1 Introduction

Mathematics learning difficulties

and dyscalculia

This book was written to help teachers, classroom assistants, learning support
assistants and parents who are dealing with pupils who are underachieving in
mathematics. The level of underachievement might be significant enough to be rec-
ognised as a mathematical learning difficulty or severe enough to be considered as
dyscalculia.
The book looks at the problems from several perspectives, from preventative meas-
ures to use in the classroom, to cognitive styles, to practical ideas for intervention. It
works like a repair manual in some respects and like a care awareness manual (looking
after your students) in other respects.
It is a book which can be accessed in different ways. It can provide an overview of
where and how problems may arise. It offers insights for teachers into areas of poten-
tial difficulty for learners. It can focus on a specific problem and suggest approaches
which can help the pupil overcome the problem.
It would be an impossible task to attempt to provide an answer for every problem
for every child. One way of being as comprehensive as is practical within one book is
to focus as much on prevention as on intervention. A pro-active awareness of learn-
ing issues can help in reducing their impact on learners.
In many respects then, the key purpose of this book is to provide a context with
which to design and appraise any intervention, be it major or minor.

The Trouble with Maths can be used to:

• understand some of the reasons problems may arise in learning mathematics

• understand that many problems track back to the very early experiences and thus
that these basics need to be addressed within any intervention
• pre-empt learning problems
• develop flexible cognitive skills and encourage metacognition
• circumvent problems in basic numeracy by developing understanding, rather than
an over-dependency on rote learning
• address the difficulties pupils have with word problems
• teach alternative strategies for accessing basic facts
Copyright © 2020. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.

• recognise affective domain issues and suggest strategies for addressing maths
anxiety, attributional style, self-efficacy and self-esteem problems
• stimulate the ability to create effective ideas for teaching maths to all pupils, but
especially those who are facing difficulties with the subject
• select appropriate materials, manipulatives and visual images for teaching maths
topics
• encourage students to develop an understanding of maths.

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 2 Introduction

Sometimes you may find information repeated in different chapters of the book. This
is deliberate, as some observations fit into more than one area. The new topic area
should give a different perspective to that information. Mathematics is a multifaceted
subject requiring a constellation of abilities.1
Barriers to learning are often rooted in inappropriate and ineffective communica-
tion. This book encourages teachers and tutors to constantly reflect on what and
how they are communicating. That’s a multifaceted task.

A few golden rules

• Don’t create anxiety (and thus demotivation).

• Experiencing success reduces anxiety (and increases motivation).
• Experiencing failure increases anxiety (and decreases motivation).
• Understand your pupils as individuals and accommodate their individuality.
• Be as consistent as possible. Address inconsistencies when they arise. Inconsisten-
cies, in their many manifestations, confuse learners (but see the next two points).
• Teach to the individual in the group . . . also known as the ‘Teach more than one way
to do things’ rule, but . . ..
• Make sure that teaching more than one way to do things does not confuse some
learners.
• Remember where each topic leads mathematically and where its roots lie.
• Know what the pre-requisite skills are for that topic and check that your learners
have these skills (and knowledge).
• Understanding is a more robust outcome than just recall and supports weak long-
term mathematical memory.
• Try to understand errors . . . don’t just settle for wrong.
• Prevention is better than cure.
• When reviewing topics it is very likely that you will have to go back further than
you may think.
• Be empathetic in the pace you set for your lessons.
• All the above rules have exceptions.

Although we might not be surprised to know that high-stake examinations, such as

the national exams for 16-year-old English students, create stress as found in an
AQA study from 2013, lower-stake tests can also create stress, as reported in
a front page article in The Times of 30 December, 2002 headed ‘Exam stress strikes
seven-year-olds’. The article reported that the Key Stage One tests caused symp-
Copyright © 2020. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.

toms of excessive anxiety including loss of appetite, insomnia, bed-wetting, forget-

fulness and depression. These are our children! And now, in 2020, it would still be
good if we were less obsessed with exams and tests and measuring performance,
and maybe make less spurious conclusions and interpretations based on these
activities. Maybe.

Furner and Gonzalez-DeHass (2011) offered wise advice2:

It may be favorable to the students if less of an emphasis is placed on test

taking and competition, passing or failing, and winning or losing. Students with

Chinn, Steve. The Trouble with Maths : A Practical Guide to Helping Learners with Numeracy Difficulties, Taylor & Francis Group, 2020. ProQuest Ebook Central,
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 Introduction 3

mastery goals are interested in learning new skills and improving their under-
standing and competence; they are engaged in the process, not focused on the
product. They are taking responsibility for their learning and engage in activities
that allow for self-regulation and self-direction. Their success is defined by indi-
vidual improvement, they place value on effort, and their satisfaction is gained
from working hard and learning something new. And they thrive in a classroom
climate that helps students to feel they can take risks, make mistakes, and
reveal their lack of understanding and seek help during their internal drive
towards growth and personal mastery.

I like the interpretation of mastery as used in this context.

What do learners need to be good at mathematics?

Although this book is about ideas to redress underachievement in maths, it should

also be valuable for considering what learners need to be good, to achieve in maths.
I have two sources for this information. One is from the USSR and the other from the
USA. In both cases I have added some comments in italics.
From the USSR, Krutetskii (1976) presents a broad outline of the underlying struc-
ture of mathematical abilities during school age.3 He specifies that, to be good at
maths you need:

• The ability for logical thought in the sphere of quantitative and spatial relation-
ships, number and letter symbols; the ability to think in mathematical symbols.
• The ability for rapid and broad generalisations of mathematical objects, relations
and operations.
• Flexibility of mental processes in mathematical activity (metacognition).
• Striving for clarity, simplicity, economy and rationality of solutions.
• The ability for rapid and free reconstruction of the direction of a mental process,
switching from a direct to a reverse train of thought. (Reversing is a challenge that
starts early in maths.)
• Mathematical memory. A generalised memory for mathematical relationships and
for methods of problem solving.

He goes on to state that ‘These components are closely interrelated, influencing one
another and forming in their aggregate a single integral syndrome of mathematical
giftedness’.
Although Krutetskii makes these observations concerning giftedness in mathemat-
Copyright © 2020. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.

ics, they are equally appropriate for competence. It should be apparent as to where
learning difficulties may create problems with these requirements. It is worth noting
Krutetskii’s observation about the components being closely interrelated and influ-
encing one another. So many of the issues around teaching and learning maths are
multifaceted.
My second source is the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics in the
USA,4 who listed and explained twelve essential components for learning maths.
I have added some comments (in italics).

