What you should know about dyscalculia:

• Dyscalculia refers to a wide range of learning difficulties involving math skills.


• There is no single form of dyscalculia - difficulties can vary from person to person and can change throughout a lifetime.


• Two major areas of weakness that are responsible for learning disabilities in math are


• Visual-spatial difficulties - which result in a person having trouble processing what the eye sees


• Language processing difficulty - which result in a person having trouble processing and making sense of what the ear hears.


• Like all learning disabilities, dyscalculia is a life-long challenge.


• Using alternate learning methods, people with dyscalculia can learn how to achieve success.

Dyscalculia: Warning Signs by Age

Young Children

• Difficulty learning to count


• Trouble recognizing printed numbers


• Difficulty tying together the idea of a number (4) and how it exists in the world (4 horses, 4 cars, 4 children)


• Poor memory for numbers


• Trouble organizing things in a logical way - putting round objects in one place and square ones in another

School-Age Children

• Trouble learning math facts (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division)


• Difficulty developing math problem-solving skills


• Poor long term memory for math functions


• Not familiar with math vocabulary


• Difficulty measuring things


• Avoiding games that require strategy

Teenagers & Adults

• Difficulty estimating costs like groceries bills


• Difficulty learning math concepts beyond the basic math facts


• Poor ability to budget or balance a checkbook


• Trouble with concepts of time, such as sticking to a schedule or approximating time


• Trouble with mental math


• Difficulty finding different approaches to one problem

If a person continues to display difficulty over time the areas outlined above, testing for dyscalculia should be considered.