Dyscalculia Isn’t Just About Math

Dyscalculia is a learning difference that makes it hard for people to understand math and perform mathematical equations. It is sometimes called “math dyslexia,” but it is not the same as dyslexia, which affects reading and spelling.

Kids with dyscalculia may have trouble with numbers, counting, and basic math facts. Even telling time or figuring out change can be difficult for a child who has dyscalculia.

Children who suffer with dyscalculia also have a difficult time memorizing math facts, understanding and performing word problems.

If your child struggles with dyscalculia, then there will be a general confusion about the concepts of math.

Algebra and higher-level math skills can seem like speaking a new and different language to a child with dyscalculia.

It’s Not About Intelligence

Kids with dyscalculia can be just as smart as anyone else, but math feels confusing to them. They might forget what numbers mean, mix up math symbols, or take a long time to solve simple problems.

Sometimes, children with dyscalculia get nervous during math class or feel embarrassed when they don’t understand a math concept. This can make school, especially math class, harder and less fun.

Students with dyscalculia might also see groups of numbers upside down, diagonally, swimming, moving, with halos, blurring together, or an assortment of other visual processing problems that affect their ability to perceive the true number/number combinations. Lining up columns can be almost impossible for these kids, too.

The Sensory Components of Dyscalculia

There is both a visual and auditory component to dyscalculia. Most people think that dyscalculia is just a visual problem, but mental math is an auditory skill. Kids with dyscalculia are usually sent into a tailspin when they are asked to do mental math! So, keep in mind there is an auditory component to math. Also, if a child has an auditory processing problem, it’s hard to keep up in a lecture as well as remember multi-step operations.

There are numerous visual components that come into play when a child is doing math. This, of course is obvious, as children doing math must line up numbers, copy from the board or a book, and do a lot of writing. Kids with dyscalculia struggle to remember math steps and sequences. They also have a hard time knowing where numbers are placed on a page, where to put numbers on a page, and what the value of numbers are.

Getting the Right Help is Hard!

Many kids with dyscalculia don’t get the help they need in school because not everyone understands what it is.

Dyscalculia is a learning difference that makes math really hard, but lots of people haven’t even heard of it. Sometimes, teachers think a child just isn’t trying hard enough or needs more practice. But kids with dyscalculia aren’t lazy—they just learn differently and need special ways to understand math.

Another reason kids don’t get the right help is because schools don’t always have the tools or training. Some teachers don’t know how to spot dyscalculia or what to do when they see it. Schools may have programs for reading struggles, like dyslexia, but they often don’t have strong support for math. That means kids with dyscalculia might be left behind, even if they’re smart and trying their best.

Also, it can be hard for parents to get the school to notice the problem. Some schools don’t test for dyscalculia, or they don’t believe it’s a real issue. This makes it frustrating for families who want their child to get the help they need. When schools don’t understand dyscalculia, kids can feel confused and upset. But with the right support, they can learn math in a way that works for them and feel proud of what they do.

All too often, it’s hard for kids with dyscalculia to get the help they need because they don’t qualify for special services. They often aren’t two years behind, have high reading and writing skills, and are quite verbal. Each year, they fall further and further behind.

Math is a Foundational Skill

Math is like the foundation of a strong building. If it’s weak or improperly formed, the building might fall down. That’s why it’s important to build a good foundation in math, especially when your child is young.

We use math every day – when we count money, tell time, or measure ingredients in a recipe. Understanding simple things like adding, subtracting, and recognizing numbers helps us do bigger math later, like multiplication, division, or even solving problems in science.

For kids with dyscalculia, learning math can feel really hard. Dyscalculia is a learning difference that makes it tough to understand numbers and math facts. But just like everyone else, kids with dyscalculia need that strong math foundation. They might need extra help, like learning with pictures or using hands-on tools, but they can still learn math in a way that makes sense to them. When the foundation is built slowly and carefully, they can grow more confident and succeed.

Having a strong start in math helps in school and in life. Without it, kids might feel confused or frustrated when math gets harder.

