Hi-

I mostly have teaching experience in middle/high school, but just began tutoring for a lovely 3rd grader. (This was an agency assignment, not my first choice as it's a little out of my wheelhouse!) She has no known disabilities (though it wouldn't surprise me if this was something undiagnosed). She's an absolute sweetheart and always seems to put forth her full effort.

I tutor through an agency and have to use their provided grade level standard materials. Today we worked on subtraction with regrouping. She had paper strips as manipulatives. She understood the concept of subtracting and could "go next door and borrow some more" but was consistently getting the wrong answer. Due to it being virtual, I couldn't fully see her manipulatives on camera and was stumped because she seemed very solid on the steps. She knows the concept but could not execute.

After a LOT of trial and error, I realized she cannot accurately count above ten. She can recite numbers verbally but when asked to count objects, she messes up and loses track frequently. She isn't able to add or subtract without manipulatives yet. Counting on fingers did not help. Recounting does not help, she gets a different number every time- she's usually off by 1-3. I'm looking into some on-screen manipulative options so I can watch more closely how she's counting, but she clearly benefits from having something in her hands to move around as she's very tactile and this is already limited since we're virtual. I've asked her to try and get some bowls or plates to see if she's maybe losing track of her paper strips on the table and that's what's confusing her. She is doing better if I can break the counting to groups of ten or less. Ex- for 14 I have her count ten and then count four, and then put them together. But then that becomes so many extra steps that she doesn't remember what the original problem was.

Any of my younger grade teachers have any tips? We do have to keep to grade level material, but I'm hoping for some ways to scaffold and support. The youngest I've ever taught is 4th grade (pre-Covid), and none of them had ever had this issue before.