Seeking relationships between numbers and meaning

I find myself often working with students who get lost in their work and lose sight of what their are trying to accomplish in a math problem.

So I used a trick with a girl I'm tutoring where i solve the whole problem but with variables instead of numbers. Then I write out the variables in what they stand for ex. area= width(length). At the end of the problem the student can see how we solved for a variable that actually has purpose and meaning and then they follow along using the numbers they are given. This helps the connection and meaning of the problem rather than drilling problem solving strategies which are still important. But meaning is the foundation of problem solving