When teachers and parents help build a child’s math foundation early on, especially for kids with dyscalculia, it makes a big difference. It’s like planting seeds – give them the right care, and they’ll grow into something strong and amazing.

Just Try Harder!

Kids who have dyscalculia are often told to just try harder. This doesn’t work for them! They are usually trying as hard as they can.

At some point, almost all of these bright, creative children end up shutting down as far as math goes. They believe they can’t do it, that it’s a mysterious force that has evaded them. They’ll throw any answer down on their papers without thinking, just to be done with assignments. They’ll avoid math at all costs.

Memorizing math facts is nearly impossible for a child with dyscalculia. Parents try to help by bringing out the trusty old flash cards that worked for them, only to find these kids don’t learn that way.

Flashcards usually don’t work for kids with dyscalculia, either. This isn’t how they learn. It is isolated information for them and doesn’t make sense.

Kids with dyscalculia have an innate misunderstanding of numbers, how they fit together, math sense in general, and how to manipulate numbers to make meaning. They are lost in a world of numbers and formulas that don’t make sense.

These children don’t learn math in traditional ways. They need new and unique ways of learning. 

Math Anxiety Sets In

Because of all of the failures kids with dyscalculia encounter, math anxiety often sets in. This only makes the problem more difficult as students become nervous and upset when asked to perform math problems or reason out mathematical equations.

Most kids with dyscalculia break out into a sweat if they’re asked to do a problem in front of the class, worrying that everyone will think they are aren’t smart. Fight-or-Flight kicks in.

Once Fight-or-Flight sets in, isn’t going your child isn’t going to learn math or much anything else. The lizard brain (amygdala) takes over, and all the your child can think about is fleeing. Emotion becomes dominant over cognition. The rational thinking part of the brain is less efficient when your child is stressed about math (or anything else).

Math anxiety usually goes hand in hand with dyscalculia. Too often, kids with dyscalculia aren’t taught coping techniques or tools to overcome this disabling anxiety.

Since math anxiety is a real condition, it needs to be taken seriously.

Research confirms that the pressure from taking timed tests and risk of embarrassment among peers are recognized sources of tension among some students, especially those with dyscalculia.

Symptoms of Dyscalculia

If your child is struggling with math or math anxiety, then it’s important to know what the symptoms of dyscalculia are.

Follow is a list that might help!

Poor mental math abilities
Inconsistencies with basic computation of addition, multiplication, division, and subtraction
Difficulty understanding money and credit concepts
Failure to understand how small steps add up
May use number additions, substitutions, transpositions, and reversals (this is similar to the dyslexia that we are all familiar with except it is with numbers)
Almost always unaware of mistakes
May do well on book work but math tests are failed
May do well with reading, writing and other subjects but cannot seem to understand mathematical concepts
Good at speaking or writing but slow at math skills and problem solving
Difficult time memorizing math facts
Poor sense of direction
Trouble with the concept of time
Poor mathematical computation and organizational skills
Difficult time with multi-step math problems
Difficult time with strategy games
Poor number recall and sequencing skills

It’s Not Hard to Balance the Brain and Prime it for Math Reasoning Skills!

If you think your child struggles with dyscalculia, it’s important to understand the left and right hemispheres of the brain and how they affect math skills.

The left side of your brain, called the left hemisphere, is very important for math. This part of the brain helps your child understand numbers, remember math facts, and solve problems step by step. When you add, subtract, multiply, or divide, your left brain is working hard to figure it out. It’s like your brain’s built-in calculator!

The left hemisphere also helps you understand math rules and patterns. For example, when you notice that 2 + 2 is the same as 1 + 3, your left brain is spotting how numbers work together.

The left side of your child’s brain also helps your child stay organized and follow steps in the right order, which is really important in math. If your child’s brain jumps around too much or skips steps, it’s easy to get the wrong answer.

Sometimes, kids have trouble using the left side of their brain the way others do. This can happen with a learning difference like dyscalculia. That doesn’t mean they’re not smart – it just means their brain needs a different way to learn. With the right help and practice, kids can still become strong in math, even if it takes longer or looks different from how other kids learn.

