To be multisensory, all three modalities must be engaged and linked all of the time. It is not sufficient that students merely see math problems, hear about them, and then interact with some manipulatives. Rather, the essence is to present incoming information and experience in such organized, incremental, structured, and systematic fashion that all three modalities are fully linked. As a result, the images students see, the language they hear, and the manner in which they interact with manipulatives are all interconnected.

The concrete stage uses hands-on manipulatives, color-coding linked to place value, and informal language to create clear and concrete conceptual images of all math content. The language and the physical movements of the manipulatives are chunked into small, simplified, manageable parts. The language (auditory), the picture imagery (visual) and the manipulatives (motoric) are carefully linked to such a degree that if one of the modalities were "turned off," say the visual, the language and the interactions with the manipulatives would recreate the same picture imagery. The overall experience is entirely concrete. The symbolic is introduced as a means to record the concrete experience only. Therefore, at the purely concrete level, students understand that the concrete picture of math is replicated by the symbolic one because they are one in the same. The symbolic and the real (concrete) pictures tell the same story.
 

The semi-concrete stage has students perform a problem at the concrete level and then repeat the same problem from the color-coded math prompt only. The purpose of this level is to help students begin to see that the symbols of math, directly related to the manipulatives, can be enough to recreate the concrete picture and story of the math problem. The semi-abstract stage furthers this development by having students do math problems without the use of manipulatives. However, the problems are still color-coded by place value as a cueing system to help students make the connection that the symbols of math recreate the concrete experience of using the manipulatives.

Synthesis at the abstract level, the final stage, occurs when students can look at a problem in their math books and find meaning in the symbols. At this level students independently know and understand what to do. The successful experience of going through the developmental progression of concrete through the abstract helps students integrate concepts with procedures while building and strengthening basic skills.
 

Students who count on their fingers are showing that they cannot see sequences of numbers in their minds. They make physical attempts to keep track of their counting as they touch parts of their bodies or make tally marks. A requisite brain tool for seeing numbers in the mind is symbol imaging. Making Math Real emphasizes the development of symbol imaging in every game, activity and lesson. A principal method for developing symbol imaging has students focus on sequences of symbols such as the multiplication facts for the fours, and then take mental pictures of them by flooding the three modalities (visual, auditory, and motoric). As students are watching, the teacher erases a specific product, one at a time. Students are required to reconstruct the multiplication facts including the product(s) that have been erased. Eventually, all of the products have been erased and students are able to mentally reconstruct the missing products in sequential or random order because they are able to hold the symbols in mind.

Students are required to reconstruct the multiplication facts in a variety of daily, directed multisensory games and activities. The repeated practice of re-imaging, reconstructing, and retrieving the facts helps develop symbol imaging so that students are increasingly able to hold longer and longer sequences of numbers and symbols. The successful development of symbol imaging is one of the main components for getting students off their fingers and learning their math facts.

It is unfortunate that so many students are suffering unnecessarily from math anxiety, especially since most of them have the intelligence, motivation, and math ability to be successful. Math should be the easiest subject to teach since it is entirely concrete, and therefore allows for the systematic guidance from concrete to abstract. Using multisensory structured methods to create real story-based visual images helps students make the essential connections between concepts and procedures. Nothing succeeds like success. Students make the connections, their anxiety diminishes and they are empowered by the realization that they can do math, too.

To be multisensory, all three modalities must be engaged and linked all of the time. It is not sufficient that students merely see math problems, hear about them, and then interact with some manipulatives. Rather, the essence is to present incoming information and experience in such organized, incremental, structured, and systematic fashion that all three modalities are fully linked. As a result, the images students see, the language they hear, and the manner in which they interact with manipulatives are all interconnected.

The concrete stage uses hands-on manipulatives, color-coding linked to place value, and informal language to create clear and concrete conceptual images of all math content. The language and the physical movements of the manipulatives are chunked into small, simplified, manageable parts. The language (auditory), the picture imagery (visual) and the manipulatives (motoric) are carefully linked to such a degree that if one of the modalities were "turned off," say the visual, the language and the interactions with the manipulatives would recreate the same picture imagery. The overall experience is entirely concrete. The symbolic is introduced as a means to record the concrete experience only. Therefore, at the purely concrete level, students understand that the concrete picture of math is replicated by the symbolic one because they are one in the same. The symbolic and the real (concrete) pictures tell the same story.
 

The semi-concrete stage has students perform a problem at the concrete level and then repeat the same problem from the color-coded math prompt only. The purpose of this level is to help students begin to see that the symbols of math, directly related to the manipulatives, can be enough to recreate the concrete picture and story of the math problem. The semi-abstract stage furthers this development by having students do math problems without the use of manipulatives. However, the problems are still color-coded by place value as a cueing system to help students make the connection that the symbols of math recreate the concrete experience of using the manipulatives.

Synthesis at the abstract level, the final stage, occurs when students can look at a problem in their math books and find meaning in the symbols. At this level students independently know and understand what to do. The successful experience of going through the developmental progression of concrete through the abstract helps students integrate concepts with procedures while building and strengthening basic skills.
 

Students who count on their fingers are showing that they cannot see sequences of numbers in their minds. They make physical attempts to keep track of their counting as they touch parts of their bodies or make tally marks. A requisite brain tool for seeing numbers in the mind is symbol imaging. Making Math Real emphasizes the development of symbol imaging in every game, activity and lesson. A principal method for developing symbol imaging has students focus on sequences of symbols such as the multiplication facts for the fours, and then take mental pictures of them by flooding the three modalities (visual, auditory, and motoric). As students are watching, the teacher erases a specific product, one at a time. Students are required to reconstruct the multiplication facts including the product(s) that have been erased. Eventually, all of the products have been erased and students are able to mentally reconstruct the missing products in sequential or random order because they are able to hold the symbols in mind.

Students are required to reconstruct the multiplication facts in a variety of daily, directed multisensory games and activities. The repeated practice of re-imaging, reconstructing, and retrieving the facts helps develop symbol imaging so that students are increasingly able to hold longer and longer sequences of numbers and symbols. The successful development of symbol imaging is one of the main components for getting students off their fingers and learning their math facts.

It is unfortunate that so many students are suffering unnecessarily from math anxiety, especially since most of them have the intelligence, motivation, and math ability to be successful. Math should be the easiest subject to teach since it is entirely concrete, and therefore allows for the systematic guidance from concrete to abstract. Using multisensory structured methods to create real story-based visual images helps students make the essential connections between concepts and procedures. Nothing succeeds like success. Students make the connections, their anxiety diminishes and they are empowered by the realization that they can do math, too.