Using mathematics as a therapeutic tool may strike some people as a pure oxymoron. Math is commonly considered as a thing that inflicts emotional wounds and not as a healing source. Perhaps it is so since there is a "right" or "wrong" answer - you are either being rewarded or punished for your mathematical functionality as a kid. However, I prefer looking at math as realm of expression - an unspoken language. A kid encountered with mathematical stimlui reacts to the stimuli and performs his own manipulations over it. Instead of looking at his manipulations as "right" or "wrong" we can ask ourselves what is standing behind this or that behavior. It is surprising to learn that "errors" can actually open a window to the child's thinking and learning mechanisms. Using mathematical abstraction and playing with axioms can then be a place of comfort and resolution to many learning abilities. And learning abilities are in fact (at their most abstract level) our most basic life skills.

The first video here is a talk I gave about this topic at the graduate student seminar at Tel Aviv University (in Hebrew).

The second video is a webinar on the same topic given in Ingrid Daubechies' lab group meeting at Duke University (in English).

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The talk is based upon my personal experience treating kids through math in the last decade (mostly as a volunteer) under the guidance of Mrs. Judith Birin, who introduced me to this way of treatment.