Brain integration activities help the math-riddled child reach both hemispheres of the brain equally so that math is no longer a mystery.

By building new neural pathways in the brain that travel across the corpus callosum and into the left and right hemispheres of the brain, students can not only access math-based thinking but can use proper logic, thinking, and use of numbers so they can reach math success.

Brain integration activities help kids with dyscalculia use both sides of their brains so they can be “whole brain” thinkers and learners.

By going to the root of the problem and treating it effectively, the student with dyscalculia can learn to do math, reason through word problems, and master math, algebra, calculus, and trigonometry.

The Use of Color in Math – It Keeps Kids Engaged!

Children who are right-brain dominant or those who have dyscalculia will often respond well to writing in color while doing math assignments.

This is easy to do with colored pencils, pens, or markers. There are now erasable colored pencils, and they work fantastically with math and math problems.

Color will keep the right side of the brain engaged so the left side can do its work. Also, right-brain dominant children often view the world in colors and pictures, so this keeps them interested and focused.

At Bravo! Tutoring, we know that color helps kids with dyscalculia learn multiplication, addition, and subtraction facts.

Plain old-fashioned flash cards in “boring” black and white won’t keep kids with dyscalculia engaged enough to learn. Color, movement, and a multisensory approach is what thes kids need and crave for math success.

Visual and Auditory Memory are Crucial to Math Success

There is a huge amount of memory involved in doing math, even at its most basic level. Kids who have dyscalculia are usually weak in both visual and auditory memory.

This makes it difficult for them to keep up when the teacher is modeling how to do a problem, because they simply can’t remember the important steps and details.

Poor memory skills make it hard to remember formulas or how to properly do multi-step problems.

Insufficient visual and auditory skills make it super-hard to recall basic math facts. This interferes with the entire process of doing multi-step and difficult problems since the student is so busy trying to remember the math facts that it’s too difficult to recall th steps of the problem. Mistakes are made and failure follows.

It’s important that kids with dyscalculia strengthen visual and auditory memory skills so they can master higher-level math skills.

Often, right-brain dominant students are excellent at higher-level math but rarely get to the point where it’s offered because they rarely pass the lower-level classes that will get them there.

Myths About Dyscalculia

Kids with dyscalculia aren’t very smart
People with dyscalculia perceive the world just like the rest of us
Dyscalculia is just a made-up disorder
There’s no such thing as math anxiety
Dyscalculia is a rare disorder
Kids with dyscalculia are just lazy and are trying to get out of their work
Kids will outgrow dyscalculia
Glasses will fix the perceptual problems of dyscalculia

Truths About Dyscalculia

Students with dyscalculia have normal to above normal intelligence
Students with dyscalculia can perceive images in up to forty different ways at any given time
Dyscalculia is a real disorder and affects up to 7% of all school children
Math anxiety is real. It can be a stand-alone condition or it can accompany dyscalculia.
Dyscalculia affects many children and adults, and a high percentage of them aren’t receiving treatment
Kids with dyscalculia are no lazier than any other kids, and often work harder to get good math grades than anyone else
Nobody outgrows dyscalculia or any other learning disability or disorder. Proper treatment will help students overcome it, but there is no cure
Glasses are prescribed for focusing and astigmatism. Sometimes they are used to treat amblyopia or lazy eyes, but they don’t affect how a child perceives information visually. We see in our brains and take in light through our eyes, so glasses don’t affect the ability to properly see numbers and math problems

Students with Dyscalculia Will:

Avoid doing math because it can be painful
Have huge gaps in their math foundation
Need different and non-traditional approaches to help them success
Often hate and fear math
Not respond to another dose of math taught in the same way that didn’t work for them
Become fatigued when given long stretches of math practice and homework
Learn math differently than others
Succeed with the right approaches
Use coping mechanisms like acting out or retreating
Often feel dumb or stupid
Usually develop math anxiety
Respond well to guided practice during math sessions
Make improvement through brain integration activities
Show progress when math and learning sub-skills are filled in