Extracts from a research project undertaken as part of the Teaching Assistants

Professional Development Award by Judy oosey

!t" Alban#s $igh !chool
D%!&A'&(')A
And associated mathematical difficulties
Dyscalculia is a learning disability that affects the ability to acquire arithmetical
skills. It is derived from the Greek generic name, mathematics difficulty. Until
recently, very little has been knon about its !revalence, causes or treatment.
Dyscalculics have difficulty understanding sim!le number facts and !rocedures.
"esearch by #offee, $leischner and latterly %rof. &rian &utterorth, no acknoledge
the recognition of Dyscalculia in its on right and %rof. &utterorth further estimates
that actually '()* of the !o!ulation are dyscalculic, based u!on a !ro!ortion of !u!ils
ho have s!ecial difficulty ith maths des!ite good !erformance in other sub+ects.
,here are three further ty!es of mathematical difficulty-
Difficulties Generally
.ften related to dysle/ic difficulties and other learning styles.
0calculia
"efers to a general inability to carry out mathematical calculations. ,his is often
connected ith clearly identifiable brain damage.
%seudo 1 Dyscalculia
Involves difficulties of emotional origin. 2arly e/!eriences of failure that lead to
an increasing avoidance of everything to do ith maths.
3hildren ith Dyscalculia tend to be of normal intelligence. ,hey ill be noticed for
their maths difficulties ithout the accom!anying literacy difficulties. %rof.
&utterorth suggests that in fact, dyscalculics are really good at doing very
com!licated maths but still need hel! ith the basics
%rof. &rian &utterorth 45athematical &rain6 !oints out that school maths is is like a
house of cards. 2ach stage of learning de!ends u!on the firm construction of the
!revious stage. If a loer level is shaky, the house ill eventually fall don.
2qually if a !u!il has missed a !articular level then it becomes difficult to build
subsequent stages securely. ,he ga! beteen hat is being taught and the !u!ils
knoledge ill become ider.
,he 7 5athematical &rain hy!othesis im!lies that there are children ho are born
ith an abnormal brain develo!ment hich affects their number module +ust as has
been identified for Dysle/ia. Diagnosis of Dyscalculia is currently still very much in
its infancy although during the last five years much more research has taken !lace and
the condition has received both educational and media re!orting.
#ust as ith any s!ecific learning difficulty, early diagnosis is essential and hilst e
are able to recognise and diagnose Dysle/ia confidently, this is not currently the case
ith Dyscalculia. ,here are very many idely recognised testing !rocedures to
determine the level of a childs literacy ability and su!!ort structures to assist same.
U! until recently only very fe dyscalculic !u!ils have been identified before the
transition into secondary education.
8here a !u!il is recognised as dysle/ic or having other associated literacy difficulties
at !rimary school, su!!ort structures are !ut into !lace in the secondary school
immediately. 0t 9t. 0lbans, e !rovide in(class su!!ort, corrective reading grou!s,
one(to(one literacy delivery, recommended teaching strategies and s!ecialist
resources. "egular assessment is both formative and summative and !rogress is
monitored throughout the !u!ils secondary education.
%rof. &utterorth estimates that '()* of the !o!ulation are dyscalculic. In
com!arison the &D0 4&ritish Dysle/ic 0ssociation6 suggest that around :* of the
!o!ulation are severely dysle/ic. Dysle/ics are not necessarily dyscaculic and vice(
versa although they do share some similar features.
$ow do we recognise Dyscalculia*
Dyscalculia is very s!ecific and currently very difficult to identify accurately.
;oever, it is im!ortant to recognise that +ust as !u!ils may have dysle/ic
tendencies so they ill have ith maths difficulties, 4dyscalculia tendencies6
Dr. 9teve 3hinn, 4a leading e/!ert in dysle/ia6 defines the difference beteen
dysle/ic mathematicians and dyscalculics 4<ational <umeracy 9trategy6 and suggests
that initial observations are the basic indicator. Dyscalculic !u!ils tend to o!erate
at average or above attainment levels in other sub+ects but demonstrate difficulties in
maths and usually associated ith number in !articular. Dyscalculic !u!ils lack
confidence and !ractise avoidance strategies often manifesting in behaviour issues
and hel!lessness. Dyscalculic !u!ils ill avoid grou!=!artner ork and if !ut in the
situation, ill rely totally on others for ansers.
