The Babakus is a calculator that combines the best qualities of the western slide ruler with those of the eastern Abacus. It’s part of a method for students with dyscalculia or math disability. You can easily work with addition, subtraction, multiplication and division using the Babakus.
Although the focus of the method lies on those who find it difficult to deal with numbers and figures, the Babakus is an excellent proficiency training tool for those adept at counting as well. The method is highly scalable to fit each student’s level of skill and understanding.
The Babakus is a tool developed by neuropsychologist Bjorn Adler, spurred by the concrete need for a method for working with numbers and figures, where the student has trouble quickly and easily handling these numbers and figures.
Students who exhibit specific difficulties in mathematics often have great difficulties with automating even simple numerical tasks. They are often stuck in the finger counting phase, and there is a high risk that they end up on a low level of skill and understanding. When the student is having problems automating simple numerical tasks, his or her working memory is more burdened than what is desirable, while the ability to learn new things is hampered.
The Babakus fills an important role, since the method is working memory efficient when necessary. At the same time, the method can be used to stimulate and improve working memory capabilities once the student is proficient enough with the calculator.
Babakus for iPad consists of
- three calculators with 3, 5 or 7 slide rulers respectively
- comprehensive manual and method description
- training programs in 7 levels, with 7 stages in each level
- e-book What is dyscalculia? by neuropsychologist Bjorn Adler