An overview of

Dyscalculia
Hello! I am Dr Fu Sai Hoe
I am a dyscalculia researcher
You can find me at FB @DrRoyalfu
Teaching & Learning mathematics
Early Childhood Mathematics
Primary Mathematics
Remedial Mathematics
Dyscalculia
Qualitative Research
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Maps

Sabah, Malaysia

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 A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS

Dyscalculia

Need more
educational
support
Education
is for all Intervention

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 Introduction
> Mathematics is a core subjects (Haylock & Manning, 2018)
> Numeracy fluency is required to access the numerical
information ( Corry, 2015)
> Some students still struggling in learning basic numeracy
skills (Pitici, 2014; Morsanyi et al., 2017; Mammarella et
al., 2019)
> In Sabah, Malaysia showed that 5.5% of the primary school
students suffer from Dyscalculia (Wong et al., 2014).

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What comes to your mind
with Mathematics?
Let’s start with the first set of slides
 NUMBERS? MONEY? OR LOTTERY?

Answer
for 2500
years
ago

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 What is mathematics ?

> Mathematics is a study of patterns and

relationships.
> Mathematics is a way of thinking.
> Mathematics is an art, characterized by order
and internal consistency.
> Mathematics is a language that uses carefully
defined terms and symbols.
> Mathematics is a tool.
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 1.
What is dyscalculia?
Let’s start with the first set of slides
 An overview of Dyscalculia

> What is dyscalculia?

> Types of dyscalculia
> Characteristics of dyscalculia
> Prevalence rate of dyscalculia
> Causes of dyscalculia
> Identification of dyscalculia
> Intervention of dyscalculia

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• is a specific mathematics learning
disability (Hornigold, 2015)

• poor in number sense (Hannell

,2013).

• 6% of the population has

dyscalculia regardless with gender
issues (Bird,2017)

• genetical brain impairment

(Emerson & Babtie, 2013)

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 Other names of dyscalculia
> 1. Number Blindness
> 2. Maths dyslexia
> 3. Developemental dyscalculia
> 4. Mathematics learning difficulties (MLD)
(Moorcraft, 2015)

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 2.
Types of dyscalculia
Let’s start with the first set of slides

Verbal dyscalculia
> Cannot read numbers
> Problems in naming the
amount of things.
Graphical dyscalculia
> A difficulty writing
mathematical symbols.
Types of dyscalculia
Practognostic dyscalculia Lexical dyscalculia
> Cannot count quantity > Trouble reading and
and connect the understanding mathematical
quantity to the symbols and numbers, as well
numbers and number as mathematical expressions
words
or equations.
Ideognostical dyscalculia Operational dyscalculia
> A difficulty in > A difficulty to complete
understanding written or spoken
mathematical concepts and mathematical operations or
answer math problems . calculations.
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 3.
Characteristics
of dyscalculia
Let’s start with the first set of slides
 Characteristics of dyscalculia
Number sense Slow responses Reasoning
> cannot perform > give slow responses to > find it difficult to talk
subitizing (recognise give answers to about mathematical
the small quantities mathematics questions, processes,
without counting) and > Cannot link quantity > Four operations
counting, with numbers and
number words
Memory Visual spatial Estimation
> have trouble > are confused about > Difficult in estimating
remembering basic position and spatial measurement such as length,
mathematics facts, organization. height, distance
postcode, telephone > Difficult to understand > Telling time
numbers charts and diagrams
> Counting money

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Example: basic operations

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Example: Bar chart & Pie Chart

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Recognise the currency , conversion of the money
and so on

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Link quantity with number and number words

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> Choose
the
larger
number
8 3
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Subitizing

saccadic eye movements

saccadic reaction-times of
one fast (190–340 ms)
one slower (360 to approx. 600
ms) (Castaldi et al,,2020)
Characteristics of dyscalculia in different period
> Preschool education > Primary education > Secondary education
> Cannot link numbers > Confusing symbols + > Difficult to apply
and quantities and - mathematical ideas to
their daily
> Numbers written in a > Difficult to learn or
mirror images remember basic > Difficult to Estimate
mathematical and solve math
> Confuse with 6 and 9
operations problems, etc.
> Can't subitize the
number within 1-5 in > such as 1 + 2 = 3
response time > Often use their fingers
to count
> Difficult to calculate
> Do not understand
number sequences,
Jeewan (2015) place value, digit value