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 4 Introduction

1. Problem solving. The process of applying previously acquired knowledge to new

and unfamiliar situations. (Developing transferable skills.) Students should see
alternative solutions to problems: they should experience problems with more
than a single solution. (An effective question to ask learners is, ‘Can you think of
another way of solving this problem?’ This is also about metacognition and flex-
ible cognition.)
2. Communicating mathematical ideas (receiving and presenting). Students
should learn the language and notation (symbols) of maths. (Recent research
by Habermann et al. has found that Arabic numeral knowledge (defined by
numeral reading, writing and identification at 4 years of age) was the sole
unique predictor of arithmetic at 6 years.5 Knowledge of the association
between spoken and Arabic numerals is one critical foundation for the devel-
opment of formal arithmetic.)
3. Mathematical reasoning. Students should learn to make independent investiga-
tions of mathematical ideas. They should be able to identify and extend patterns
and use experiences and observations to make conjectures. (This suggests to me
that this should involve, where appropriate, the use of visual images and concrete
materials. Their use should not be an age-specific approach to teaching. This
classroom approach requires careful and continuous monitoring to avoid learners
absorbing incorrect information and concepts.)
4. Applying maths to everyday situations. Students should be encouraged to take
everyday situations, translate them into mathematical representations (graphs,
tables, diagrams or mathematical expressions), process the maths and interpret
the results in light of the initial situation. (Maths in everyday life provides ample
opportunities for estimations and thus to develop a flexible sense of numbers and
their values.)
5. Alertness to the reasonableness of results. In solving problems, students should
question the reasonableness of a solution or conjecture in relation to the original
problem. They must develop number sense. (This also links to estimation. As an
example of everyday reasonableness, I saw a poster outside a travel agent in Bath
(UK) recently. At this time the exchange rate for GBP (£) to euros was 1.16 euros
to the pound. The poster said, ‘£876 = €750’. There was no alertness to the rea-
sonableness of the result of their calculation.)
6. Estimation. Students should be able to carry out rapid approximate calculations
through the use of mental arithmetic (or perhaps via jottings on paper when work-
ing memory is weak) and a variety of computational estimation techniques and
decide when a particular result is precise enough for the purpose in hand. (See
Chapter 4 on cognitive style.)
Copyright © 2020. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.

7. Appropriate computational skills. Students should gain facility in using addition,

subtraction, multiplication and division with whole numbers and decimals. Today,
long, complicated computations can be done with a calculator or computer.
Knowledge of single digit number facts is essential. (Learning to access facts by
using mathematical strategies can help in developing, for example, an under-
standing of the four operations and algebra. Estimation comes into play again in
checking those calculator answers.)
8. Algebraic thinking. Students should learn to use variables (letters) to represent
mathematical quantities and expressions. They should understand and use

Chinn, Steve. The Trouble with Maths : A Practical Guide to Helping Learners with Numeracy Difficulties, Taylor & Francis Group, 2020. ProQuest Ebook Central,
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 Introduction 5

correctly positive and negative numbers, order of operations, formulas, equations

and inequalities. (Being able to generalise is a key skill here. Again, this tracks
back to how earlier learning was absorbed and understood.)
9. Measurement. Students should learn the fundamental concepts of measurement
through concrete experiences. (This links to place values for 10n and 10-n.)
10. Geometry. Students should understand the geometric concepts necessary to
function effectively in the three-dimensional world. (This may be a problem for
some students with Developmental Coordination Disorder dyspraxia.)
11. Statistics. Students should plan and carry out the collection and organisation
of data to answer questions in their everyday lives. Students should recognise
the basic uses and misuses of statistical representation and inference. (And
the abuses.)
12. Probability. Students should understand the elementary notions of probability
to determine the likelihood of future events. They should learn how probability
applies to the decision-making process. (It is apparent that many of these
components interlink.)

Picking up on Krutetskii’s first point and the NCTM’s second point concerning the
use of symbols in maths, the British psychologist Skemp wrote:6

Among the functions of symbols, we can distinguish:

1. Communication
2. Recording knowledge
3. The communication of new concepts
4. Making multiple classification straightforward
5. Explanations
6. Making possible reflective activity
7. Helping to show structure
8. Making routine manipulations automatic
9. Recovering information and understanding
10. Creative mental activity

concluding that ‘The use of symbols appears to be indispensable to the use of

reason’.
So, we have some characteristics for being good at mathematics. It seems rea-
sonable to look at the converse situation and conclude that deficits in all or some
of these skills can create difficulties in mathematics. I know from my own many
years of experience of teaching students with difficulties in maths that there are
Copyright © 2020. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.

many reasons why someone may underachieve in mathematics and that the pic-
ture is a complex one with no single root cause. My experience is that Krutetskii’s
criteria are the most telling. When we look at the characteristics of dyscalculia
and maths learning difficulties it is apparent that the deficits in skills and know-
ledge highlighted by research tally closely with the areas of strength listed by
Krutetskii.
The term dyscalculia, a specific learning difficulty in maths, has now become
more recognised in education, though there is quite some way to go. A look at what
dyscalculia might be and how it relates to the broader construct of mathematical

Chinn, Steve. The Trouble with Maths : A Practical Guide to Helping Learners with Numeracy Difficulties, Taylor & Francis Group, 2020. ProQuest Ebook Central,
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 6 Introduction

learning difficulties may help our understanding of the reasons behind many of the
general difficulties with learning mathematics.

Dyscalculia, definitions and descriptions: a brief history

At the start of the new millennium, dyscalculia, a profound problem with learning
mathematics, was beginning to attract attention in official circles in the UK. The DfES
(the UK Department of Education) published a booklet in 2001 on guidance for sup-
porting pupils with dyscalculia (and dyslexia) in the current National Numeracy
Strategy.7 However, in 2020 this interest has slipped and there are no results on
policy or education from a search for dyscalculia on the UK Government’s Depart-
ment for Education website. There is an online screening test for dyscalculia pub-
lished by GL Assessment, a book, The Dyscalculia Assessment aimed at younger
children from Jane Emerson and Patricia Babtie, an online screener, ‘The Dyscalculia
Screener’, from iansyst for post-16 students, the FAM, Feifer Assessment of Mathem-
atics and my own book of standardised and other tests, More Trouble with Maths:
A Complete Manual to Identifying and Diagnosing Mathematical Difficulties, which is
now in its 3rd edition. There is more research these days, but still not as much as for
dyslexia. The neurological tools used for research into brain activity are rapidly
increasing in sophistication, for example, in Daniel Ansari’s work. This area of study
holds great promise.
However, the definitions of dyscalculia are a shade unremarkable at present. As
a physicist I find the definitions of dyscalculia (and dyslexia) are a long way from the
precision I was trained to respect, but then, as a teacher, I know that children and
adults are infinitely variable and labile and that I should not expect a definition that will
meet overly specific criteria. As an illustration of this difficulty there was a meeting in
the UK in September, 2015 of a cluster of the world’s top academics on dyslexia to
discuss and debate the definition of dyslexia, but after two days of discussion they
were unable to reach a consensus.
I have outlined below a brief history of the definitions of dyscalculia. References
may be found at the end of this book.
The first reference to a specific difficulty with maths that I found was by
Bronner (1917)8 quoted in Buswell and Judd’s (1925) classic monograph.9 He
proposed a hypothesis that there are special disabilities in such subjects as
arithmetic.
Gerstmann (1957) described dyscalculia (known for a while as Gerstmann’s syn-
drome) as ‘an isolated disability to perform simple or complex arithmetical operations
Copyright © 2020. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.

and an impairment of orientation in the sequence of numbers and their fractions’.10

Developmental dyscalculia was defined by Bakwin and Bakwin (1960) as a ‘difficulty
with counting’11 and by Cohn (1968) as a ‘failure to recognise numbers or manipulate
them in an advanced culture’.12 These early descriptions focused on early numerical
skills, an emphasis that is still dominant. The term developmental dyscalculia distin-
guishes these difficulties in maths from those acquired by some traumatic injury to
the brain, that is, acquired dyscalculia.
Some definitions of a more general nature incorporate a range of learning difficul-
ties, for example, Kirk (1962) defined learning difficulties as,

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 Introduction 7

a delay, a disorder, a slow development of the speech, language, reading, writing,

arithmetic or of other school subjects, which results in a psychic dis-function
caused by a possible brain dis-function, emotional or behavioral disorders. The
learning disorder is not the result of a mental disability, sensory deficiencies or
cultural and instructional factors.13

