
learning difficulties and they were responding well.
We arranged to visit the North Tyneside school early in the Spring Term to see the resource being
used. In the meantime we were sufficiently impressed having visited the Numicon website to buy an
initial ‘single user starter pack’ to trial with our identified children.
A week after the Gateshead course, we learned of another Maths resource, ‘Power of 2’, while
attending a Dyslexia course in Newcastle. A SENCO from a Newcastle school recommended this as
a good diagnostic resource which was being used in her school to help staff identify specific areas
of learning difficulty among Wave 3 children.
Having achieved the first element of the project we were now in a position to move ahead with
trialling the resources in the Spring Term.
Unexpected circumstances affected the early stages of the trial. Staff illness and severe weather
delayed our visit to Whitley Lodge First School until the beginning of March, by which time we
had already started a familiarisation programme when the selected children were introduced to the
Numicon apparatus. This was a crucial part of the process as the apparatus was unlike any resources
that the children had previously used. We had been recommended to allow the children a period of
time to explore and build the shapes before beginning the teaching activities. The initial response
was very encouraging as the children enthusiastically experimented with the shapes, ordering them
by size and colour.
Our visit to Whitley Lodge enabled us to see small groups of Year 3 children using the resource
with a Teaching Assistant having been withdrawn from their class during the Numeracy lesson.
They were working on similar tasks, differentiated according to need, each with their own set of
apparatus. We also saw younger children in a Special Needs Unit on the same site using Numicon
software on an interactive whiteboard.
On our return to school we decided that the Year 4 child should remain in the classroom rather than
be withdrawn during the Numeracy lesson. Our reasoning was that she should experience the
mental starter of each lesson along with the other children in the class, with differentiated
questioning allowing her to contribute. She would then have a 30 minute Numicon input with a
teaching assistant or teacher within the classroom before rejoining the class for the end of lesson
plenary. The two Year 3 children however, were withdrawn to a separate room for their Numicon
session. This was because these younger children lacked concentration and it was felt that they
needed to be in a quieter environment to give them the best chance of success.
Due in part to our staffing arrangements we decided to operate the Numicon programme on the first
three days of the week. We also recognised that it was not a complete support programme and
needed to be used in conjunction with other resources. As it is fundamentally a number resource, it
does not cover shape, space, measures or data handling so time needed to be allocated for these
areas of mathematics.
An initial period of six weeks was agreed for the trial at which point an assessment would be
completed to measure progress. We anticipated continuing the trial for a further six weeks to enable
a more reliable assessment to be made.
The Numicon materials include ‘Assessment Signposts’ a valuable tool which helps teachers
identify where to start children on the teaching programme. While this is helpful for all teachers, it
is particularly useful when a child with SEN has recently joined the school, as was the case for one
of our children. There is a series of 25 assessment signposts, each of which consists of a question
for the child to answer and an activity that will show the teacher whether or not the child
understands. The signpost then indicates what should be done next, depending on the child’s
response. In theory when the child cannot answer correctly that is the stage at which to stop the
assessment and follow the sign to the Numicon programme.
Our experience was that this is not quite a simple as it may sound, as sometimes a child may appear
quite competent at some isolated aspects of the programme, therefore being able to answer some
later questions after being unable to correctly answer an earlier question. With some children, there
are gaps in their understanding which may be key skills that need to be learned before they can
continue. Caution is needed before moving on.
There are three Numicon Kits; Foundation, Kit 1 and Kit 2. The apparatus included in each kit does
not vary greatly but the activity cards show a progression in skills.
A simple guide for use of the kits would be as follows:
Foundation – Foundation Stage (3 – 5 years)
Kit 1 – Year 1 (5 – 6 years)
Kit 2 – Year 2 (6 – 7 years)
The kits are designed for all children in Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 but also for older
children who are experiencing difficulties in number work. Clearly, for these children the
appropriate kit will depend on their individual needs.
The Kit 1 and 2 teaching materials are divided into three sections, ‘Using Pattern’, ‘Numbers and
the Number system’ and ‘Calculating’.
Use of the Assessment Signposts indicated that our Year 4 child should begin at the start of the Kit
2 materials, while the Year 3 children were introduced within Kit 1.
Using level descriptors from Mathematics Level 1a, we had identified our Year 4 child as being
insecure with ‘aware of the pattern which exists when writing numbers beyond 1’, similarly with
‘knows how much to add to a given number to make a larger number up to 20’. However, her
greater strength in the non-number areas, shape, space and measure, and data handling, had resulted
in her achieving a Level 2c in the Year 3 Optional SAT. Teacher Assessment reduced this to Level
1a.