In their maths tasks, Dyscalculic !u!ils ill e/hibit difficulties-
>earning and recalling times table
3onfusion ith maths symbols
Unable to estimate an anser
5isunderstanding !lace value
>ack understanding of mathematical vocabulary
3annot recognise inverse o!erations
&eing able to use more than one o!eration in a task
$inding any form of sequencing too challenging
0dditionally, the !resentation of their ork may be untidy and calculations incorrectly
aligned or equally the !resentation may be more im!ortant than the calculations,
involving considerable time and care, 4avoidance strategy6.
,here are many resources available for diagnosis and a useful checklist can be found
in 8orking ith Dyscalculia 4>earning 8orks ?@@'6.
,he !ur!ose of this research as to !rove that Dyscalculia can be identified but also
that other associated difficulties may be more accurately diagnosed and relevant
su!!ort strategies em!loyed ith the aim of alloing sym!athetic mathematical
access to all students.
In order to accom!lish this, individual case studies ere selected. ,he !u!ils ere
initially identified from in(class observation. ,hereafter the folloing areas ere
considered-
;istory of the !u!ils learning to date
9ummative assessments
Individual 2ducation %lans
Intervies
2vidence
9hort informal test 4details included under 7,est %rocedure6
9ummary of the Initial .bservations
$rom the si/ individual case studies, it is likely that one !u!il can be diagnosed as
Dyscalculic. ;oever, a further !u!il demonstrated some clear dyscalulic tendencies
and another, very eak overall a!!roach to maths in general. ,he latter to ould
fall into the !seduo dyscalculic category im!lying that their difficulties are of
emotional origin.
)mplications for Teaching
%rior to this research, a need for s!ecific su!!ort in mathematics had already been
recognised. 0 qualified ,eaching 0ssistant, 4ith numeracy training6 orks ith the
maths de!artment covering AB* of maths lessons in Cey 9tage '. 9ome of this
su!!ort is in(class, orking alongside the teacher. In some lessons grou!s or
individuals ith !articular difficulties are ithdran to a smaller classroom and are
taught the same to!ic using different strategies and resources recognising their on
learning style. %u!ils also have one lesson a eek using I3, resources.
49uccessmaker and &ounceback6
.ne of the !rimary ob+ectives for orking ith identified maths difficulties is to raise
the self(esteem and confidence of the !u!il. .nce the !u!il understands the origins of
their difficulty and the su!!ort that is available to them, they can begin to access the
mathematical curriculum much more readily. ,his in turn can eliminate the associated
fear and stress related behaviour
In Year 6 I was terrible at maths. In Year 7 I was really nervous. I
couldnt cope. I have had a lot of help and sometimes do different things
to the others that I can understand better. Now I have finished
Year 8 and I feel a lot more confident
!yscalculic pupil".
0t 9t. 0lbans !u!ls are set from Dear E. Initial setting relies on the Cey 9tage II
results and the 9uffolk "eading 9core. $olloing this, formative assessment is used
throughout the year and occasionally a !u!il may need to move sets, !articularly in
Dears E and F. It follos therefore that !u!ils ith identified maths difficulties ill
be !laced in the eakest sets. It is im!ortant hoever to recognise that hilst the
stronger sets are likely to be fairly level in achievement, understanding and ability,
the eakest set ill contain the most diverse maths !ersonalities. ,he !u!il quoted
above entered Dear E ithout a Cey 9tage II level. ;e achieved level ' in Dear A,
amongst a class here results reached level B.
.ften a eaker set contains a mi/ture of other 7s!ecial needs hich have manifested
into eak !erformance in maths but are not necessarily maths related difficulties
,hese can stem from com!rehension, reading and often behaviour issues. ,hese
!u!ils can achieve in a motivated environment but ill rebel against being in the
thick class. "ecently the question has been raised, 9hould the loest set be divided
into toG
3ertainly, given accurate diagnosis and resources this ould be an ideal situation.
