Understanding Dyscalculia
Dyscalculia is a term that refers to a wide range of math difficulties that can affect a person differently throughout life.  A person with dyscalculia may have poor mental math skills, be unable to learn basic math facts such as the multiplication table, struggle with patterns and sequences, or have a hard time comparing and contrasting attributes or amounts.  Such students may find success through strategies such as using graph paper to help keep ideas organized and neat during problem solving, practicing estimating to solve and to check problems, and approaching concepts in different ways.  For example, a student who is learning the times table might make a better connection seeing an egg carton organized in two rows of six, for a total of twelve eggs, than by simply being told "two times six equals twelve."
Characteristics of Dyscalculia
Dyscalculia is more than just wrong answers on a worksheet.  The reasons for the wrong answers are the root of dyscalculia—problems like unclear writing and not understanding essential math concepts.  Students who don't understand math are likely to guess at math problems with no regard for addition or subtraction signs or place value.  Math skills also depend on memorization of facts such as the multiplication table and math formulas—children who have difficulty memorizing and retaining information don't have these tools as part of their mental toolbox, and as a result they may work slowly or not know how to approach a problem.  The following list describes other signs of math difficulty in children with dyscalculia:

  • Difficulty with concepts of quantity and comparisons of time, space, and relationship (e.g. greater than/less than)
  • Malformed or abnormally written numbers and symbols
  • Inability to add single numbers
  • Inability to recognize math symbols (+ - x / =)
  • Failure to understand place value and confusion when working with multi-digit numbers
  • Inability to remember and use multiplication tables
  • Inability to "carry" numbers
  • Incorrect ordering and sequencing of numbers in multiplication and division

Adapted from L. Waites, M.D., Specific Dyslexia and Other Developmental Problems in Children: A Synopsis