The first Numicon activity was counting to higher numbers, including sets of objects in multiples of
tens. She quickly grasped this activity using the Numicon shapes and thoroughly enjoyed the next
activity of building consecutive numbers using the Numicon shapes to well beyond 20.
Rapid progress was made as confidence and enjoyment grew. Concentration improved although
there were still occasions when she was distracted by the activities of other children in the class.
Use of Numicon was suspended for a week to allow her to join the whole class work on 2D shapes,
which she enjoyed and was able to complete within a group receiving only limited support.
Some of the activities did not challenge her and it was decided to miss them as she already had a
good understanding. Indeed, her comments ‘this is easy, it’s boring’ was evidence that not only did
we need to be selective in the use of the activities but that her confidence and understanding were
growing.
Informal assessment took place after every lesson with the Teaching Assistant and teacher
discussing the outcomes and planning the next activity. Sometimes this would not involve the use
of Numicon resources but other materials that were available in the classroom. There were also a
few occasions when she said that she wanted to work with the rest of the class and her attitude was
not good. However, external factors beyond school could have contributed to these down turns.
At the end of the six week trial period evidence from informal assessments was clear – the new
materials had raised confidence and were creating a more enthusiastic response at the start of the
lesson. Mental starters with the whole class saw this child ‘having a go’ when previously she would
never have offered an answer. The look of joy on her face when she answered correctly was a
pleasure to see and the other children responded with applause! An understanding of the value of
single digit numbers, and the value of numbers when ten is added were the notable developments
from the initial trial period.
The trial was extended into the summer term but was suspended during SATs week and again when
the class maths topic moved away from number. Visits and sporting activities also interrupted the
use of Numicon but the encouraging signs were maintained with rapid strides being made with
addition and subtraction, the language of mathematics, multiplication and after half term, in the 12th
week of the trial, with division and remainders. Particularly helpful in this latter work were the
number rods that provided ideal images of the division of a number eg 20, into equal parts with or
without a remainder.
Numicon kits contain photocopiable Individual Record of Progress sheets which refer to the
recommended activities. This is a resource that we did not trial but clearly has value especially
when groups of children are using the materials and it would make a valuable means of written
feedback from a Teaching Assistant to a class teacher or SENCO.
The trial with the Year 3 children was carried out by a different member of staff and the first six
weeks saw a similar response by one of the children, who made rapid progress with her
understanding of basic place value using Numicon Kit 1 activities. Again, her response time in
mental maths was much improved but although the shapes and rods enabled her to see the value of
numbers, she was unable to retain this understanding for more than a few days and so the benefits
of the activities, operating three days a week, were more limited. More research will be needed with
the third child, whose gaps in understanding are greater due to his periods out of education.
Alongside the main research with Numicon we also trialled the resources ‘Plus 1’ and ‘Power of 2’
which had been recommended to us (page 4).
These are diagnostic resources, which contain batteries of questions which children have to answer
correctly on three separate occasions. Plus 1 is the introductory book. It covers basic number work,
such as counting forwards and backwards with numbers up to 10, adding and subtracting numbers
up to 10 and introducing doubling and halving. It is for any child who benefits from repeated
practice and explanation. This book addresses the need of some children to have more
reinforcement and practice than is normally available. Power of 2 begins with teaching number
bonds to 10 and then moves on to introducing doubling, halving, addition and subtraction, rounding
numbers, multiplying and dividing. It introduces fractions and looks at word problems and time.
We used these workbooks with two lower ability children in Year 2 and Year 3. Both were assessed
as being between one and two sub levels below the expected level for their age but staff had been
unable to identify their specific weaknesses in number. The books were therefore used as diagnostic
aids, with the children being withdrawn for daily periods of ten minute one to one support outside
the Numeracy lesson. Initially used as a progressive programme in which each page had to be
completed, we soon identified the strengths of each child and became more selective in our use of
the workbooks. These two children have received eight weeks support, again interrupted by SATs
and other summer term activities.
Our findings
We believe we have found two resources that help us to support children with SEN in Mathematics.
Numicon has had a significant impact on the progress of the Year 4 child with whom it was trialled.
From Level 1 at the end of Year 2 and Level 1a in number at the end of Year 3, she has progressed
to Level 2b in number by June in Year 4 and an overall Maths assessment at Level 2a. Her progress
of two sub levels in a year is equivalent to the expected rate of progress for a typical ‘average’
performing child, and more than would be expected for a low achiever. Given that the Numicon
activities were only introduced mid way through the year, and our January assessment indicated that
she was still working within Level 1a at that stage, her progress in the second half of the year is all
the more remarkable.