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 4.
Prevalence rate
of dyscalculia
Let’s start with the first set of slides
 Prevalence rate of dyscalculia (Wong, 2016)
Prevalence Rate of Location Prevalence Rate of Location
Dyscalculia Dyscalculia
5% South of England 4 – 7% USA

3.4% Cuba 7% Iran

1.54% Western Iran 6% several countries

5 – 8% Colombia 3 – 8% Israel

3 – 8% Belgium 6 – 7% International studies

5 – 7% England 9.9% Serbia

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 5.
Causes of dyscalculia
Let’s start with the first set of slides
 Causes of dyscalculia

2001 2006
Genetics Environment
(Shalev et al. 2001) (Murphy et al. 2006)

Brain differences
（Castelli et al. 2006)
2006

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Causes of Dyscalculia
> Impairment in their parietal
lube and intraparietal
sulcus (IPS)
(Butterworth, Varma &
Laurillard ,2011; Ashkenazi
et al, 2008; Isaacs, 2001).

> Insufficiency in grey matter

in the left intraparietal
sulcus (Issac ,2001).

> Lack of basic number sense.

(Butterworth, 2005)

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 6.
Identification
of dyscalculia
Let’s start with the first set of slides
 Identification of dyscalculia

Early detect Identification Confirmation

Full Diagnostic
Butterworth's screener (2003) assessment
Checklists for Age 6 –14 years
dyscalculia (Chinn, DyscalculiUM Screener for by medical doctors
2016 ; Emerson & adults from Loughborough Developmental paediatricians
Babtie, 2014) University （Dr ching)
Malaysian Dyscalculia instrument woodcock Johnson
(MDI) (Wong et al., 2016) Acievement Test, Iq screen is
needed

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 Dyscalculia checklist
> Emerson & Babtie (2014)
> The Dyscalculia
Assessment ( summary
laths profile)
> Number sense and counting
> Calculation & Estimation
> Place value and so on
> Chinn (2016)
> Does the learner
> 1. not often
> 2. sometimes
> 3. always
> Have difficulty counting
objects accurately…

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Brian Butterworth’s dyscalculia screener
1.Simple reaction time
2.Dot Enumeration
3.Number Comparison
4.Arithmetic Achievement test
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有数学障碍的小朋友在数/点阵图中/点的数量时，所用时间要
比其他小朋友长。对于有4个及4个以下点的点阵图，大多数人
一眼就可以看出有多少个点，一个一个地数。

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Malaysian Dyscalculia instrument (MDI) (Wong et al., 2016)

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 7.
Intervention
of dyscalculia
Let’s start with the first set of slides
Intervention of dyscalculia

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 Example 1
(Maguire et al., 2000)

> The London “black cab” Taxi

drivers are required to remember
20,000 street names and 25,000
landmarks.
> Scientists have studied the
driver's hippocampus, and the part
of the brain responsible for
controlling space and information
is growing (is significantly
larger).
> When the drivers retired, their
hippocampus gradually returned
to its previous size.

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Example 2
(Luculano et al., 2015)
Researchers at Stanford University
Bring a group of 7 to 9-year-old children
to the neuroscience lab.
The half children have dyscalculia, and the
other half are normal children.
After eight weeks of one-on-one teaching,
the children of the two groups had the
same achievement in mathematics, even
the exact same brain functioning.

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Example 1
Katherine & Dylan （2018）
Lack of basic number sense.
(Butterworth, 2005)
People’s numeracy ability is controlled by
a special brain neural network,
Parietal lobe-the development of the
brain area directly above the ears is
different from that of ordinary people.

