Similar to how dyslexia can make reading, writing or spelling difficult for individuals, dyscalculia causes challenges with understanding numbers and learning math concepts.
The Center for Reinventing Public Education’s (CRPE) August brief “The Missing Piece in Math Reform: Identifying and Supporting Students with Dyscalculia” explains the learning disability, why it’s often overlooked by schools and considerations regarding identification, intervention and policy for local educational agencies, states and stakeholders.
Dyscalculia is clinically confirmed by ruling out explanations such as inadequate instruction, language barriers, intellectual disability or sensory difficulty.
“Though it affects roughly the same share of students as [a] reading disability, students with dyscalculia have been far less well-served by schools. However, the recent increase in new state math policies signals a potential opportunity for states and districts to change that,” according to the brief. “The evidence needed to identify students with dyscalculia early and teach them effectively already exists, and the policy choices that would put this evidence to use are now within reach for states and districts willing to make them. What stands in the way is not a lack of knowledge, but the absence of systems designed with this specific learner variability in mind.”
It’s estimated that between 3 and 8 percent of children are affected by dyscalculia, making it relatively common, and comparable to rates of dyslexia. While there are longstanding screening requirements, legislative mandates and other dedicated resources for dyslexia, “most school systems have no coherent way to identify students with dyscalculia, no specialist roles built around their needs, and no intervention infrastructure designed for a math learning disability … For students with dyscalculia, that difference has tangible consequences that play out in classrooms every day,” the brief states.
Many reforms happening in states in recent years addressing difficulties with math do not specifically use the term dyscalculia and opt for general terms instead, the brief explains. However, there is no agreed upon definition of dyscalculia, which makes careful system design critical.
Missing opportunities to provide students with proper screening, evaluation and intervention can foster math anxiety, hinder self-confidence and make learners believe the academic paths available to them are more narrow than necessary.
Structural changes are needed to design systems that can distinguish between a student in need of stronger instruction, one who needs more time with concepts and those “whose difficulty is neurological in origin and will not resolve without targeted support,” CRPE notes.
An accompanying FAQ outlines what schools are missing and offers recommendations on addressing dyscalculia for LEAs and states.
The factors missing on most campuses are:
- Teachers lacking familiarity with dyscalculia
- Schools flagging struggling students for intervention but not finding root causes
- Identification not occurring until after a student has struggled for an extended period
- A lack of data
The FAQ asserts that in order to have clear, actionable identification, “universal screening in early grades would flag students for further diagnostic testing. Flagged students would be monitored over time to see whether their difficulty is persistent and to rule out other explanations (language barriers, absenteeism, intellectual disability, inadequate instruction) before a dyscalculia identification is finalized.”
Intervention is helpful when it deals with the specific skill a student is struggling with, provides time with trained math specialists and addresses emotional and academic elements.
To get started, an LEA may consider:
- Running an infrastructure audit
- Comparing interventions for math and reading
- Establishing a clear, schoolwide referral protocol starting with teachers
- Pairing new screening requirements with investments in staff and time
