What is Dyscalculia?

This post explores what dyscalculia is, what it looks like in a classroom setting and gives some suggestions as to how to effectively teach children with dyscalculia.

Introduction

Most people have heard of dyslexia but not as many people have heard of dyscalculia. Like dyslexia, dyscalculia comes from a mixture of Greek and Latin. The dys comes from Greek and means difficulty or challenge and the calculia comes from the Latin word to count.

What is it?

Dyscalculia, in its simplest form, means a difficulty with Maths. Children who have dyscalculia can struggle to understand basic number concepts, to manipulate numbers and to solve maths problems. While each child is different, it can also show up as difficulty telling time and with spatial reasoning. It is estimated that between 5 to 8 percent of children have dyscalculia, which suggests that at least one child in a class of 20 will be dyscalculic. It can occur as a specific, stand-alone learning difficulty, or it can occur along other learning difficulties such as dyslexia, ADHD or dyspraxia.

Identification and Assessment

Early identification and recognition is key. Not only is it important from a teaching and learning perspective, but fundamentally it provides children with answers as to why they find certain things difficulty and can help them develop strategies to overcome those difficulties. An assessment for dyscalculia would not generally be recommended until a child has reached at least 7 or 8.

Strategies to help

While an assessment will pinpoint specific areas of difficulty and might have specific recommendations, there are a number of things that can make a difference even without an assessment for dyscalculia.

• Systematic effective instruction: As with dyslexia, there is no substitute for structured systematic instruction. Clear pathways to teach number facts and make connections are key. Clear support pathways are also necessary to enable support teachers to help children with dyscalculia effectively.

  
  

• Using manipulatives / visuals: Manipulatives and visuals are crucial for children with dyscalculia. In the early years of Maths teaching, manipulatives and visuals are commonly used, but as children progress to the middle primary years and beyond, there can be a tendency to use these less. For children with dyscalculia it is hugely important that appropriate visuals and manipulatives are used in teaching or made available for children to use when practising.

  
  

• Scaffolding: When using playful, discovery led approaches in line with the new Irish maths curriculum, make sure to scaffold those experiences for children with dyscalculia. This could be as simple as proving visuals of 1 or 2 ways to do a sum and asking children to choose which, if any, makes more sense to them. Or when playing a game on the properties of shapes, having a cheat sheet available for children.

  
  

• Procedural fluency: Developing fluency is a cornerstone of effective maths instruction and is particularly important for children with dyscalculia. Overlearning is important and children with dyscalculia need more practise of key maths facts. Random memorisation of key facts is not going to work for children with dyscalculia. Fluency needs to be wedded to visuals, connections and scaffolds in order for it to be effective.

Conclusion:

Dyscalculia is a lifelong condition, impacting approximately 5 to 8 per cent of the population. Early intervention and effective teaching can make a big difference to children's self esteem, confidence and general attitude to maths.