Counting coins is both a big challenge and an important functional skill for children with disabilities. Their ability to handle money will make the difference between lifelong support or independence. Providing structure for learning and practice can help students learn to use money.
Skip Counting is a foundational skill: Counting by 5's helps with counting nickels. Counting by 10's leads to counting dimes. Counting by 2's helps learn "even and odd," which is less important for functional skills like counting coins but much more important later for multiplication, division, fractions and rational numbers. It is important that children with disabilities who have the ability to participate fully in the general education curriculum have these skills.
Procedure for Counting Nickels
- Practice 5 and 10 skip counting before you begin counting nickels. Use the skip counting number line to practice.
- Model: Lay nickels on the table. Pick up the nickels on the 5's number line one at a time and count: 5, 10, 15, etc.
- Lay the same nickels on the table in front of the student: prompt them to count the nickels out on the number line, and have them count with you.
- Repeat: the level of support (hand over hand, counting aloud with the student, prompting picking up the coins) will depend on the student.
- Practice and withdraw support: Do this daily until you have a sense that the student knows the fives, and associates them with the nickels. When you can place the nickels in front of the child and he or she can count the coins independently, it is time to:
- Withdraw the number line. When the child is reaching independence with the number line, have the student count nickels to you without the number line.
When you student has mastered nickels and dimes, it's time to move on to counting nickels and dimes together with a hundred chart.
