What is dyscalculia?
Dyscalculia is a learning disorder that affects a person’s ability to understand number-based information and math. People who have dyscalculia struggle with numbers and math because their brains don’t process math-related concepts like the brains of people without this disorder. However, their struggles don’t mean they’re less intelligent or less capable than people who don’t have dyscalculia.
The symptoms of this disorder usually appear in childhood, especially when children learn how to do basic math. However, many adults have dyscalculia and don’t know it. People who have dyscalculia often face mental health issues when they have to do math, such as anxiety, depression and other difficult feelings.
There’s also a form of dyscalculia that appears later in life. This form, acquired dyscalculia, can happen at any age. This usually happens for other reasons like a medical condition (see more about this under the Causes and Symptoms section below).
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What is the difference between dyslexia and dyscalculia?
Dyslexia and dyscalculia are both learning disorders, but they have key differences. In the most general terms, these two break down as follows:
- Dyscalculia: This learning disorder affects a person’s ability to do math.
- Dyslexia: This learning disorder affects a person’s ability to read.
While they’re different, the two conditions fall under the same diagnosis, “Specific learning disorder,” in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5). It’s also possible for people to have both dyscalculia and dyslexia.
Who does dyscalculia affect?
Dyscalculia can happen to anyone, but it’s common for it first to draw attention when children are in their first few years of elementary school (between ages 6 and 9).
How common is dyscalculia?
Dyscalculia is uncommon but widespread. Experts estimate it affects between 3% and 7% of people worldwide.
How does dyscalculia affect my brain?
People who have dyscalculia are neurodivergent. Neurodiversity is a term that describes how no two people have the same brain, and everyone’s brain forms and develops in a completely unique way. For people with dyscalculia, that means their brain works differently from the brain of someone who doesn’t have disorders or conditions that affect how their brain works.
Solving a math problem like “2+2=?” might seem simple, but it takes several different skills — and the areas of the brain that manage them — working together to do it. Some of those include:
- Visual processing: Your eyes see the entirety of the math problem and send the components back to your brain for processing.
- Short-term memory: You use your short-term memory to hold onto the specifics of the math problem as you work on it. For example, the number amounts, the symbols and the order in which they appear.
- Language: You use this part of your brain to translate the symbols in the math problem into what those symbols mean. That’s how you know what the plus sign, equal sign and question mark mean in this context.
- Long-term memory: You access this kind of memory to remember the process of how to solve a math problem. In this case, your brain identifies that this is an addition problem based on the plus sign and the equals sign.
- Understanding of quantities and amounts: Your brain translates the symbol “2” into the understanding that it represents a specific amount or quantity. Children usually learn this principle by giving them examples like fruits or animals.
- Calculation: This process unites all of the above, helping you solve that 2+2=4.
For a neurotypical person, the above processes all work as expected. Depending on how severe their case is, people with dyscalculia may struggle with certain parts of the process.
FAQs
Researchers don't know exactly what causes dyscalculia. But they believe it's at least partly due to differences in how the brain is structured and how it functions. Here are two possible causes of dyscalculia: Genes and heredity: Dyscalculia tends to run in families.
What are the signs and symptoms of dyscalculia? ›
What Are the Signs of Dyscalculia?
- Difficulty learning fundamental math skills like addition and subtraction.
- Trouble identifying smaller quantities of items just by looking at them.
- Problems understanding and solving word problems.
- Struggles with processing graphs and charts.
- Difficulty keeping track of time.
For adults who have dyscalculia, it isn't possible to treat dyscalculia directly. For them, the focus is on compensating for the disorder. Technology and other tools, such as smartphone apps, can help with this. A healthcare provider can recommend specific apps or tools that can help.
What part of the brain causes dyscalculia? ›
Generally, all studies report reduced gray matter volumes in dyscalculics in the IPS and the inferior and superior parietal lobes (Rotzer et al., 2008; Rykhlevskaia et al., 2009; Ranpura et al., 2013).
What do people with dyscalculia struggle with? ›
Dyscalculia is a specific and persistent difficulty in understanding numbers which can lead to a diverse range of difficulties with mathematics. It will be unexpected in relation to age, level of education and experience and occurs across all ages and abilities.
What is the best intervention for dyscalculia? ›
Instruction and support for kids with dyscalculia
One is multisensory instruction. This teaching approach uses sight, touch, hearing, and movement to give kids different ways to learn skills and understand concepts. Multisensory math techniques can help kids understand what the numbers and symbols represent.
What are the red flags of dyscalculia? ›
Difficulty with Math-Related Concepts
For example, children may struggle to estimate small quantities of an item without counting each piece. Children with dyscalculia may also have trouble estimating speed or time in daily life (for example, how fast a baseball is coming toward them).
What can be mistaken for dyscalculia? ›
Learning disabilities specifically related to math are called dyscalculia. Signs include difficulty recongnizing patterns or telling time, and they are often mistaken for ADHD.
Is dyscalculia a form of ADHD? ›
People sometimes call it math dyslexia, but this can be confusing because dyscalculia is a different condition. It can be associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) -- up to 60% of people who have ADHD also have a learning disorder.
What are the three types of dyscalculia? ›
Verbal dyscalculia: the child has difficulty counting, memorizing and calculating. Dyscalculia in reading and writing Arabic numerals : the child has difficulty with the numerals themselves, both in writing and in reading. Number sense dyscalculia: the child does not understand the concept of number.
Educational psychologists are typically best equipped to assess a child for developmental dyscalculia, however no single diagnostic protocol exists.
Does dyscalculia get better with age? ›
Dyscalculia does not go away just by growing and reaching adult age.
What does dyscalculia look like in adults? ›
Dyscalculia Symptoms in Adults at Home
Trouble doing mental math; gives incorrect change, for instance, or needs a calculator to figure out a tip. Frequently late, occasionally missing important events altogether. Finds it difficult to remember names.
What do you call someone with dyscalculia? ›
Researchers now sometimes use the terms "math dyslexia" or "math learning disability" when they mention the condition.
What does math look like to someone with dyscalculia? ›
While dyslexia affects the ability to read, students with dyscalculia experience difficulty in mathematics and number-based learning. These students can have trouble grasping meanings of numerical symbols or understanding spatial processing such as the rotation of an object in their mind.
Why am I so bad at math but good at everything else? ›
Dyscalculia. Some people – around 7% of us – find maths difficult because of a developmental disorder called dyscalculia. Dyscalculia is specifically a mathematical learning disability: you might be very intelligent and have access to good all-round teaching, but still struggle to learn maths.
Is dyscalculia a lifelong condition? ›
Dyscalculia is a lifelong hidden condition that affects people in different ways, but it is fundamentally to do with how individuals understand and process numbers.