The Numicon shapes and number rods have provided the concrete imagery that the child needed to
develop an understanding of the value of numbers. Informal and formal assessments confirm this
progress in her understanding.
Clearly, definitive conclusions drawn on evidence from a single child are unreliable but given the
nature of our research project in our small school, we were always going to be working with very
small numbers of children. Conclusive evidence could not be gained from the Year 3 trial but it did
suggest that one to one support may be more effective, if more costly in terms of time and staffing.
Evidence again based on a very small sample supports our theory that Plus 1 and Power of 2 are
useful diagnostic tools. The Year 3 child worked rapidly and accurately through a series of
questions before showing a specific misunderstanding in place value, identifying eg 31 as 13 and 63
as 36. This emerged when asked to count back in tens from 64 to 24 and his response was, after a
lengthy pause, ‘46…36…..26..’ and then asked to count on from 35 to 95 said ‘ 53, 63, 73, 83, 93..’
This led to a specific teaching point, raised in the one to one session and followed up by the teacher
in the next mathematics lesson. Repeated testing has shown that the child has now almost
eliminated this error and with it his confidence has increased. Continued use of Power of 2 will be
used to develop confidence further according to the assessments made by the class teacher.
No specific weakness has yet been identified with the Year 2 child, but whose confidence and
enjoyment has grown since the introduction of Plus 1. It is our belief that repeated practice of
counting on and back in numbers of up to ten may in this particular instance be the most beneficial
aspect of using the material.
One of the most interesting and unexpected aspects of the research has been that we are now using
Numicon as a whole class teaching resource for Reception and Lower ability Year 1 children. The
manufacturers recommend this approach with the Foundation Kit, which has recently been updated
with assessment guidance linked to the development bands of the Early Years Foundation Stage.
Within one term of its introduction, understanding is improved and the children find the materials
attractive and enjoyable. Whiteboard software has added to the impact of the materials and although
suggested activities are provided, the teacher is developing her own ways of using the growing
range of Numicon resources.
It is our hope that by introducing this imagery at this early age, those children who would
previously have failed to grasp the basics of number and place value will now achieve greater
understanding and therefore be able to build on firm foundations and not require SEN support at a
later stage. It will take at least two years to be able to evaluate Numicon as a whole class resource
but on the evidence so far we are planning to invest in further resources to enable all Year 1 and
those Year 2 children who have weaknesses in understanding of number to benefit from Numicon.
With the materials being used by teaching assistants and non-specialist teachers in mathematics
lessons, there have been issues with regard to confidence and familiarisation with the materials.
This has required support and modelling of resources, and with no other school in the area using
these materials we not been able to draw on support locally, leaving us to ‘learn as we go’.
We are part of a four school Learning Network looking at ways of raising achievement in
mathematics and as result of our findings, all the schools are now beginning to use Numicon. Staff
from the other schools are visiting us to see Numicon in operation. This has encouraged discussion
and is proving a good means of professional development for our staff.
The children using the materials in our school are generally very much in favour of Numicon. The
Year 4 child say she likes the plastic shapes because they are colourful and she can count the holes,
but she also says that she does not need to count the holes in the bigger shapes because she ‘knows’
how much they are worth because of their size and shape. She added that she would like to have
Numicon to help her in mathematics when she transfers to Middle School.
Conclusions
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There are materials available to support children with SEN but they are not widely known
and need to be publicised far more widely and made known to County Maths Advisers
Numicon is an excellent multi sensory resource that could significantly reduce the number
of children who lack understanding of number.
Our evidence is based on an extremely small sample and over a relatively short period of
time. To verify our findings, we will continue our research throughout the next school year
with other schools in our Learning Network and we will report the findings in the summer
of 2009.
Implications
For schools to introduce Numicon effectively:
They need to allocate a budget for Numicon resources to enable whole classes to use the materials
rather than just individuals.
They need to purchase Numicon software for use in all classrooms.
Staff will need training in the use of these materials.
Local Authority Advisers / Consultants / Educational Psychologists need training in the use of the
materials.
Children need a period of play and exploration to become familiar with the new materials.
Our next steps
We will continue our research through the next year in order to verify our initial findings.
We will take action as recommended above, namely purchase additional materials and provide staff
training.
We will encourage our neighbouring Middle School to invest in Numicon for use with SEN
children.
Useful contact details
 Numicon website www.numicon.com
 Power of 2 / Plus 1 www.powerof2.co.uk