In 1988 the USA Interagency Committee on Learning Disabilities produced an all-

encompassing definition of learning disabilities, describing them as ‘a heterogeneous
group of disorders manifested by significant difficulties in the acquisitions and use of lis-
tening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning or mathematical abilities, or of social skills’.14
We should note that dyscalculia is a specific learning difficulty.
Kosc (1970) was a pioneer and major contributor to the foundations of our
knowledge and awareness of dyscalculia.15 He described developmental dyscalcu-
lia as a structural disorder of mathematical abilities which has its origin in a genetic
or congenital disorder of those parts of the brain that are the direct anatomico-
physiological substrate of the maturation of the mathematical abilities adequate to
age, without a simultaneous disorder of general mental functions. This definition
clearly puts dyscalculia in the inherited and specific learning difficulties category.
Advances in neurological technology may well provide evidence for Kosc’s
hypothesis.
In 1978 Magne gave a slightly more cautious explanation of a difficulty in math-
ematics as the low achievement of a person on a certain occasion which manifests
itself as performance below the standards of the age-group of this person or below
their own abilities as a consequence of inadequate cognitive, affective, volitional,
motor or sensory development.16 The cause for inadequate development may be of
various kinds. This description acknowledges that there will be more than one
cause for difficulties in mathematics. It also set the foundation for more recent def-
initions and, specifically, that the difficulties are unexpected in respect to general
levels of ability. The role of levels of general ability and intelligence in definitions is
contentious.
Sharma listed the many words that have been suggested for maths difficulties,
explaining terms such as acalculia, dyscalculia, anarithmetica and noting that
there was no definite agreement on their use universally in the literature, that they
have not been used consistently and although there is a substantial difference
between dyscalculia, a learning difficulty with maths and acalculia, a complete
inability to do any maths, some authors have used the terms interchangeably.17
Sharma concluded that the descriptions of these terms were quite diverse to say
the least.
There is a rarely used term, something that sounds like a missing member of the
Copyright © 2020. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.

Russian royal family, arithmastenia, which is defined as a uniform deficiency in the

level of mathematical abilities.
Sharma (1990) suggests that dyscalculia refers to a disorder in the ability to do or
to learn mathematics, that is, difficulty in number conceptualisation, understanding
number relationships and difficulty in learning algorithms and applying them. He
states that it is an irregular impairment of ability. Thus, he suggests that dyscalculia
is a specific learning difficulty, again focusing on early maths work.
One of the leading workers in the field, Geary noted as early as 1994 that ‘with
regard to basic-arithmetic-related deficits, the neuropsychological studies converged

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 8 Introduction

on many of same conclusions as the cognitive studies’.18 He uses the term develop-
mental dyscalculia to refer to children’s problems in understanding numerical con-
cepts or arithmetic learning.
It seems to me that we often regard learning maths as a feat of memory rather than
about understanding, thus keeping maths education at the lowest level of Bloom’s
Taxonomy.
By 2001, researchers such as Shalev et al were still using basic descriptions of
low performance in arithmetic in comparison to otherwise-normal children.19 In the
UK the Department for Education and Skills published a booklet (2001, now archived)
on supporting learners with dyslexia and dyscalculia in the National Numeracy Strat-
egy which included the following definition of dyscalculia, heavily influenced by
Butterworth:

Dyscalculia is a condition that affects the ability to acquire mathematical skills.

Dyscalculic learners may have difficulty understanding simple number concepts,
lack an intuitive grasp of numbers, and have problems learning number facts
and procedures. Even if they produce a correct answer or use a correct method,
they may do so mechanically and without confidence.7

Unlike many of the definitions, such as that from the World Health Organisation (below),
this does not refer to normal achievement.
The World Health Organisation (2010) uses the term ‘Specific disorder of arithmet-
ical skills’ which

involves a specific impairment in arithmetical skills that is not solely explicable

on the basis of general mental retardation or of grossly inadequate schooling.
The deficit concerns mastery of basic computational skills of addition, subtrac-
tion, multiplication and division rather than of the more abstract mathematical
skills involved in algebra, trigonometry, geometry or calculus.20

The American Psychiatric Association (2013) also uses ‘specific’ and ‘what is
expected’ in their definition of Developmental Dyscalculia (DD):21

A specific learning disorder that is characterised by impairments in learning

basic arithmetic facts, processing numerical magnitude and performing accurate
and fluent calculations. These difficulties must be quantifiably below what is
expected for an individual’s chronological age, and must not be caused by poor
educational or daily activities or by intellectual impairments.

We are now in exciting times where there is an ever-increasing sophistication with

Copyright © 2020. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.

the technologies that can look at brains at work. Leaders in this field include Ansari,
Reeves and Reigosa-Crespo. However, it is early days as Bugden and Ansari (2015)
have noted:

Neuroimaging studies investigating the cognitive mechanisms that contribute to

DD deficits have yielded an inconsistent and hard to interpret pattern of data.
Given the early stages of functional MRI and EEG research, it is difficult to inter-
pret from the current set of data what neurobiology underlies cognitive deficits
in children with DD.22

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 Introduction 9

To summarise this brief history, it seems that the term dyscalculia is used to refer to
problems at the numbersense and arithmetic level of mathematics rather than later
challenges such as algebra and trigonometry. Definitions refer to an unexpected diffi-
culty and/or deficit in comparison to general abilities and performance. They rarely
mention co-occurring difficulties, such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or
dyslexia.
It is likely that, at some stage not too far away, a cluster of academics will meet
to discuss the implications and definition of the term dyscalculia as they did for dys-
lexia in 2015. It is likely that they will not reach a consensus. We should not risk fail-
ing children (and adults) by simply saying, ‘If people can’t agree to the definition,
then the problem doesn’t exist’.
The most recent (2019) definition from the British Dyslexia Association is:

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.
Mathematical difficulties are best thought of as a continuum, not a distinct cat-
egory and they have many causal factors. Dyscalculia falls at one end of a spec-
trum and will be distinguishable from other maths issues due to the severity of
difficulties with number sense, including subitizing, symbolic and non-symbolic
magnitude comparison and ordering. It can occur singly, but often co-occurs with
other specific learning difficulties, mathematics anxiety and medical conditions.23

I wrote the following piece for the Dyslexia Institute’s journal, Dyslexia Review,
volume 14, number 3 (2003). It remained apposite for the second edition of this book.
I was going to replace it for the third edition, but I still liked most of it and it does give
a broad overview, so I have made a few updates and edits (in italics) and kept it in the
4th edition, too!
Although the maths problem has its own name, it should be remembered that
maths learning difficulties are on a spectrum, with dyscalculia at the severe end of
that spectrum. Thus, many of the problems and factors involved are a matter of
degree and not exclusive to dyscalculia.

Does dyscalculia add up?

Initial ramblings (or a collection of rhetorical questions)

Is dyscalculia ‘dyslexia with maths’?

Copyright © 2020. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.

