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Mask or Fewer Problems per Page

Tags

All Ages Strategy

Skills

Anxiety Fine Motor Skills Attention Visual Discrimination Spatial Perception

Mask or Fewer Problems per Page

If your student is easily overwhelmed, jumps from problem to problem or has messy handwriting

Teach It!

  1. Objective: Placing fewer problems per page or simplifying what is on a worksheet visually will reduce visual overload for students who have difficulty with visual processing and/or distractibility.
  2. Teacher Takeaways: a) Provide worksheets with print and numbers in larger font with plenty of white space and content spread out. b) Always use sans serif fonts, such as Helvetica, Avant Garde, Arial, and Geneva as they do not have the distracting lines at the end of the characters. c) Eliminate any non-essential visual stimuli such as decorative borders. d) Teach the student to fold the page or cover up the problems he is not working on (finished or unfinished) with a blank piece of paper so focus is on the current problem.
  3. OER Resource: SoftSchools is a free website that allows users to choose a math topic worksheet and set the number of problems per page, the font type and size.

Why It Works (the Science Of Learning)!

Many students can easily be distracted by crowded pages of numbers. While no one wants to waste paper, it is important to give students the visual clarity and comfort they need to comfortably do their work. Changing the visual appearance of a worksheet can sometimes make a big difference for students.