Schools often don’t screen for disabilities with math
Laura Jackson became seriously concerned about her daughter and math when the girl was in third grade. Asmany of her classmates flew through multiplication tests, Jackson’s daughter relied on her fingers to count, had difficulty reading clocks and burst into tears when asked at home to practice math flashcards.
At school, the 9-year- old had been receiving help from a math specialist for two years, with little improvement.
“We hit a point where she was asking me, ‘Mom, am I stupid?’ ” Jackson recalled.
One day, when having lunch with a friend, Jackson heard about a disorder known as dyscalculia. She later looked up a description of the learning disability that impacts a child’s ability to process numbers and retain math knowledge. “I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, this is my kid,’ ” Jackson said.
Nationwide, hundreds of thousands of students face challenges learning math because of disabilities such as dyscalculia, a neurodevelopmental learning disorder caused by differences in parts of the brain that are involved with numbers and calculations. There are often obstacles to getting help.
America’s schools have long struggled to identify and support students with learning disabilities of all kinds. Kids often languish while waiting to receive a diagnosis; families frequently have to turn to private providers to get one; and even with a diagnosis, some schools are unable to provide children the help they need.
That’s slowly changing— for some disabilities. Most states have passed laws that mandate screening early elementary students for the
most common reading disability, dyslexia, and countless districts train teachers to recognize struggling readers. Meanwhile, parents and experts say schools neglect students with math disabilities such as dyscalculia, which affects up to 7% of the population and often coexistswith dyslexia.
“There’s not as much research on math disorders or dyscalculia,” as there is on reading disabilities, said Karen Wilson, a clinical neuropsychologist who specializes in the assessment of children with learning differences. “That also trickles down into schools.”
Math scores in the U. S. have remained dismal for years and worsened during the pandemic.
Learning struggles for some may be the result of dyscalculia or other math learning disabilities, yet few teachers report their students have been screened for dyscalculia.
Experts say learning the most effective methods for teaching students withmath disabilities could strengthen math instruction for all students.
“If it works for the students with the most severe disconnections and slower processing speeds, it’s still going to work for the kids that are in the ‘ middle’ with math difficulties,” said Sandra Elliott, a former special- education teacher
and current chief academic officer at Touchmath, amultisensory math program.
Some signs of dyscalculia are obvious at an early age, if parents and educators know what to look for. Young children might have difficulty recognizing numbers or patterns.
In elementary school, students may have trouble withmath functions including addition and subtraction, word problems, counting money or remembering directions.
Even af ter Jackson learned about dyscalculia on her own, her daughter’s Seattle-area public school was doubtful the thirdgrader had a learning disability because she was performing well in other areas. Teachers suggested Jackson spend extra time on math at home.
“For so many parents, they assume the school would let themknowthere’s an issue, but that’s just not how it works,” said Jackson, who ultimately wrote a book, “Discovering Dyscalculia,” about her family’s journey.
Students with dyscalculia often need amore structured approach to learning math that involves “systematic and explicit” instruction, said Lynn Fuchs, a research professor in special education and human development at Vanderbilt University.