Numeracy Clinic

Numeracy Intervention

· For students in Years 1-6

· Individualised support through regular 1:1 sessions

· Delivered by experienced and passionate teachers

· Using an Australian, evidenced-based program specifically for maths intervention

Why is numeracy important?

Numeracy is the knowledge and skills that students develop to access mathematics in their everyday life.

Skills that enable them to understand abstract concepts such as reading time, fractions, converting decimals and percentages, which transfer into all areas of personal and working life.

SPELD SA offers a Numeracy Intervention program for students struggling to build foundational number sense. We use the Bond Blocks program, which offers high quality support through 1:1 intervention sessions.

The program is suitable for children of primary school age, it targets mathematical concepts taught from pre-foundation to year 3 and is designed to be taught in an intervention setting. Each session is 45 minutes in duration.

Does my child need 1:1 numeracy intervention?

if you see that your child ticks some of these areas listed below, we can provide the support with teachers who have been trained to deliver the Bond Blocks program.

Please note that currently there are no places available.

Please refer to our Specialist Tutor service.

· A primary aged student behind in their development of initial counting or addition and subtraction.

· Diagnosed with a learning difficulty such as Dyscalculia or other learning difficulty which may impact learning mathematical concepts.

· Struggle to identify the number of things in a set, simply by quickly looking at them. These students would rather count one by one and persist with finger counting, to add and subtract in years 1-3.

· Lack fluency when recalling number bonds. For example, 2 add 3 is 5.

· Lack of understanding for the inverse relationship of addition and subtraction.
· Lack of understanding for part-part-whole of one number.
· Displays a reluctance to participate in numeracy-based activities with low confidence or anxiety.

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What is Bond Blocks?

Bond Blocks is a mathematics program informed by research using evidence-based methodology, developed by Australian teacher Narelle Rice together with Dr Paul Swan.

An Evidence-based program, means designed to establish where students are in their learning, monitor student progress, and evaluate teaching effectiveness.

Bond Blocks can be used as intervention as well as prevention by teaching explicitly, supported through testing materials and progress monitoring resources. Teachers identify where the individual student needs to start in the program and what to revise along the way.

The GRATTAN Institute’s report (2023) recommends the importance of intervening as early as possible, before the gap increases. Bond Blocks targets the skills that are predictors of difficulty in mathematics, from the first years of schooling and provides a high-quality differentiated resource to help close the gap.

“There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to supporting students with learning difficulties in numeracy”. Instead, intervention needs to be differentiated based on the needs of the learner and every Bond Blocks activity has differentiation options.

Mathematical understanding is strengthened when connections are made between the physical materials, mathematical language and symbols (written numerals).

Students say the specified mathematics as they touch the written numeral on the block and say the number word.
This multisensory approach is an enjoyable and interactive way to learn as well as increase neurological connections for an effective way of storing new information to long term memory.

How does Bond Blocks work?

Bond Blocks fill the missing link to help students move from concretely counting by ones to abstractly adding with numbers and symbols. The science of pattern is explored through multiple activities with carefully designed wooden blocks, spinners, clear counters, and beads. Addition and subtraction are taught through making connections so that students can make sense of these skills.

Very clear learning intentions are explained before every activity so that the students know what they are doing and what to expect. Many of the activities are games to show that mathematics can be enjoyable.

Fact Sheet for Teachers

What can I expect from Clinic Sessions?

-Initial placement screening
-Intervention delivered weekly face-to-face only
-Delivered in blocks of 12 consecutive appointments, attended weekly
-Ongoing monitoring, assessment and feedback
-Each student clinic session is 45 minutes

Numeracy Clinic Fees

SPELD SA Annual Membership payable prior to first appointment following confirmation of session times $75

Initial consult $190 includes a resources fee for supplying homework resources for the duration of enrolment.

Lesson fees for the remaining 11 appointments are $110 per session; payable at each session. SPELD SA offers a 5% discount for families who choose to pre-pay their block of 12 sessions at the beginning of the block.