The +uestionaire
,he !u!ils ere initially asked a fe general questions. ,his as done at the
beginning of the intervie before the !u!ils ere aare of any connection ith
numbers or maths generally.
: from the ) identified !u!ils said that 5aths as their least favourite sub+ect and B of
them found maths the most difficult sub+ect. .nly the control !u!ils highlighted other
sub+ects as their least favourite and most difficult. 3onversely the favourite sub+ects
of the identified !u!ils ere on the hole non(academic, such as %2 and 0rt.
<one of the identified !u!ils had ever !layed any sort of card games but most en+oyed
other board games, such as mono!oly. ,he 3ontrol !u!ils !layed cards and could
also !lay more than a cou!le of different ty!es of card games.
0ll of the !u!ils intervieed, including the control grou!, ere right handed and
could identify this hand easily. <one had difficulty ith tying shoe laces. 5ost of
the !u!ils could remember tele!hone numbers, including mobile numbers. ;oever,
%u!ils 0 and 2 both said that they could only remember familiar tele!hone numbers,
4such as home, best friend6 and only ) digit numbers.
.nly %u!ils D, $ and the 3ontrol !u!ils read magaHines or books outside of school.
2qually !u!ils D and $ considered their ork in maths to be neat, hereas the other
identified !u!ils ere of the o!inion their ork as messy or in one case, not
bad.
.nly one of the identified !u!ils, 4D6 as confident in knoing multi!lication tables.
,he other five claimed that they ere confident in some. 45ostly ?, B and I@6.
3learly from the questionnaire results, all of the identified !u!ils share some maths
an/iety and this has !erha!s led to the avoidance of activities such as card games.
,hough none sho a genuine !hobia surrounding the sub+ect at this stage, such
an/iety can become a learned fear s!ecific to certain situations. $or instance !u!ils 0
and 2 ere keen to em!hasise that they only remembered familiar and ) digit
tele!hone numbers rather than make an attem!t at remembering other numbers.
The Test &ontent
DOT TEST
,he dot test is based u!on the idea of subitiHing introduced in &rian &utterorths
5athematical &rain. 9ubitiHing is recognising a number of dots in an array ithout
counting them individually. ,he res!onse is timed to see ho long it takes to anser.
George 5andler, 4IAF?6 calculated that it takes the same time to name, I,?,' and :
thereafter it increases by @.@B !er dot. 3oncical !atterns, 4dice=cards6 are quicker to
recognise than random, unfamiliar !atterns.
In this test several cards ere made ith dots in both conical and random !atterns,
from ' to I? dots !er card. ,he !u!il as given a ma/imum of B seconds on each
card. ,he results sho the number of cards ansered correctly from I? cards.
GREATER THAN
%u!ils ere shon a card ith a number !rinted in large, bold font in the middle.
0round the number ere other numbers !rinted in a smaller, lighter font. ,he !u!il
as asked to look at the number in the centre and then identify a loer number from
the others. 4.nly one number a!!lied6 ,he res!onse as then timed. ,his as done
tice ith different cards to ensure the !u!il had understood the instruction. ,he
mean result as recorded
ADD/SUBTRACTION
%u!ils ere given a orksheet ith sim!le addition=subtraction sums, single and to
digit numbers, ritten lineally and in columns. ,hey ere asked to anser the
questions until told to sto!. ,he !u!ils ere timed for one minute of each e/ercise.
,he number of correct ansers as recorded.
SIGN
9imilarly, !u!ils ere given a orksheet of number sentences missing the calculation
symbol. ,he !u!ils ere again timed for one minute. ,he number of correct ansers
as recorded.
DECIMAL
%u!ils ere given a orksheet of decimal numbers. 2ach question had to decimal
numbers and !u!ils ere asked to circle around the larger decimal number. ,he
!u!ils orked for one minute and the number of correct ansers as recorded.
VERBAL
%u!ils ere given a !iece of 0: !a!er and then asked to do the folloing-
Dra a horiHontal line
Dra a vertical line
Dra a quadrilateral sha!e
.n your sha!e, rite 0 to sho the area and % to sho the !erimeter
Dra a triangle.
