Dyscalculia is a specific learning difficulty in maths — particularly in arithmetic. The word dyscalculia has both Greek and Latin roots, literally meaning: counting badly. Essentially, it’s a specific difficulty in maths, caused by structural differences in the areas of a learner’s brain responsible for numerical calculation.
Learners with dyscalculia generally function well in other areas, but show a complete lack of number sense and intuition for number. The effects of their difficulties in maths can be far-reaching and can significantly impair daily living.
So how can you support a learner with dyscalculia? You can identify dyscalculia in your learners in a few ways. Once you’ve identified a learner with dyscalculia, here are some of the main obstacles to look out for, and tips for helping learners move past them.