Dyscalculia

Dyscalculia belongs to the category of learning difficulties faced by many children.

Suzanne Borel-Maisony says that dyscalculia "encompasses all the difficulties that relate to the
acquisition of the concept of numbers, mathematical calculation and mathematical reasoning"
and Beslay considers it "a disorder arising from the specific learning difficulty of calculation, in
the elementary stage, independent of the mental level, of the teaching methods that are used, of
the school attendance and affective disorders.”(Ungureanu, D. 1998)
Students who have difficulties in learning mathematics may have a neurocognitive deficit
that prevents them from understanding the basic numerical concepts or the arithmetic ones. The
essential element of dyscalculia is the confusion between the concepts of number or the inability
to count correctly.
Between 3-8% of students experience different difficulties in learning some aspects
related to the concept of number, counting and arithmetic calculation or in other fields related to
mathematics. Studies have shown that dyscalculia is not related to intelligence, motivation or
other factors that influence learning and that those that are affected by this deficiency also have
problems reading or keeping focused. In the first grade, students with dyscalculia often do not
recognize addresses, name of the figures (for example, "9" = "nine"), and have trouble
comparing numbers. Usually they know that three is higher than two, but they do not know that
nine is higher than eight. However, many of them get to know, in the end, at least the figures.
When a 5-7 years old child is not yet ready to learn mathematical concepts, parents will
try to force him, but this approach will lead to negative experiences and to a wrong attitude of
the child towards math, even causing anxiety. It is very important that parents and teachers
expect the moment when the child is adequately developed to receive and understand
information related to mathematics.
Renee M. Newman (1998) describes some of the symptoms that children with dyscalculia
or with mathematics learning difficulties may experience. Thus, she noticed that in these cases
the student always faces difficulties to perform additions, subtractions, multiplications and
divisions. The student has low mathematical skills. He does not do well with and does not
understand how to use money. He cannot make a financial plan or calculate its budget. He fails
to see the bigger picture of money in general. He may be afraid to work with money, to buy, to
sell, to make transactions. He cannot calculate how much change is due, how much he has to pay
for a particular service, taxes etc. When he has to write, to read or to remember numbers he
frequently make certain mistakes: adds extra numbers, makes omissions, substitutions,
inversions. He fails to understand and to retain mathematical concepts, rules, formulas,
algorithms and elementary calculations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
Long-term memory linked to mastery of concepts is poor (memorizing and recalling what
was memorized), meaning that students can perform certain mathematical operations one day
and the next day they may not be able to. They may also not be able to understand and see the
whole picture of some procedures; they may have a poor ability to summarize. The student has a
poor ability to visualize and to represent the location of the numbers on the clock, the
geographical location of countries, oceans, streets, etc. He often loses track and does not know
when it is its turn or others turn during a game. The student has limited strategy abilities in
games such as chess, for example.
Petrescu, A. (2007) argues that learning difficulties can be overcome if one takes into
account the following aspects: errors made by the student, the reasons why the errors appear and
how they can be fixed. Teachers must use three modes of representation of mathematical
concepts:
a) the concrete mode, that involves performing specific operations and active participation of the
student.
b) the imaging mode, that uses icons, graphics and other visual processes.
c) the symbolic mode, that uses mathematical symbols.
Teachers of mathematics must use progressively the three methods of representation, in
the exact order that they have been listed. Otherwise, before mastering a mode of representation,
the teacher will have to apply it to the present one. Moving progressively from the concrete
mode to the symbolic mode, students learn in a way that is adapted to their requirements. They
will also not be inhibited by the fear of making a mistake. This way of learning mathematics uses
work with objects, direct experiences and concrete activities, and to students with learning
disabilities the climate and materials according to their difficulties must be given. The learning
pace of the student or of the work group will have to be respected. It is more important that
students work daily than to work more on the same type of exercises. Learning must use free
activities: games, group activities etc., but at first only objects will be used (cubes, balls, buttons,
sticks, dominoes, playing cards, play dough, etc.). Students should be encouraged to talk while
working.
A suggested method to help children who face problems in learning mathematics is
learning through discovery, Alca, L. (2006). The method of discovery consists in updating the
experience and the individual abilities in order to focus and to apply them on a situation by
exploring its various alternatives and finding the solution.
The premise from where we need to start is the delimitation of what is useful and
appropriate to give to the student for granted and what we can let him to discover. Given the
relationship that is established between the teacher and the students, two forms of discovery can
be distinguished: independent discovery and guided discovery.
For the development of the interest and of the investigative attitude one should rely on
spontaneous curiosity and on the natural desire to discover something new.

The method of discovery or learning through questions allows students to formulate

themselves the explanations on a phenomenon based on the given material.