With the publication of Brian Butterworth’s Screening Test for Dyscalculia (2003)24
and the inclusion of dyscalculia as a specific learning difficulty in the DfES (the UK’s
Department of Education) consultation document for the 2004 SEN census, dyscalcu-
lia is a hot topic. (Sadly, the UK Government no longer shows any interest in dyscal-
culia. It is particularly worried about levels of achievement in maths for the 16–19 age
group, but remains attached to traditional beliefs about teaching maths.) This article
sums (!) up my current thinking about dyscalculia. Unfortunately, my current thinking
is (remains) fluid. I am still trying to make sense of all those factors which influence

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 10 Introduction

the maths learning outcomes of children and adults. So, I hope this paper may attract
some responses and stimulate more research.
Since absolute knowledge on dyscalculia is in short supply, I am going to con-
struct this paper around the questions and issues which I consider we need to inves-
tigate to reach an understanding of dyscalculia. In doing this there seem to be some
very interesting comparisons between dyscalculia and dyslexia.
There are some things I know as a starting point. I know that dyscalculia will not
be a simple construct (I think that means a psychological concept). I know that there
will be many reasons why a person may be bad at maths. I know there will not be
any instant or simple ‘cures’ because I know that there is unlikely to be a single
reason behind the problem of the many, many people who fail to master maths and
I know that not all of these will be dyscalculic.
I heard David Geary speak at an International Dyslexia Association conference. This
American guru compared our knowledge of dyslexia to being close to adulthood and
our knowledge of maths/dyscalculia to being in its early infancy. (It may now be out of
nappies/diapers.) This is reflected in the number of research studies done on language
difficulties compared to those done on maths difficulties. As for studies on dyscalculia,
they are few indeed (more now). I think there are so many parallels at so many levels
between dyslexia and dyscalculia and all that surrounds these specific learning difficul-
ties, for example, prevalence, definition, teaching methods, etiology and so forth.
We are some twenty years behind language/dyslexia studies in our knowledge
and understanding of dyscalculia. This is not to say that I think it will take us twenty
years to catch up in all areas, but that it takes a good length of time for the concept
to become accepted in everyday educational settings and thus for understandings to
build from work from the ‘shop floor’. Currently the vast majority of initial teacher
training courses in the UK do not have content on dyscalculia.
So, let’s go back 20 (now over 30) years to a much quoted, pioneering paper by
Joffe (1980).25 One of Joffe’s statistics has been applied over-enthusiastically and with-
out careful consideration as to how it was obtained. The statistic is that ‘61% of dyslex-
ics are retarded in arithmetic’, and thus 39% are not. Now it is not quite as simple as
that. The sample for this statistic was quite small, some 50 dyslexic learners. The maths
test on which the statistic was largely based was the British Abilities Scales Basic Arith-
metic Test, which is just that, a test of arithmetic skills. Although the test was untimed,
Joffe noted that the high attainment group would have done less well if speed was
a consideration. The extrapolations from this paper would have to be cautious. Other
writers seem to have overlooked Joffe’s own cautions and her detailed observations,
for example, ‘Computation was a slow and laborious process for a large proportion of
the dyslexic sample’. You will see at the very end of this paper I have mentioned an ex-
Copyright © 2020. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.

pupil who was identified as dyscalculic by the Butterworth screener, where two out of
the five exercises focus on speed and accuracy in computation, but who went on to
achieve a top Grade in the national examination for maths at age 16 years. This is not
a comment on the validity of the diagnosis. It is there to reassure students that the
problems exposed by the diagnosis can be successfully addressed.
I think there are two reasons why Joffe’s paper is so frequently quoted. One is
that it is a good (and pioneering) paper and the other is that there are still so few
others from which to quote. Brian Butterworth is the UK’s leading expert on dyscal-
culia. He is still the leading researcher and writer in the UK, though new names are
appearing, such as Szucs, Morsanyi, Hulme and Donlan. There is some excellent

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 Introduction 11

work going on across the world now, some of it covered in The Routledge Inter-
national Handbook of Dyscalculia and Mathematical Learning Difficulties (edited by
Chinn, 2015). It is an international problem.

Definitions and labels

As a (lapsed) physicist I have a scientist’s concept of what makes a definition. In

physics one can control the variables and do reliable experiments. People are difficult
to control (especially as teenagers). In this respect I view some of the definitions
used in the LD field more as descriptions.
The definition of a learning difficulty can be very influential and can have many
consequences. For example, it can influence the allocation of resources to an individ-
ual or to a school or to the budget of an Education Authority or to a student at uni-
versity. For an individual, knowing that your difficulties have a label may be a relief
and a benefit, but it may also cause a reaction not at all dissimilar to that of grieving
for a loss. So, there needs to be a sense of responsibility and awareness of all these
implications in those who create definitions.
There seems to have been a change in the culture of the definition of dyslexia,
from the all-encompassing definitions of the late 80s to the focused, minimalist defin-
ition of the British Psychological Society in the late 90s. This could well be significant.
Professor Tim Miles talked of ‘lumpers’ and ‘splitters’. So, could there be ‘specific
learning difficulties’ which may encompass all or some of dyslexia, dyspraxia and
dyscalculia or can the three dys’s have independent existences? And does it matter
if they don’t? Comorbidity is an interesting issue. (Equality in comorbid conditions is
unlikely in any individual.)
Does being dyscalculic exclude you from being dyslexic or dyspraxic? Does being
dyslexic exclude you from being dyscalculic? Then, turning to the lumpers, does
being dyslexic imply that you are also likely to be dyscalculic and dyspraxic?
It may help to answer some, if not all, of these questions if you think of real
people, real individuals and what the answer would be for Jeff or Jane. My experi-
ence of over twenty years of teaching in this field is that the answer to all three ques-
tions is ‘Not necessarily’.
Of course, the answers depend in part on the definitions currently assigned to the
difficulties. I’ll come back to summarise my thoughts on definitions towards the end
of this paper, but here is a small sample of definitions for now.
The first is from a UK DfES booklet (2001) on supporting pupils with dyslexia and
dyscalculia in the classroom (see also p 6).7
Copyright © 2020. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.

Dyscalculia is a condition that affects the ability to acquire mathematical skills.

Dyscalculic learners may have difficulty understanding simple number concepts,
lack an intuitive grasp of numbers, and have problems learning number facts
and procedures. Even if they produce a correct answer or use a correct method,
they may do so mechanically and without confidence.
Very little is known about the prevalence of dyscalculia, its causes, or treat-
ment. Purely dyscalculic learners who have difficulties only with numbers will have
cognitive and language abilities in the normal range and may excel in non-
mathematical subjects. It is more likely that difficulties with numeracy accompany
the language difficulties of dyslexia.

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 12 Introduction

The second dates from 1970 and is attributed to Kosc.15

Developmental dyscalculia is a structural disorder of mathematical abilities which

has its origin in a genetic or congenital disorder of those parts of the brain that are
the direct anatomico-physiological substrate of the maturation of the mathemat-
ical abilities adequate to age, without a simultaneous disorder of general mental
functions.

The final example, incorporating other specific learning difficulties, is from the UK,
‘DfES Consultation – Classification of SEN. Descriptions to be used in the pupil level
annual schools census from 2004’.

