These are "speed arithmetic" techniques which have existed for decades in Western society (check out any of the half dozen $7 Dover books about the topic). It's also based on abacus arithmetic techniques which have existed for centuries in Japan and other countries. It's good that this is being taught to young kids, most adults have 12 years of bad habits to unlearn.
I wouldn't say that adults have 12 years of bad habits - how you do an equation isn't as important as understanding the equation. I've found that if you teach kids the "speed" methods right off the bat, they don't fully understand the methods behind it and instead see it as a set of rules and tricks to follow. Think of it like learning how to take the derivative of an equation in calculus - you'll never learn the fast tricks right away because you wont properly understand what you're actually doing if you do. However, after you have this foundation you'll often be taught much faster methods of arriving at a derivative.
