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A toolkit designed to help teachers and parents to identify dyscalculia.
This toolkit provides information on how to get support for children with dyscalculia. It is designed to raise awareness of dyscalculia and mathematical learning difficulties.
It also signposts opportunities to learn more about dyscalculia through our short courses, presentations and blogs.
- Background
Good mathematical abilities have been related to successful financial, physical, and mental health outcomes. Yet, a significant proportion of individuals (up to 22%) have mathematical learning difficulties and up to 6% of children in primary schools have dyscalculia1. Although this suggests dyscalculia is as prevalent as dyslexia (1-2 children per class of 30), dyscalculia is less well known, and it has been less well researched in comparison to other learning difficulties.
Individuals with developmental dyscalculia (or dyscalculia for short) may experience a number of delays in acquiring foundational mathematical skills and concepts and may experience later difficulties with developing more advanced mathematical facts and procedures. These difficulties cannot be explained by general underlying ability in the below average range or other developmental disorders.
As dyscalculia is heterogeneous and has a high co-morbidity rate with other developmental disorders, such as dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the cause of dyscalculia is still unclear. However, recently there has been further research in the field and a number of new trials have evaluated mathematical interventions, which have demonstrated benefits for children with dyscalculia and mathematical difficulties. These studies have the potential to provide further insight into the causes of dyscalculia and how we can best provide support for these children.
References
- Morsanyi, K., van Bers, B.M.C.W, McCormack, T. and McGourty, J. (2018). The prevalence of specific learning disorder in mathematics and comorbidity with other developmental disorders in primary school-age children, British Journal of Psychology, 109(4): 917–40.
- Team
This toolkit was co-created with teachers and UCL staff with expertise in mathematical development and dyscalculia:
Special thanks go to all of the teachers who have helped us put this toolkit together.
