DYSCALCULIA: A LEARNING DISABILITY IN MATHEMATICS

JELLY D. WENCESLAO

Most of us may have heard or know dyslexia as a learning disability which can affect a person’s ability to learn the skills of reading and writing and one of the signs attributed to this disability is that the person may feel dizzy when reading which affects them in reading accurately and fluently. Having known this fact, there is another type of learning disability which is less common than dyslexia, and is contributing to the difficulty of some learners to perform math-related tasks. The term for this learning disability is called dyscalculia or inability to calculate and do arithmetic in Math. Although some of us may just encounter this for the first time unlike dyslexia, information about this can be of help not only to the parents but also to the teachers particularly those who are teaching Math subjects.

According to the website understood.org, which focuses on different learning disabilities, there are some early signs which can be found on a child with dyscalculia. Some of them are having difficulty in counting numbers, struggling to find patterns and arranging them quantities from highest to lowest. Signs of dyscalculia can be also observed on high school students, such as having difficulty in applying math concepts to money like figuring out the change when paying, following directions, and having trouble in coming up with a solution to a problem.

Although there is no extensive diagnosis yet on this kind of disability, parents and teachers plays a vital role in monitoring if one of their students or child is showing signs of dyscalculia especially if the difficulties that are showing do not fit the age and grade level of the child anymore. Close monitoring from the parents and adding multimedia and a strong foundation in teaching the basic math concepts at an early age coming from the teachers is important in helping students with this learning disability.

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The author is SST I at San Pablo 2nd National High School