Specific learning difficulty (SpLD) covers a range of related conditions which

occur across a continuum of severity. Pupils may have difficulties in reading,
writing, spelling or manipulating numbers which are not typical of their general
level of performance.
Pupils may have difficulty with short-term memory, with organisational skills,
with hand-eye co-ordination and with orientation and directional awareness. Dys-
lexia, dyscalculia and dyspraxia fall under this umbrella.
(It is worth noting that working memory is not mentioned.)
Pupils with dyscalculia have difficulty with numbers and remembering math-
ematical facts as well as performing mathematical operations. Pupils may have
difficulties with abstract concepts of time and direction, recalling schedules
and sequences of events as well as difficulties with mathematical concepts,
rules, formulas and basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of
facts.26

So, what distinguishes dyscalculia from just ‘problems with maths’? What do we
mean by ‘problems with maths’? How big does the problem have to be to be recog-
nised as a problem? We don’t know, though the brain studies of Ansari, Reeves and
Reigosa-Crespo, Dehaene and Butterworth may take us there. It will depend on the
definition. It may also depend on the perseverance of the difficulty.
Goodness knows how many people have a ‘difficulty’ with maths. Many people, in
Western cultures, readily admit to such difficulties. It is likely to be a significant per-
centage of the population, with actual figures depending on which tabloid newspaper
you read as well as the research. Like all skills, if you cease to practise you lose the
skill and few adults practise maths very often, especially topics such as fractions or
algebra, after leaving school. So, the extent of the problem could well increase in
adults.
The 2017 National Numeracy booklet, ‘A New Approach to Making the UK Numer-
Copyright © 2020. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.

ate’ stated that ‘Government statistics suggest that 17 million adults – 49% of the
working-age population of England – have the numeracy level that we expect of pri-
mary school children’.
We might expect adult skills to be at a higher level than at primary school.
So, I am sure that simply having a difficulty with maths should not automatically
earn you the label ‘dyscalculic’.
Dyscalculia introduces another word into the vocabulary of special needs. Some
see these words as labels and thus as descriptors of a person. That would not be at
all helpful. (People are more far more individual than a label can describe.)

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 Introduction 13

OK, I’m dyscalculic. So what?

I like the questions, ‘What if?’ and the follow up ‘So what?’ ‘What if I am dyscalcu-
lic, so what?’ I need to ask, does being dyscalculic condemn the learner to being
forever unsuccessful at maths? That then raises further questions, ‘What does it
mean to be successful at maths?’ and ‘What skills and strengths does a leaner need
to be successful at maths?’ and ‘Is it important to be successful at maths?’ The UK is
making it important by insisting on a maths qualification to access further training after
school.
At the school I founded and ran for 19 years, a DfES-approved independent
school for boys who were diagnosed as (severely) dyslexic and often with significant
maths difficulties, for example, three or more years behind at 11 years old, the results
for GCSE maths (the National examination for 16-year-old students in England,
Wales and Northern Ireland) were, consistently, significantly above National average.
Usually at least 75% of grades were at the ‘pass’ grade C (now grade 4) and above
compared to the National average of around 50%. Very rarely were there any grades
below a D (now grade 3). Obviously, I believe that if the teaching is appropriate then
a learning difficulty does not necessarily mean lack of achievement. But, does a C (4)
grade or above in GCSE maths define success? That’s a question for another article,
so, for the purpose of this article let’s assume it is one criterion and let’s assume
this is one piece of evidence that appropriate teaching can make a difference. That
grade C (4) opens doors.
As for maths, well there is the maths you need for everyday life. This rarely
includes algebra, fractions (other than 1/4 and 1/2), co-ordinates or indeed much of
what is taught in secondary schools. It does include a lot of money, measurement,
some time and the occasional percentage. Take, as an example of a real life maths
exercise, paying for a family meal in a restaurant: it needs estimation skills, possibly
accurate addition skills, subtraction skills if using cash and percentage skills for the
tip. (Maths is a constellation of skills and knowledge.)
The Russian psychologist, Krutetskii (1976) listed the components of mathematical
ability. These act as a description of what a learner needs to be ‘good at maths’.3
Thus, they also act as a guide as to the deficits which handicap the student or adult
in their attempts at learning to be good at maths (see also earlier in this chapter). For
example, a common problem for dyscalculics is in trying to reverse a sequence, such
as counting backwards.

1. An ability to formalise maths material (to abstract oneself from concrete numerical
relationships).
2. An ability to generalise and abstract oneself from the irrelevant.
Copyright © 2020. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.

3. An ability to operate with numerals and other symbols.

4. An ability for sequential segmented logical reasoning.
5. An ability to shorten the reasoning process.
6. An ability to reverse a mental process.
7. Flexibility of thought.
8. A mathematical memory.
9. An ability for spatial concepts.

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 14 Introduction

What is maths?

Could a person be good at some bits of maths and a failure at other bits? Do you
have to fail at ALL bits to be dyscalculic?
In terms of subject content, early maths is mostly numbers. (Even that can be
complicated. A USA researcher (Berch, 2005) found thirty components of number-
sense in the research literature.27) Later it becomes more varied with new topics
introduced such as measure, algebra and spatial topics. Up to GCSE, despite the dif-
ferent headings, the major component remains as number. So, the demands of
maths can be quite broad. This can be very useful as some students may succeed in
topics such as graphs and shapes. Despite this, number can be a disproportionate
part of early learning experiences and early failures.
So poor number skills could be a key factor in dyscalculia. This might suggest
that we need to consider the match between the demands of the task and the skills
of the learner.
In terms of approach, maths can be a written subject or a mental exercise. It can
be about formulas and procedures or it can be intuitive. It can be learnt and commu-
nicated in either way, or combination of ways by the learner and it can be taught and
communicated in either way or combination of ways by the teacher.
Maths can be concrete but fairly quickly (and usually unnecessarily quickly) moves
to solely the abstract and symbolic. It has many rules and a surprising number of
inconsistencies.
In terms of judgment, feedback and appraisal, maths is quite unique as a school sub-
ject. Work is usually a blunt ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ and it usually needs to be done quickly.
(This is not good news for those pupils who are, relatively, slow processors and who are
at the high end of the spectrum for fearing negative evaluation.)
Even on this brief overview it is obvious that the demands of maths are varied.

Attitude and the affective domain

I don’t have the reference, but there was a study done in Scandinavia which summed
up the influences of language and maths skills on life. Excuse me if I state the influ-
ences somewhat starkly. It is important to remember that people do not have to
follow the conclusions of statistical analysis. ‘Being good at English does not predict
success in life. Being bad at English predicts failure. Being bad at maths does not
predict failure. Being good at maths predicts success’.
Of course, we all know that being bad at maths holds no social stigma in UK and
many other Western cultures. Indeed, it may well attract much mutual empathy. So,
Copyright © 2020. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.

the consequences of dyscalculia are going to have a better social acceptance than
the consequences of dyslexia. For example, I read a letter to The Times about
a restaurant menu, complaining that since it had spelling mistakes the writer would
not be eating there. That makes sense. Especially for my dyslexic students who went
into catering. Obviously, the writer had not heard of Gardner’s theory of multiple
intelligences.
Schools, of course, rarely reflect life. In school there may well be significant conse-
quences of being bad at maths, for example, the allocation of the learner to a teaching
group which may limit the levels of work in several other subjects. Also, in school
unlike life, it’s hard to avoid the stuff you don’t like or the work you feel you can’t do.

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 Introduction 15

Two key factors which aid learning are ability and attitude. The latter can go
a long way towards compensating for the former, but then the two factors are closely
interlinked, for example, when success encourages a good positive attitude.
Some learners just feel that they can’t do maths. They feel helpless around maths.
This may well be a consequence of early unsuccessful learning experiences or feed-
back which is seen as negative. The judgmental nature of maths, together with the
culture of having to do work quickly, can lead children to avoid the risk of being
wrong again and again and thus they disassociate themselves from the learning
experience.28 Maths creates anxiety and, sadly, it usually seems to be an anxiety that
does not facilitate learning. Ashcraft et al (1998) have shown that anxiety in maths
can impact on working memory and thus depress performance even more.29 More
recent research30 using the ever-increasing sophistication of techniques for scanning
brains found that regions in the brain associated with threat and pain are activated in
some children on the anticipation of having to do mathematics.
Some learners develop an attributional style for maths which makes their attitude
personal as in ‘I’m too stupid to do maths’, pervasive as in, ‘I can’t do any maths’
and permanent as in, ‘I’ll never be able to do maths’. An individual with a combin-
ation of those three beliefs could well present as a dyscalculic. Sadly, the feedback
that some pupils receive in schools contributes significantly to those attributes.

