Classroom Interventions for Children with Mild-Moderate Dyscalculia

Dyscalculia is the name given to mathematical learning difficulties or disabilities (Deruaz et al., 2020). It is due to core deficits in understanding number representation and numerosities; the size of a set as it relates to the question: ‘How many?’ (Butterworth, 2019). Manifesting as poor arithmetic performance, impairments in learning and remembering arithmetical facts, researchers generally agree that biological factors partly cause dyscalculia and might arise from neurological differences, multiple brain dysfunctions, and, or, cognitive difficulties (Skagerlund & Träff, 2014). Other factors that could be responsible for difficulty in mathematics learning include poor linguistic competence, neuropsychiatric problems, minimal brain damage, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexic difficulties as well as inappropriate teaching methods (Ramaa & Gowramma, 2002).

The responsibility of accepting, nurturing, and supporting students’ unique strengths and challenges is an integral part of the role of education professionals. Seeing differences, rather than disorders, and embracing these brain-based, neurological differences is an essential part of celebrating neurodiversity and inclusivity in the classroom. In this article you will learn some research-informed classroom interventions for supporting children with mild-moderate dyscalculia. The big question for most teachers however remains ‘how do I know a child has dyscalculia?’

In the early developmental years through to the end of basic school, a child may have dyscalculia if:

• He/she has difficulty learning and recalling basic number facts such as number bonds to 10.
• He/she cannot immediately recognize the number of items in a set of few items without actually having to count them. Most people can recognize up to at least 6 or 7 items. A dyscalculic learner will not be able to do this and may have difficulty in recognizing just 2 or 3 items.
• He/she continues to use their fingers to count instead of more advanced strategies such as mental math.
• He/she has a poor understanding of mathematical symbols.
• He/she struggles to recognize, for example, that 2 + 4 is the same as 4 + 2.
• He/she has trouble with place value, often putting numbers in the wrong column.
• He/she is unable to understand mathematical language or cannot devise a plan to solve a math problem.
• He/she finds it hard to understand mathematical concepts such as greater than and less than. When given two numbers, a dyscalculic learner will have difficulty identifying which is the larger or smaller number.
• He/she has trouble keeping score in sports and games.
• He/she has difficulty using money.
• He/she has difficulty telling the time.
• He/she often avoids situations that require understanding numbers, like playing games that involve math.

Despite the peculiar challenges faced by children with dyscalculia, research has proven that the interventions discussed in subsequent paragraphs can be used to mitigate challenges pertaining to dyscalculia. However, It is important to mention that all interventions must build mathematical knowledge and skills systematically across domains as a rule of thumb. The first and most basic domain is preparatory mathematics, which is also termed number sense. The second domain, basic math skills, builds upon the preparatory skills. It involves the acquisition and automatization of the four basic mathematical operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division). Finally, the third domain, termed mathematical problem-solving skills by Kroesbergen & Van Luit (2003). This is where students are taught to solve problems by applying previously acquired preparatory and basic math skills. The interventions below can therefore be applied systematically across the three domains.

Firstly, the use of mathematical mnemonics is highly recommended. Mnemonic instruction is a set of strategies designed to help students improve their memory of new information by using visual and acoustic cues to link new information to prior knowledge. A few examples of math mnemonics that involve visuals are Slope Man; used to help remember the rules of slope in math, the Alligator; used to explain greater than and less than signs. Mnemonic can also come in the form of acronyms like PEMDAS, used to help students remember the rules for order of operations. It stands for Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction. Another example is SOHCAHTOA, an abbreviation for Sine is Opposite over Hypotenuse, Cosine is Adjacent over Hypotenuse, and Tangent is Opposite over Adjacent used to help remember the basic trigonometric function. For early-grade learners, teachers can combine keywords and peg words to develop a strategy to help pupils remember mathematical facts. It requires a teacher’s creativity to know which home objects can be associated with mathematical symbols for example. In a recent training, one teacher cited the mnemonic example 6x6 (sticks sticks) = 36 (dirty sticks). While it doesn’t sound logical, it works in helping learners recognize patterns through rhyming. The picture below is another example of a math mnemonic.

Secondly, customized individual training is effective when teaching math to children with dyscalculia. An individualized education plan for a child with dyscalculia provides personalized support to help dyscalculics thrive academically and socially within the school environment. This type of intervention has been seen as feasible in mitigating both severe and mild difficulties in mathematical accuracy and fluency among children. Such customized individual support can come in the form of visual and verbal directions, repeated and clarified mathematical tasks, color coding important information in a math problem, extra time for assignments, formula sheets, providing procedural steps in mathematical problem solving, providing graph papers to help pupils keep columns and numbers straight, etc. Research assessing the impact of this form of intervention reports significant improvements in children’s mathematical confidence, task completion time, and accuracy (Nyaga, 2012).

