Although a lot of people presume that children with autism are gifted at maths, this is not true. Children with autism may have an aptitude for a particular subject at school, but they may struggle with other subjects in the curriculum.
My son has a flair for language and is a particularly good reader. however, he really struggles with his maths and cannot grasp even basic concepts.
He is nearly 7 years old and the class are starting to tackle more complex maths problems, such as division and fractions. The classroom assistant gives him a lot of attention, but there are simply not enough staff to give him the one to one attention he really needs. He also gets quite lost during lessons and tends to drift away into his own world when the teacher is talking.
The classroom assistant has kindly offered extra tuition after class, so I go to an extra class once a week to help him with his maths. it is really hard though, to have the patience, when he is struggling to understand the basics and he gets agitated too because he is frustrated.
I really want to persist though, because an understanding of maths is so important in life. We deal with money every day and I don't want anyone to take advantage of him when he is older.
I have a friend who has a grown up son with autism who does not understand about money. He took his son to the shop to buy a piece of electronic equipment and gave him a penny to take to the till to pay for it. The boy complied and took the penny to the till. His dad asked him to remember to ask for change, which he did. This sad experience shows that basic money handling skills can be a real problem for autistic kids and it is important for them to grasp the idea of money in order to be independent in later life.
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