Memory, short, long and not always working

I often pose the question in my lectures ‘What does the learner bring?’ (to maths). I have
already mentioned some factors such as anxiety. But what about memory? I know that
Krutetskii3 lists mathematical memory as a requirement to be good at maths. I am
sure that short-term and, especially, working memory are vital for mental arithmetic,
particularly for those sequential, formula-based maths thinkers. They also impact on
written maths.
But can a learner compensate for difficulties in some of these requirements and
thus ‘succeed’ in maths?
It is virtually impossible to design a curriculum that meets the needs of every
learner. For example, an essential part of a recent curriculum in England for the early
years of education was mental arithmetic. Now that’s an activity that needs all the
memories, long, short and working. So, a learner with a poor ability in any or all of
short-term memory, working memory and long-term mathematical memory could fail
at mental maths, even though they may have the potential to become an effective
mathematician. If failure is internalised as a negative attributional style31 by the learner
then that potential may never be realised. If the mental maths is done as a lesson-
Copyright © 2020. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.

opener, then some children may never engage with the rest of the lesson either. Les-
sons should begin with a warm-up activity, not straight into the sprint or the marathon.
Is Krutetskii’s mathematical memory a parallel with Gardner’s multiple intelligences?
Perhaps there are multiple memories. That would explain some of the discrepancies
I have seen in children’s memory performances. Like any subject, there is a body of
factual information for maths and if a learner can remember and recall this information
then they will be greatly advantaged and if they can’t . . . Well, there are ways . . .
So good memories may be required for doing maths in general. Short-term and
working memories may be essential for mental maths and mathematical long-term
memory will be essential for the number facts and formulae you need when doing

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 16 Introduction

mental and written arithmetic. (The questions are, ‘How good must those memories
be?’ and ‘Can you work out some of these facts and procedures from what you do
know?’) Maths is a great subject for using strategies that use what you do know to
work out what you don’t know. That is the nature of maths.

Counting on and on

The first number test on the GL Dyscalculia Screener24 is for subitising. This means
an ability to look at a random cluster of dots and know how many there are, without
counting. Most adults do this at six plus or minus one. Subitising is, technically, for
numbers up to five.
A person who has to rely entirely on counting for addition and subtraction is
severely handicapped in terms of speed and accuracy. Such a person is even
more handicapped when trying to use counting for multiplication and division.
Often their page is covered in endless tally marks and often they are just lined up,
not grouped as, for example, in fives. Maths, for them, is done in counting steps
of one. If you show them patterns of dots or groups, they prefer them as lines and
lines. If the learner is stuck at the ‘counting-in-ones’ stage, then they will not
develop a sense of numbers and the values they represent. The patterns are key
to moving away from counting in ones. That behaviour will also handicap any
understanding of place value.
It’s not just the ability to ‘see’ and use five, which is one of the key numbers, it’s
the ability, for example, to see nine as one less than 10, to see 6 + 5 as 5 + 5 + 1, to
count on in twos, tens and fives, especially if the pattern is not the basic one of 10,
20, 30 . . . but 13, 23, 33, 43 . . ..
It’s the ability to go beyond counting in ones by seeing the patterns and relation-
ships in numbers and by understanding place value, a concept that is often
underestimated.32

Garden variety or what?

Stanovich asked, ‘How do we distinguish between a “garden variety” poor reader

and a dyslexic?’ We need to ask, ‘How do we distinguish between a “garden variety”
poor mathematician and a dyscalculic?’33 The answer may well influence the nature
of the intervention. (I think the answer has a lot to do with perseveration of the diffi-
culty in the face of skilled, varied and appropriate intervention.)
Can you be a good reader and still be a dyslexic? Can you be good at some
areas of maths and still be dyscalculic? My guess is that the answer to both ques-
Copyright © 2020. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.

tions is ‘Yes’, but for maths, this is partly because maths is made up of many topics,
some of which make quite different demands. And for both questions, good and
appropriate teaching can make such a difference. The negative side reflects the
developmental nature of maths and the dependence of many topics on the work that
has gone before.
Once again, I drift back to problems with numbers as being at the core of dyscal-
culia. And it is numbers that will prevail in real life, when algebra is just a distant
memory. And I guess that the main problem is in the belief of many adults that for all
children these facts can be accessed accurately and quickly, usually straight from

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 Introduction 17

memory, from rote learning, rather than via strategies. That’s a pretty harmful belief in
its impact on many children.
Could there be a parallel between phonics and number facts? For example, know-
ing how to use phonics to spell a word compared to using addition facts to add, say,
523 – 384. Seeing 523 as 500 + 20 + 3 and as 400 + 110 + 13.
But then not all factors are intellectual. A difficulty may be affected by a bureau-
cratic decision. Some bureaucrats specify a level of achievement that defines whether,
or not, a child’s learning difficulties may be addressed or even assessed, often influ-
enced in this decision by economic considerations. But, even then, is a child’s dys-
lexia or dyscalculia defined solely by achievement scores? Is there room to
consider the individual and what they bring to the situation? Sometimes these deci-
sions are being de-personalised or based on a precision that is spurious for a child.
So, I foresee a child not receiving provision for dyscalculia unless their maths age is
five or more years behind the norm, which could mitigate against early intervention
for six-year-old pupils.

Teaching

I claimed that being a physicist influenced the way I think. I am also a teacher and
was for over 40 years and those years have certainly influenced the way I think, too.
The teacher part of my thinking says, among other things, ‘So they’re dyscalculic,
what do expect me to do next?’
Well, my guess is that using the range of methods and strategies we developed at
the specialist schools I ran for teaching dyslexic pupils will also be effective with dys-
calculic pupils. My 2020 book, How to Teach Maths: Understanding Learners’ Needs
is built around this belief.34 Indeed, in my school I know that we taught many pupils
who had the comorbid problems of dyslexia and dyscalculia (and sometimes dys-
praxia, too). We were in the days where dyscalculia was not a frequently used term.
What we addressed as teachers was the way the pupil presented, not a pupil defined
by some stereotypical attributes.
The key question, when faced with a learner who is struggling with learning
maths, is ‘Where do I begin? How far back in maths do I go to start the interven-
tion?’ This may be a difference, should we need one, between the dyscalculic and
the dyslexic or any learner who is also bad at maths. It may be that the starting
point for the intervention is further back in the curriculum for the dyscalculic than
for the dyslexic. It may be back to the earliest experiences, where counting was in
ones and probably only forwards. It may be that fundamental concepts such as
place value were never truly understood, merely articulated. (Of course, this may
Copyright © 2020. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.

be true for many of the learners who are failing to learn maths.) Yet another topic
to research. It may also be that the subsequent rates of progress are different.
Another topic to research.
A major contributor to the need, with any intervention, to go back to earlier topics
is the power of first learning. In 1925, Buswell and Judd explained that our first expos-
ure, our first learning of any new work, will create a dominant entry to the brain.9
In 2000, the first Key Finding (of three) from a major study in the USA states:

Students come to the classroom with preconceptions about how the world
works. If their initial understanding is not engaged, they may fail to grasp the

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 18 Introduction

new concepts and information that they are taught, or they may learn them for
the purposes of a test, but then revert to their preconceptions outside the
classroom.35

And, in 2002, Siegler, in his ‘Overlapping Waves’ theory of learning discusses learn-
ers who know and use a variety of strategies, which compete with each other for use
in any given situation. For efficient change to occur, learners must reject the ineffi-
cient strategies which can only happen if they understand that the knowledge is
wrong and why it is wrong.
I like ideas that have longevity (well, most of them) and reappear in a slightly
modified rendition, again and again.
And for a final thought in this section, I ask, ‘What is the influence of the style of cur-
riculum?’ I know, for example, from a European study in which I was involved36, that the
design of the maths curriculum certainly affects cognitive style in maths.