.n the triangle, rite 0 to sho the area and % to sho the !erimeter
8rite don the abbreviations for the folloing-
Cilogram
5illimetre
3entimetre
,he results ere marked and recorded out of a total of II.
Results of Pupil Testing
Pupil Dots Greater than
(time in secs.)
Add Subt Recognition
Calculation
Decimal Verbal
/11
Control !."# 1$ 11 11 1$ 11
A
1".% 1& ' %
B " 11.$ ' ' " 11
C
' 11.( # # ! # %
D ' 11. 11 1& " 11
E # 1$ 1
C
# ".$ 11 1& 11 1&
What can these results tell us?
,he 3ontrol %u!ils ere entry level :=B !u!ils, currently in Dear F. ,herefore %u!ils
2 and $ ho are currently in Dear A, dis!lay some real eakness in the sub+ect.

Diagnostically e can see that %u!il 2 has some s!ecific difficulty ith recognising
correct calculation. 2 as in fact only able to anser ' questions in the timed minute
and only one of those as correct, the sim!le addition. ,he to incorrect ansers
ere clearly division but 2 rote in a subtraction sign. &y ay of com!arison, the
control !u!ils ansered II and got II correct. 0dditionally %u!il 2 dis!lays that
numerical aareness, 4Greater than6 is much sloer than might be e/!ected, although
his substitiHing result, 4dots6 reflects a nearer to average ability.
%u!il $ does not dis!lay a significant eak area. In the calculation activities, all the
questions com!leted ere ansered correctly. ,he incorrect anser in the verbal
questions as ord confusion 4horiHontal=diagonal6. 3learly these results indicate
that $s ability in mathematics is !robably governed by a slo and careful orking
!ace.
%u!il 0, a year E !u!il suffered difficulty ith recognising number value, and this is
further demonstrated ith the decimal values that 0 as unable to !lace correctly, 4A
correct from IF com!leted6. In the verbal questions 0 as not able to sho
understanding of vertical, horiHontal or quadrilateral. 0 is in Dear E but the
other Dear E !u!il tested, &, as able to identify these correctly.
%u!il &s verbal ansers ere all correct and indeed hilst the results in other areas
for %u!il & are fairly lo, a revie of the test !a!ers sho that %u!il & actually got all
ansers correct that ere com!leted in the timed minute. ,his indicates that %u!il
&s ability in maths is similar to %u!il $ from year A, a slo and more careful
a!!roach.
.verall, %u!il 3 is the eakest !u!il and this is as e/!ected from the %u!il !rofile. In
the calculation activities, 3 com!leted A questions on both the addition and
subtraction and in the missing calculation test, 3 com!leted B and got ' correct. ,he
decimal value test results illustrates B@* correct ansers and could be as a result of
random guessork.
%u!il Ds difficulty a!!ears to be number value. ,his is su!!orted from the results of
the dots e/ercise and both recognising the greater number and decimal values. ,he
actual calculation results ere significantly better.
&onclusion
,he results of the testing have a useful diagnostic !ur!ose. 8e can also eliminate
%u!il $ from further Dyscalculia investigation. %u!il D is making !rogress in
mathematics and although there is a number value difficulty this could be attributed to
a lack of confidence, not necessarily a s!ecific
number blindness.
%u!il 2s results, 4 Dear A6 suggest that there are strong indications of Dyscalculic
tendencies, vieed ith the !u!il !rofile, hich !rovides further evidence. %u!il 3,
4Dear F6 meets the same criteria and ould also benefit from further diagnosis and
different teaching strategies, even if the final diagnosis is seen as !seudo(
dyscalculic.
%u!ils 0 and & are currently in Dear E and are currently orking at level :.
0t this !oint in their education, they ill benefit from further observation and
aareness of the eaknesses dis!layed in the testing !rocedure. %u!il 0 as
!articularly eak in to areas and the verbal result suggests that %u!il 0 may have
com!rehension difficulties ith instruction, !erha!s also reflected in the 7greater than
e/ercise. It ould be difficult to conclude there is s!ecific dyscalulia diagnosis at this
stage.