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Katherine &
Dylan (2018) "We don’t say that people
with dyslexia can’t read, then we
can’t say that people with math
disabilities can’t do mathematics
(Dylan; second author)

Dylan suffers from dyscalculia

graduated from the University
of California, major in
statistics,
Current job is a data analyst

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 Katherine & Dylan (2018)
REWRITE IN WORDS REWRITE FOR CONSISTENCY

CREATE A DICTIONARY COLOR PENS TO COLOR NOTES

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 The human being is modifiable !
Feuerstein, R., Falik, L. H., & Feuerstein,
R. S. (2010).

> Neuroplasticity can reconnect the

parts of the brain that are damaged
by genes, trauma, disease, or
undeveloped (Feuerstein, Falik &
Feuerstein, 2010).

> When humans learn new knowledge,

synapse connection will fired in our
brain to form a path(Boaler &
Dweck, 2016).

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 What neuroscience told us
> Growth mindset, is not a fixed mindset(Boaler, 2019)
> Love your child, love your students, do everything
possible to help the child
> Change passively acceptance to active modification
(Feuerstein, Falik & Feuerstein, 2010)
> The child's potential is not something we can judge

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Reconnecting Learning
Intervention of dyscalculia

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 Reconnecting Learning
content support Pedagogical support Learning material support

Matching, sorting, Demostration,Mediation, Use various of concrete

pairing, ordering, active learning, materials, digital teaching
patterning, subitizing, teacher’s role, teacher’s materials, pictures to
number sequence, preparation, emphasize the
recognise numbers, communication mode, representation
identify numbers, time duration, learn in
counting, comparing chunks
numbers and so on

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 Reconnecting Learning

Steps Demonstration Mediation Active Learning

Student’s role Recognition Repetition Language

Teacher’s role Demonstrator Mediator Facilitator

Communication Explanation Questioning Reasoning

mode

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 Counting is initially a
Example
highly complicated
Back to the basic –
counting
combination of
speaking number
words and pointing at
objects in succession,
stopping with the
number at the last
object pointed at
(Tall,2013).

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 Pre Counting Skills
NUMBER
SUBITIZING
Subitizing is recognizing the
SEQUENCE
numerosity of in a set
instantly and the name Numeral
“subitize” is from the Latin Name of the numbers
words means “to arrive
suddenly” (Charlesworth, Sequence of number words
2012).
COUNTING
Counting helps children in the process of Consolidate the previous knowledge
understanding quantity (Charlesworth, 2012). with the current knowledge and learn
new knowledge

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 Counting Principles

> One-to-one correspondence

> Stable order rule

> Cardinal rule

> Abstraction rule

> Order irrelevance rule

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 Counting stages
> COUNT ALL - COUNT
FROM 1
> COUNT ON
> COUNTING ON FROM
THE LARGER NUMBER
> RECALL NUMBER FACT
> FACILE / FLEXIBILITY

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 Example

4 + 3 =7

COUNT ALL
COUNT ON – CONTINUE COUNTING SEE 4

SUBITIZE AS AN OBJECT
COMPRESSION –RECALL NUMBER FACT

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 NUMBER
> Number is a complex and
multifaceted concept.
> A number is a symbol

>
expressed by a word or
figure representing a
particular quantity.
Number is made up of
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five main ideas. i.e.
counting, operations,
quantity, relationships
and representation

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 Supportive and problematic conceptions in Example:
making sense of mathematics (Chin, 2012) numbers

1
Cardinal : quantity
2 Ordinal : position
3 Nominal : name

乘法的出来的答案一定比原来的多吗？ 乘法是 加的重复 ： 2 x 3 =6

Counting Strategies

> COUNTING FORWARD

> COUNTING BACKWARD
> SKIP COUNTING 2，5，10
> MOVE TO COUNT
> POINT TO COUNT
> VERBAL COUNTING
> SUBVOCALIZING COUNTING
> GROUP COUNTING
> FINGER COUNTING

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 Various of teaching aids

1 Pre number skills

2 recognise
numbers 3 counting

shapes domino/ dice number cards counters/ counting sticks

Place value

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Teaching number bond using gummy bear

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4
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 Teaching addition

FOUR PLUS FOUR EQUALS TO EIGHT

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Teaching subtraction

(Johnson et al., 2016)

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 Thanks!
Any questions?
Find me at fb @DrRoyalfu

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