Dyscalculia

It may be a difficulty with counting and calculating, understanding abstract maths concepts or working with numbers and symbols.

Key characteristics

Children with dyscalculia may have:

• normal or above average verbal skills and a good visual memory for the printed word
• difficulty understanding maths concepts, rules and sequences, especially time and money
• a tendency to make substitutions, transpositions, omissions and reversals when reading and writing numbers
• a poor sense of direction (eg. confusing left and right, getting easily lost, losing things) and time (eg. often arriving late)
• difficulty recalling names and faces
• poor mental maths skills
• poor coordination when involved in activities requiring change of direction such as aerobics, exercise and dance sessions
• difficulty with keeping score in games or working out strategies in chess.

Support strategies

You may need to:

• allow extra time to complete a task
• encourage children to make use of calculators when necessary
• use visual and concrete materials to develop an understanding of maths concepts
• make use of ICT as an aid to learning
• use multisensory teaching strategies to support the learning of new concepts
• encourage working with a partner to explain methods of working to each other
• incorporate practical activities into most lessons
• allow for the need to overlearn maths concepts and rules.

Support agencies

The British Dyslexia Association