Additionally, computer-assisted dyscalculia instruction is helpful. A recommended one is IDL Numeracy. Fuchs et al (2006) suggest that dyscalculia-focused applications and software designed with features such as the repeated pairing of a problem stem with its answer in short-term memory helps children with automatic retrieval of math facts (Fuchs et al., 2006). The benefits of computer-assisted intervention lie not only in their high motivational appeal but also, the possibility to use multimedia (Kohn et al, 2020) thereby allowing for a combination and integration of different presentation formats (i.e., text, graphics, animations, etc.). Additionally, computerized intervention can flexibly adapt to an individual learner’s needs and skills, so mainly tasks that need to be trained are presented (Kumar and Rajar, 2010). While the use of computer-assisted instruction might be helpful to motivate students, it does not alone suffice to remediate children’s basic difficulties. The full potential of computer-assisted instruction is only unfolded when combined with direct instructions or the facilitation of a teacher or guide (Miundy, Zaman & Nordin, 2017).

Fourthly, cognitive sessions with finger drill exercises have a positive impact on dyscalculics. Neurocognitive science and math education agree that finger counting has an important role in basic mathematical skills and concept acquisition (Chin and Fu, 2021). Fingers have been found to support embodied cognition and constitute a natural numerical representation. Hence, cognitive sessions focused on developing connections between verbal and numerical representations of numbers using finger counting prove effective. As dyscalculics need far more practice and repetition than neurotypical children to understand and memorize basic numerical concepts, drill exercises can help to internalize and automate procedural knowledge, which then enables higher-level mathematical activities (Powell et al, 2021). It is advised that the first manipulatives children learn to use during drill exercises are their fingers. Other recommended products for drill exercises include pattern boards, counting boards, number markers, and equation templates, among others.

Overall, collaborative work between specialists, parents, and teachers is recommended to help learners with dyscalculia mitigate the challenges of their neurological differences.

Here is another program we recommend:

Karismath for Grades 1–5: This is a system of visual math lessons that teach basic math concepts through algebra, visually and intuitively. It was developed by dyscalculia expert and Harvard psychologist, Shad Moarif, and his team of Universal Design for Learning Experts. The approach takes learners through CLSO: Concepts presented visually, with emphasis on the Language of Mathematics, then the Symbols used to represent the ideas, and lastly, the Operations used to solve problems.

Fun fact: It is possible for a child who has trouble with elementary mathematics to excel at higher math. One such living example is award-winning Mathematician Emma King who was diagnosed with dyscalculia at an early age.

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References

• Chin, K. E., & Fu, S. H. (2021). Exploring the Implementation of an Intervention for a Pupil with Mathematical Learning Difficulties: A Case Study. Journal on Mathematics Education, 12(3), 531–546.
• Deruaz, M., Dias, T., Gardes, M. L., Gregorio, F., Ouvrier-Buffet, C., Peteers, F., & Robotti, E. (2020). Exploring MLD in mathematics education: Ten years of research. The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 60, 100807.
• Butterworth, B. (2018). Dyscalculia: From science to education. Routledge.
• Fuchs, L. S. (2006). Strategies to enhance young children’s mathematical development. Dyscalculia at an Early Age: Characteristics and Potential Influence on Socio-Emotional Development, 20.
• Swanson, H. L., Harris, K. R., & Graham, S. (Eds.). (2013). Handbook of learning disabilities. Guilford press.
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• Nyaga, S. N. (2012). Influence of learning support strategies on academic performance of learners with Dyscalculia: A case of selected British national curriculum based preparatory schools in Nairobi country, Kenya (Doctoral dissertation).
• Kohn, J., Rauscher, L., Kucian, K., Käser, T., Wyschkon, A., Esser, G., & von Aster, M. (2020). Efficacy of a computer-based learning program in children with developmental dyscalculia. What influences individual responsiveness?. Frontiers in psychology, 11, 1115.
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• Miundy, K., Zaman, H. B., & Nordin, A. (2017). Review on data driven preliminary study pertaining to assistive digital learning technologies to support dyscalculia learners. In Advances in Visual Informatics: 5th International Visual Informatics Conference, IVIC 2017, Bangi, Malaysia, November 28–30, 2017, Proceedings 5 (pp. 233–246). Springer International Publishing.