Question 401356: My 14 year old son has Asperger Syndrome and, up until this year, has always excelled in math, scoring very high in California Achievement Tests and working above grade level. I home school my children and have used various math programs, looking for the best fit (I have several on the autism spectrum and another with ADHD). My son is having a horrible time with Algebra 1 (which many children on the spectrum do) and I am hoping for any advice you can give. We have tried Kinetic textbooks, but it was not a good fit. We are now using Math U See, which seems to work, but he is still struggling...we are working on slope/standard formula and graphing at the moment. I would appreciate any advice you could give on teaching Algebra to someone who is a very concrete thinker so that I can get him through this. Thank you!
Answer by robertb(5830)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! Sir/Madam,
The basis of all graphing exercises, from the simplest (plotting points) to the the most complicated (e.g., algebraic geometry), is an appreciation of the basic Cartesian coordinate system. Give your son lots of exercises on plotting random points on the Cartesian system. Then ask him if he can form geometrical objects, any geometrical object, by connecting dots (points) on the coordinate system. After doing this for some time (probably after having had enough of this simple exercise), introduce order and structure by illustrating how to form a straight line using two points ( ,  ) and ( ,  ). Always keep in mind the position of the line with respect to the origin (0,0), and whether the line falls or rises from left to right. Don't be discouraged if he doesn't get it right away: for many people it takes time to understand the most basic of mathematical concepts (which might actually include me.) =)
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