Dyscalculia

The British Dyslexia Dyslexia Dyslexia is a common learning difference that mainly affects reading and spelling. It does not affect how clever a child is. Read the full definition of Dyslexia Association describes dyscalculia as the term often used for someone who unexpectedly struggles to understand and achieve in maths. The word 'unexpectedly' is doing the work there: it means the difficulty is out of step with how the child is doing elsewhere.

What you might notice, in the BDA's words, are age related difficulties with naming, ordering and comparing physical quantities and numbers, estimating and place value. The BDA also notes that the impact of such difficulties on someone's mathematical ability can vary across individuals and across the lifespan, so this is not a fixed ceiling.

There is an important distinction that often gets lost. A specific learning difficulty Specific learning difficulty An SpLD means one skill, such as reading or maths, is much harder for a child than the rest. Dyslexia, dyscalculia and dyspraxia all sit under this heading. Read the full definition of Specific learning difficulty in maths is more common than dyscalculia. Dyscalculia is a difficulty particularly in understanding and working with numbers. Plenty of children struggle with maths for reasons that are not dyscalculia, including dyslexia affecting the reading in word problems, anxiety, or gaps in teaching. A good assessment separates these.

As with dyslexia, this is assessed by a specialist assessor or educational psychologist Educational psychologist A psychologist who looks at how a child learns and copes at school. They advise the school on changes that would help your child. Read the full definition of Educational psychologist rather than by a doctor, and the starting point is usually your child's school. On paperwork you may see 'specific learning difficulty in mathematics' or the classification Descriptive range The words a report uses to sum up a score, like 'average' or 'extremely low'. Tests draw these bands in their own places, so the same word can mean different scores. Read the full definition of Descriptive range 's phrase, 'developmental learning disorder with impairment in mathematics'.