Category Archives: Dyscalculia Overview

There are not enough special education teachers

Posted on by

These critical professionals assist students with learning, physical, emotional, or developmental disabilities, helping to foster their success both academically and professionally.

When news of teacher shortages dies down, they almost always start up again after only a short reprieve. This constant state of “one step forward, two steps back” has an even more worrying underlying issue: a shortage of special education teachers.

Read the full story HERE

Understanding the Complexity of Dyscalculia

Posted on by

In classrooms across the world, children engage daily with mathematics—counting, solving word problems, and learning how numbers relate to the real world. But for some students, math isn’t just hard; it’s persistently confusing in a way that goes beyond typical struggles. These learners may be experiencing dyscalculia, a specific kind of mathematics learning disability that affects their number sense, problem solving, and overall math skills.

Dyscalculia is often called math dyslexia, though the two are not the same. While dyslexia affects reading and written expression, dyscalculia interferes with how a person’s brain processes numerical symbols, arithmetic, and math concepts. This condition is more than just a learning hiccup—it’s classified by experts as a neurodevelopmental disorder, part of the wider group of learning disorders and developmental disabilities that can significantly impact a person’s ability to function academically and in daily life.

Read all about it HERE

The Gift Beneath the Struggle

Posted on by

In psychology, there is a concept known as twice exceptionality. This is a term used for individuals who are both gifted and challenged.

They may have exceptional talents in art, intellect or creativity, yet live with a learning disability such as dyslexia, ADHD, or dyscalculia.

Often, the disability hides the gift so effectively that teachers, parents, and even the individuals themselves fail to recognize it.
But perhaps “twice exceptionality” isn’t just a psychological label – maybe it’s a reflection of the human condition itself.

Read the whole story HERE

Dyscalculia: the cultural lie

Posted on by

We still treat math as a moral test. If you cannot do mental arithmetic on command you must be lazy distracted or irresponsible.

That myth starts early. A child who struggles with multiplication gets told to try harder. That same child grows up downloads a budgeting app and is told again to just be more disciplined.

Read all about it HERE

Too hot for math?

Posted on by
  • Academic performance drops when temperatures rise, according to a study released Thursday by the NWEA. When test-day temperatures clocked over 80 degrees, students had lower math MAP Growth scores, the organization that administers the assessment found. 
  • Extreme heat affects high-poverty students especially. The NWEA study found that high heat negatively impacted math scores up to twice as much for students in high-poverty schools than for those from low-poverty schools.
  • The study recommends educators set testing schedules around weather conditions when possible, create better testing conditions by moving testing to cooler areas and testing during the morning, invest in updated HVAC infrastructure, and ensure that districts’ infrastructure planning takes into account high-poverty communities. 

Read the full story HERE