So what?

Not being competent at maths may shut down many career options. There is evi-
dence that people who are ‘good’ at maths earn more over their working life.
There are many reasons why a child or an adult may fail to learn maths skills and
knowledge. For example, a child who finds symbols confusing may have been suc-
cessful with mental arithmetic, but then finds written arithmetic very challenging. There
may be other examples of an onset of failure at different times which will most likely
depend on the match between the demands of the curriculum and the skills and def-
icits of the learner, for example, a dyslexic will probably find word problems especially
difficult and a child who is not dyslexic, but is learning at the concrete level may find
the abstract nature of algebra difficult. A child who is an holistic learner may start to
fail in maths if their new teacher uses a sequential and formula-based inchworm teach-
ing style (see Chapter 4). A learner may have a poor mathematical memory and as the
demands maths makes on memory increase, they may suddenly exceed their capacity.
Of course, the difficulty will depend on the interaction between the demands of the
task and the skills and attitudes of the learner. For example, if one of the demands of
mental arithmetic is that it be done quickly, then any learner who retrieves and pro-
cesses facts slowly will have learning difficulties. Learning difficulties are obviously
dependent on the learning task. Teachers need to know and proactively address the
prerequisites of any task with all their learners in mind.
And none of the underlying contributing factors I have discussed are truly inde-
pendent. Anxiety, for example, is a consequence of many influences. I am hypothe-
Copyright © 2020. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.

sising that the factors I have mentioned are the key ones. There may well be others
and the pattern and interactions will vary from individual to individual, but these are
my choices for the difficulties at the core of dyscalculia.
Compared to the definitions of dyscalculia that I have quoted so far, I much prefer
the one below. I have added some extra notes into the definition which may then be
better seen as a description (and thus not a label).
Dyscalculia is a perseverant condition that affects the ability to acquire mathem-
atical skills despite appropriate instruction. Dyscalculic learners may have difficulty
understanding simple number concepts (such as place value and use of the four
operations, + – × and ÷), lack an intuitive grasp of numbers (including the value of

Chinn, Steve. The Trouble with Maths : A Practical Guide to Helping Learners with Numeracy Difficulties, Taylor & Francis Group, 2020. ProQuest Ebook Central,
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 Introduction 19

numbers, their symbols and understanding and using the inter-relationship of num-
bers), and have problems learning, retrieving and using quickly number facts (for
example, multiplication tables) and procedures (for example, long division). Even if
they produce a correct answer or use a correct method, they may do so mechanic-
ally and without confidence (and have no way of knowing or checking that the
answer is correct).
This version focuses on number, which makes sense to me. It mentions memory
and it includes those who present as competent in some areas, but whose perform-
ance has no underlying understanding of number. An addendum could list some of
the key contributors, such as;
A learner’s difficulties with maths may be exacerbated by anxiety, poor working
memory, inability to use and understand symbols, and an inflexible learning style.
Now the definition/description is in this form, it may be possible to set up a diag-
nostic procedure, but it would have to be a very adaptable protocol.
And, as a final thought, have I met any learners whom I think would be described
accurately as persistently, severely and exclusively dyscalculic? I have, but they were
few. I mention two, one is a female, gifted in language (and languages) who had abso-
lutely no idea what ‘1/2 × 50’ (presented as symbols) would be. I asked her would the
answer be bigger or smaller than 50 and she replied ‘Yes’. The other is a male, aver-
age at language skills but who could not ‘see’ that I held out three fingers. He had to
count them, even as a sixteen-year old. He achieved a bottom grade in GCSE maths,
but it was a grade, which for him was a massive achievement. But, to move up the
learning difficulty spectrum, as for the number of students and adults with significant
learning difficulties in maths, I suspect we are looking at over 20%.
And finally, finally, there are many children out there who may present as dyscalculic
as young learners. It’s what happens next that confirms or challenges that description.
(If you want to follow up references for this section and the rest of this chapter,
they are included in ‘References and Notes’ at the end of this book.)
For me, the main issue here is that not every child or adult who is failing in mathemat-
ics is dyscalculic. Even for those who do gain this label, it does not predict an outcome
or even the level of intervention, but it does suggest to me that whatever teaching experi-
ences this pupil has had, they have not been appropriate. I know, from fifteen years of
data on pupils at my last school, that it is possible for most pupils to change a history of
low gains in maths age, often less than six months per year to gains of over twelve
months per year, thus moving to ‘catch up’. Some of these pupils might have been diag-
nosed as dyscalculic, some might not. In many senses that was less relevant than their
history of underachievement in mathematics. Like my new book, we had to teach maths
to them as they were as individual learners.
Copyright © 2020. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.

Adjusting lessons to help pupils who are having

difficulties in learning maths

Adjustments to lessons should be based on four principles:

• Empathetic classroom management, which implies an active awareness and con-

sequent adjustment to the learning strengths and difficulties of pupils, such as
working memory.

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 20 Introduction

• Responsive flexibility, which allows the teacher to have a repertoire of resources and
strategies which respond to the individual (and often changing) needs of the pupil.
• Developmental methods, which are methods that address the remedial need whilst
developing mathematical skills and concepts. There is a need for teacher and
learner to know where the maths has come from and where it is going.
• Effective communication, which infers an awareness of cognitive style, the ‘data-
bank’, and an awareness of limitations such as language skills, poor short-term
memory or slower speeds of working. The layout and presentation of work on
paper or on a board must have clarity.

The application of these principles should affect all levels of work, from the construc-
tion of the syllabus and lesson plans to the setting and marking of homework.

Integrating dyscalculic pupils and other learners who

have difficulties with mathematics into the real world of
the classroom

This section may also be of help when discussing and setting up an inclusive maths
department policy.

The syllabus and programme of work

1. A structure or programme which builds in regular returns to topics helps learners

with poorer long-term memories. It includes the explicit linking of numbers, oper-
ations and basic concepts as the syllabus progresses.
2. Programmes that rely heavily on self-tuition can allow pupils to develop incorrect
procedures and concepts. (I remember the Kent Mathematics Project where pupils
worked largely with work cards and at their own pace, but with little or no tuition).
This will be true of many programmes that are exclusively IT based (see Hattie).37
It is very difficult to replace incorrect first learning experiences and knowledge.
3. Communication is key.

In the classroom

1. Short-term and working memory deficits can affect mental arithmetic skills (which
may sometimes show a marked difference in success to written arithmetic skills).
Copyright © 2020. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.

