Could it be anxiety?

One of our biggest assumptions when it comes to Mathematics is that a poor result must be from a lack of skill or knowledge.

But, what if your child understands during class but underperforms under test conditions?

What if they can feel their heart trying to jump out of their chest, or the uncomfortable feeling of their jaw and stomach tightening?

What if they just go blank, or get stuck at a question and lose 10 minutes before they have realised they should move on?

Math Anxiety has had a psychometric assessment since the 70's, yet we still don't discuss it in modern classrooms. Over thousands of parent teacher interviews and meetings over my career, the amount of adults who sit down and express their fears, insecurities and feelings of inadequacy to help their child feels like 30-40% of my conversations.

Spelling and Maths have the ability to impact our self belief and identity throughout our lives; beliefs such as "I'm bad at maths", "I can't spell", "I never understood algebra" are some of the common examples that we have been impacted negatively by our experiences as children.

I have unpacked the questions in the psychometric assessment so that you can use them as prompts to talk to your child/ren, and for you as their most important role models to see if it was actually some anxiety about the subject rather than your ability impacting your results. 

Why am I doing this? Because the conversation is important. With knowledge, we can try things and help those that we love most to feel confident, and not be sitting in their middle age explaining to their child's teacher that they can't help them because "They are no good at maths". 

I love everything Mathematics teaches us: Looking at a problem, testing possible solutions, creative thinking, finding patterns, the persistence to try again and that every failure is just a step closer to finding the solution. 

I'm on a mission to help everyone see their magnificence as critical thinkers, logical problem solvers and tomorrow's creative leaders!

Let's embark on a math-filled adventure together and watch your child's confidence and skills soar to new heights. 

To your child's success,

Jules

Learn for Success