There are some interventions that a school counselor can use to help a student who suffers from Math Anxiety. One of this intervention is the Math Autobiography. The Math Autobiography is a process which involve two steps. The first one is in which the school counselor helps the student to remember the success and failure in math that the student had over the years. It is extremely important to point out the success that the student had so he can see that he is capable of succeeding in the subject and he has that success experience to prove it. The next step in the intervention is to help the student wonder about the attitude toward mathematics and other significant aspects in his environment. It has to involve parents, siblings, grandparents, friends, teachers and everyone that has an important presence in the student life. This attitudes has to include if someone the student knows have fear or feel pressure towards math. Also, if there had been comparisons between siblings ('You're brother is really good in math" or "You're sister never had any problems with math"). The school counselor has to pay attention to some statements made by teachers, specially if this teacher was a math teacher.
By using this intervention, the school counselor can help the student point out the root of his math anxiety. By doing this, the counselor can help and guide the student to see by himself that it was something external that cause the anxiety and that has nothing to do with his capacity of doing mathematics.
Hope you find this intervention useful.
