Learning Disorders in Math/Dyscalculia
Dyscalculia is a specific learning disorder that affects an individual’s ability to learn, understand, and perform tasks related to numbers. Not all students who have math learning differences will receive a diagnosis of dyscalculia. For example, some students struggle only with math calculation (e.g., accurately completing pencil and paper math problems), while others struggle to read a math story problem and understand what to do with all of the provided information. Math learning differences are often noticed when a student first begins to learn math concepts.
Since math is taught in a sequential manner (e.g., an individual first learns addition and then subtraction), weaknesses in early math skills will have a negative impact on more advanced applications of math. Individuals who have been diagnosed with a specific learning disorder in math often struggle to connect numbers to what numbers represent. This means that a student with a math learning difference struggles to connect the number 12 with twelve objects and will subsequently have difficulty determining what number is larger: 12 or 13. Contact us to schedule an evaluation.
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Resources
How to help kids with dyscalculia
Classroom accommodations for dyscalculia
Math Fact Lab (fluency practice)
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Referrals
Andy Dass at Tangletown Math Tutors
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Books
How the Brain Learns Mathematics
The Number Sense: How the Brain Learns Mathematics
Discovering Dyscalculia: One Family's Journey with a Math Disability
My Thirteenth Winter: A Memoir
Cassidy and the Mixed Up Numbers
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