2. Short-term and working memory deficits can affect many other areas of learning
such as the number of items of instruction a pupil can recall and process at one
time, or in copying content from a page or a board. These deficits may be audi-
tory or visual or both, so presentation should always address both modes.
3. Look out for short-term memory overload (when the pupil will just be over-
whelmed and recall nothing at all).
4. If recall of facts (such as times table facts) and procedures (such as subtracting from
zero) do not become automatic, then there is less mental ‘space’ left to do the main
task. This then compounds the effect of any difficulties. Use the key/core numbers
(1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 . . ..) when introducing new arithmetical procedures.

Chinn, Steve. The Trouble with Maths : A Practical Guide to Helping Learners with Numeracy Difficulties, Taylor & Francis Group, 2020. ProQuest Ebook Central,
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 Introduction 21

5. Reading deficits do not affect all areas of mathematics to the same degree. They
are a good example of a deficit that gives rise to a seemingly inexplicable change
in level of performance (for example, when word problems are introduced).
6. Some pupils are slower to produce work, due to factors such as writing speed,
poor organisational skills and finger counting instead of instant recall of facts.
Speed of working is often an issue in mathematics and can be the cause of
greatly increased anxiety and greatly decreased levels of performance. Consider
allowing extra time for tests and examinations. Consider carefully selecting the
quantities of work set for these pupils. Time available for homework should not
over-intrude into non-school life.
7. Anxious learners are often poor risk takers and will not try work they perceive to
be difficult, thereby avoiding failure (they have usually had enough experience of
failure), but they are then not accessing new learning experiences.
(Research in the 1920s showed that a pupil’s first experience of applying new
knowledge is the experience that persists . . . a big problem if they get that first
experience wrong.)
Allow pupils to experiment and fail as one of the steps on the path to suc-
cess, but this must be a closely controlled and monitored strategy. Create a risk-
taking ethos in your classroom.
8. Some pupils are intuitive, answer-oriented problem solvers who may not learn
from a step by step, sequentially oriented, formula-dependent teacher, and, of
course, vice versa. There are also significant implications for documentation of
work. Intuitive workers are usually disinclined to document. These differences in
cognitive style and metacognition (thinking about thinking) are present in the
whole school population, including teachers, but their impact on pupils with dys-
lexia, dyspraxia or dyscalculia (with their other contributing problems) is likely to
be more critical (see Chapter 4).
9. Sequential, formula-oriented learners with poor memories are at risk of failure in
mathematics.
10. Intuitive, answer-oriented learners are at risk if they are inaccurate and if they do
not learn to document their work.
11. Many pupils with learning difficulties do not adjust quickly to changes in routine,
for example, if a new teacher expects a different page layout for a procedure.
12. Accessing all the basic facts (especially if demanded quickly) can be an issue for
many children, so consider giving them a times table square to stick into the
back of their exercise book (so that they have to make some effort to turn to the
information) and make sure they can track successfully to the answers.
13. Learning is usually more effective if it is presented in a multisensory way. This
Copyright © 2020. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.

includes the use of concrete manipulatives, which are often phased out as being
‘too young’ for secondary pupils. Manipulatives may be used as demonstrations,
or as visual images, some with animations via computers and whiteboards. This
avoids the ‘babyish’ association when used by an older learner. Cuisenaire rods
are available in greys to avoid that primary colours image.
14. Money is an effective manipulative and is one step on to abstraction from
a directly proportional manipulative such as base ten blocks. Also, it is likely
to be more acceptable for older learners. However, less and less people actu-
ally handle coins and notes as the use of touch cards becomes ever more
commonplace.

Chinn, Steve. The Trouble with Maths : A Practical Guide to Helping Learners with Numeracy Difficulties, Taylor & Francis Group, 2020. ProQuest Ebook Central,
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 22 Introduction

Concrete materials and manipulatives

See Chapter 9.

Books and worksheets

1. Worksheets and textbook layouts can be overwhelming, for example, by using

lots of small print, closely spaced or by fussy, confused pages with cartoons and
disjointed text. Try providing a cover sheet/window which reduces the quantity of
material facing the pupil.
2. The reading level may be beyond the pupil. If a book cannot be replaced in eco-
nomically hard times either provide a photocopied ‘translation’ or make sure you
or another pupil reads the problem to the pupil with difficulties. This is particularly
relevant for coursework and investigations.
3. If a dyslexic pupil is having difficulty setting out work on the page, discuss giving
him an exercise book which has appropriately sized squares.
4. Use technology, including assistive technology.
Note: Texthelp have created Equatio, maths writing software: www.texthelp.
com/en-us/products/equatio

Homework

1. Deal empathetically with the pupils who are forgetful and badly organised. Take
a positive attitude and make sure they have the information and equipment they
need. Parents of such pupils have usually suffered alongside their child as they
struggle through school. You could try to liaise with the parents, for example, by
giving them a homework timetable. Remember, difficulties may be familial.
2. Give homework in a form that they can access. For example, check the vocabu-
lary. Make sure the homework is read to the pupil before they take it home. Get
high tech and provide a memory stick so that work can be done on computer
and maybe that PC or tablet could have the facility of voice output.
3. Consider allowing the pupil to use a calculator (with all the cautions I know many
teachers have about their use) or a number square or a table square.

Marking

1. Mark new work before too many examples have been attempted. Do not let error
Copyright © 2020. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.

patterns become ingrained.

2. Mark diagnostically. For example, the pupil may have used the correct procedure,
but made an arithmetical error. Do not just mark work ‘wrong’. Say how it was
wrong and what can be done to put it right. Many errors are common to many
learners.
3. Remember the pupil who may work more slowly than their peers. Consider
selecting fewer examples but still giving the breadth of experience.
4. Be encouraging, but remember to praise the work rather than the learner.

Chinn, Steve. The Trouble with Maths : A Practical Guide to Helping Learners with Numeracy Difficulties, Taylor & Francis Group, 2020. ProQuest Ebook Central,
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 Introduction 23

5. Avoid red pens and big crosses and scribbles. (Try green and small and neat
and, better still, constructive comments such as ‘Small addition error here, rest
of your work is OK’.)

Remember

Pupils are individuals. Some will need some of these suggestions, some will survive
without any of them. However, I do not think that any learner will be disadvantaged
by any of these suggestions and many will be advantaged. The suggestions may
reduce some of the learning (special) needs in your classroom and even prevent the
onset of some problems.
This book acknowledges that pupils are individuals. I have long had a suspicion of
any scheme, intervention or cure that claims it is ‘for all’. I suspect that the only part
of this book that is ‘for all’ is the emphasis on understanding each pupil as an
individual.

The catch 22 of catch up

If a pupil falls behind, they will have been working more slowly than their peers. To
catch up they will have to progress faster than their peers. It is possible. We achieved
this at my specialist school, where a typical student would enrol at 11 years old and
three years behind in maths. Our pass rate for the national examination at 16 years
old was 75–80% compared to a national average of around 50%. The combination of
‘slower and louder’ is, obviously, not going to work. It will require great skill and
responsiveness in the teaching. This book is built on what we did.

The importance of the early work

The lasting impact of early learning has been recognised internationally, for example,
by Connie Ho in Hong Kong, by Dave Geary in the USA and by Chris Donlan and
colleagues in the UK.
Intervention almost always needs to go back a lot further than might be thought.
Copyright © 2020. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.

Chinn, Steve. The Trouble with Maths : A Practical Guide to Helping Learners with Numeracy Difficulties, Taylor & Francis Group, 2020. ProQuest Ebook Central,
http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/rmit/detail.action?docID=6305310.
Created from rmit on 2024-09-09 00:45:41.