Dyscalculia

Individuals with dyscalculia have difficulties in mathematical calculations. The brain areas which appear to be affected in dyscalculia are areas that are specialised to represent quantity. Dyscalculia is equally likely to occur in both males and females. Whilst there is some cross-over into the dyslexic population, there are many dyslexic people who excel at maths, and likewise, many with dyscalculia are strong readers and spellers.

Signs of dyscalculia include:

• Lack of “number sense”.

• Delay in counting.

• Less understanding of basic counting principles than their peers (e.g. that it doesn't matter which order objects are counted in).

• Delay in using counting strategies for addition.  Dyscalculic children tend to keep using inefficient strategies for calculating addition facts much longer than their peers.

• Difficulties in memorising arithmetic facts for simple addition, subtraction and multiplication (eg. 5 + 4 = 9), and this difficulty persists up to at least the age of thirteen.

• A fundamental difficulty in understanding quantity.  They are slower at even very simple quantity tasks such as comparing two numbers (which is bigger, 7 or 9?), and saying how many there are for groups of 1-3 objects.

• Less automatic processing of written numbers.  In most of us, reading the symbol "7" immediately causes our sense of quantity to be accessed.  In dyscalculic individuals this access appears to be slower and more effortful.

• Difficulty in linking written or spoken numbers to the idea of quantity.