Math Problem Helps: Use of Graph Paper

Children with ADHD often struggle with both poor handwriting and poor organizational skills, which can result in squashed, misaligned columns of numbers.  Often math problems are wrong because the student arranged their columns of numbers incorrectly, not because the student did not know their math facts or how to do the problem correctly. Graph paper can help solve this problem. 

Arrange problems on graph paper, each number occupying a space.  Free printable graph paper is available on-line at http://incompetech.com/graphpaper/.  This site allows you to scale the size of the squares to accommodate your child’s handwriting.

Another quick idea for organizing math problems is to turn loose-leaf paper on its side.  The now vertical lines can help organize columns of numbers.  

One Response to “Math Problem Helps: Use of Graph Paper”

1. Kayla Fay says:

   March 19, 2009 at 10:35 am

   Kids in a lot of other countries are required to do math(s) on graph type paper. It really does make a lot of sense. Keeps the ones column from bleeding into the tens column.