Dyscalculia
A significant learning disability involving mathematics that affects between 2 percent and 6 percent of elementary school aged children in the United States. Dyscalculia is a medical term associated with brain dysfunction that is presumably present at birth. Many students identified as having a specific LEARNING DISABILITY or attention disorder may have associated problems with learning or applying mathematical concepts, functions, and procedures.
It also may relate to a variety of more basic disorders such as confusion or deficits in perception, spatial skills, sequencing, and so on. It is sometimes referred to as acalculia, which is technically a total inability to do arithmetic.
However, because the cause of problems with arithmetic and mathematics may vary widely, it is important to understand the underlying sources of the learning difficulty in this area before deciding what educational remedies to choose.
Symptoms
There are a variety of symptoms with this condition, including normal or advanced language and other skills and often good visual memory for the printed word. This is accompanied by poor mental math ability, often with problems in using money (such as balancing a checkbook, making change, and tipping). This may develop into an actual fear of money and its transactions.
In addition, a person with dyscalculia has problems with math processes such as addition, subtraction, or multiplication, as well as with math concepts (such as sequencing numbers). The student may have trouble retaining and retrieving concepts or have problems grasping math rules.
This is combined with a poor sense of direction, as well as trouble reading maps, telling time, and grappling with mechanical processes. There is difficulty with abstract concepts of time and direction, schedules, keeping track of time, and the sequence of past and future events.
Common mistakes in working with numbers include number substitutions, reversals, and omissions. Students also may have trouble learning musical concepts, following directions in sports that demand sequencing or rules, and keeping track of scores and players during games such as cards and board games.
Treatment
Individuals with dyscalculia need help in organizing and processing information related to numbers and mathematical concepts. Since math is essentially a form of language using numbers instead of words as symbols, it is important to communicate frequently and clearly with a child as to what is needed to do a mathematical problem. While the condition is lifelong, performance can be improved with intensive intervention. The child should have real-life exposure to how math is a part of everyday life, counting ingredients in a cake, how to make change, and so on.
