Dyscalculia is a specific learning disability involving maths skills. It may be a difficulty with counting and calculating, understanding abstract maths concepts or working with numbers and symbols.

Children with dyscalculia may have:

• normal or above average verbal skills and good visual memory for the printed word

• difficulty understanding maths concepts, rules and sequences, especially involving time and money

• a tendency to make substitutions, transpositions, omissions and reversals when reading and writing numbers

• a poor sense of direction (such as confusing left and right, getting easily lost, losing things) and time (such as often arriving late)

• difficulty recalling names and faces

• poor mental maths skills

• poor coordination when involved in activities requiring change of direction, such as aerobics, exercise and dance sessions

• difficulty with keeping score in games or working out strategies in chess.

You may need to:

• allow extra time to complete a task

• encourage learners to make use of calculators when necessary

• use visual and concrete materials to develop understanding of maths concepts

• make use of ICT as an aid to learning

• use multi-sensory teaching strategies to support the learning of new concepts

• encourage working with a partner to explain methods of working to each other

• incorporate practical activities into most lessons

• allow for the need to over-learn maths concepts and rules.

• Dyslexia Action: www.dyslexiaaction.org.uk