.verall the test activities demonstrate that diagnostic testing of !u!ils ith difficulties
highlights fundamental eaknesses in their learning to date. ,hese areas need to be
addressed ith individual or small grou! tutoring in order to allo the !u!il to
!rogress ith the remainder of their !eers. Understanding breeds confidence. >ack
of understanding breeds an/iety, avoidance and the vicious circle of s!iralling don
as the rest of the class move on. 4#rian #utterworth".
2stablishing mathematical access for students embraces the hole curriculum. 5ost
sub+ect areas include a need for mathematical understanding-
9cience 1 formulas, gra!hs, time, s!eed, distance, calculations
;istory 1 3hronology, time s!an
Geogra!hy 1 5a! skills, tem!erature
,echnology 1 8eight and 5easures
2nglish 1 $inding the correct !ages in a book, estimating essay ords
5uch em!hasis is !laced on diagnosing and su!!orting literacy skills to enable access
across the curriculum for students, likeise it is essential to acce!t the same criteria
for mathematics. 5any !eo!le consider themselves to be bad at maths. Usually these
!eo!le are not dyscalculic but have suffered !oor teaching and learning e/!eriences,
reducing their self(esteem to Hero. 9im!le diagnosis can determine the roots of
individual difficulties and !rovide an o!!ortunity for effective su!!ort.
&rian &utterorth !oses the question, ;o do e get children to en+oy maths, 4or
get some of them to hate it lessG6. ,he anser he suggests lies in the fact that if
!u!ils lack confidence in skills and cannot see the !oint of mathematics, then it is
unlikely to be conducive to fun. 5aths su!!ort for such !u!ils needs to encourage
and acknoledge their on intuitions and different ays of thinking. It is necessary
to stimulate inventiveness, to discover ho to transform one thing into another kind of
thing, to see the relation among different facts and different !rocedures. .nce
multi!lication conce!ts are understood, it can be seen that there are many ays to
arrive at the same anser.
$olloing diagnosis it follos that some !ositive action must be introduced to ensure
that the daily maths lesson is a!!ro!riate for almost all !u!ils and that they make
!rogress and gain !ositively from the lesson 4National Numeracy $trategy".
;oever, the <umeracy 9trategy a!!roaches to teaching of maths can be challenging
for both the dysle/ic and dyscalculic !u!il. 2arly diagnosis cou!led ith a!!ro!riate
su!!ort and teaching strategies ill eliminate the escalation of avoidance that is
evident in !u!ils for hom maths is a real fear. $or the dyscalculic !u!il it ill
enable a!!ro!riate structures to be !ut in !laceJ for the !suedo(dyscalculic !u!il it
ill strengthen the foundations required to !roceed.
,esearch ,esources
Practioner#s ibliography
&utterorth, &rian ,he 5athematical &rain, IAAA %acmillan
&urge, Kicki Dysle/ia, &asic <umeracy, IAF) &elen 'r(ell !ysle)ia
Inst
3hinn L 0shcroft 5athematics for Dysle/ics, IAAF *hurr +ublishers ,td
;aylock, Derek ,eaching 5athematics to >o +aul -hapman +ublish.
0ttainers, IAAI
;enderson, 0nne 5aths and Dysle/ics, IAFA $t. !avids -ollege
Cim!ton, Diana 0 %arents Guide to ;el!ing ith +enguin #oo(s
5aths, IAAB
5iles, ,." L 2 Dysle/ia and 5athematics .outledge
Publications
%lus 5agaHine Intervie ith ;elen #oyce, ?@@?
Daily 5ail 8hen 9ums dont add u! ?@@?
9unday ,elegra!h %ro!osed UC school testing for Dyscalculia ?@@?
,he Guardian 3onfidence 3ounts IAAA
Resouces
>earning 8orks 8orking ith Dyscalculia ;andbook
$irst and &est in %ractical 0ctivities $or 3hildren ith Dyscalculia
2ducation
n$er<elson Dyscalculia 9creener
!ebsites
www.learning-works.org.uk
www.dyscalculia.org
www.nfer-nelson.co.uk
www.mathematicalbrain.com