Dyscalculia counts: What is dyscalculia and why aren’t we talking about it?

Written By Guest User

By Sophie Leonard

Our worlds are made up of numbers! Even if you are not a mathematician or scientist, we all rely on numbers to manage our money, organise our plans, figure out the time and distance of our travels, or understand team statistics for our favourite sport. It’s also important in keeping up with world affairs, understanding graphs on the news or information about finances or the economy. For someone with developmental dyscalculia, tasks involving the manipulation of numbers and arithmetic can prove extremely difficult.

What is dyscalculia?

Developmental dyscalculia is a disorder, present from birth, which severely impacts the ability to learn numerical concepts and maths skills. Those with dyscalculia may lack an intuitive grasp of numbers or quantities and generally have problems learning number facts and procedures. In cases where they do correctly solve a maths problem, it is usually done mechanically, and without confidence or true understanding. For example, a child with dyscalculia might need to use their fingers, or rely on props to visualise counting their way through an addition sum (1).

There are many possible signs of someone having dyscalculia, which are usually visible from early childhood and throughout development. Some symptoms may include:

  • Difficulty learning to count in early childhood and trouble counting backwards thereafter

  • Difficulty connecting a number to a group of objects (e.g., understanding that “3” applies to a group of 3 things - like 3 people, or 3 ice creams)

  • Relies on fingers to count throughout childhood, instead of progressing to mental maths

  • Struggles to recognise patterns and sequences

  • Difficulty understanding concepts like greater than and less than

  • Difficulty understanding and remembering basic number facts (e.g., 6 + 4 = 10)

  • Difficulty understanding that 2 + 5 is the same as 5 + 2

  • Difficulty creating a plan to solve a number problem

  • Struggles while working out the cost of items and can run out of money often

  • Avoidance of situations that require an understanding of numbers, like maths games or keeping score in sports

While dyscalculia can occur on its own, it can also co-occur with other developmental disorders such as dyslexia (a brain based learning difficulty that impairs a person’s ability to read) (1). It is important to note that dyscalculia extends beyond being “bad at maths”. It has a neurological basis which interferes with the brain coordinating numerical concepts.

Dyscalculia in the brain

Since solving numerical tasks requires many different cognitive skills (problem solving, memory, attention and spatial manipulation are just a few examples), there are often several brain areas associated with different numerical tasks. 

Researchers use fMRI, a tool which takes images of the brain to determine which brain areas are activated during specific tasks. Findings from fMRI research tell us that our brain’s parietal lobe is a hub for some of the most important systems in number processing (2). The parietal lobe is located towards the top and back of the brain and is usually activated in many spatial and attentional tasks, which are both important for mathematics (see Figure1 for a depiction).

Figure 1: Location of the parietal lobe within the brain, highlighted in orange. Image freely available from iStock Images, accessed via Pixabay.

More so, this brain area is established as a key region activated in the representation and discrimination of numbers and quantities (for example, making a quick judgement on which is the larger group of dots – see Figure 2) (3).

Figure 2: Dot comparison task whereby you might be asked to quickly decide which box contains more dots. Figure created by Sophie Leonard based on the commonly used dot comparison task.

fMRI research also shows that in people with dyscalculia, parts of the parietal lobe do not activate as strongly during numerical tasks when compared with someone without dyscalculia (4). Furthermore, it seems that those with dyscalculia show differences in the actual connections between the many parietal regions important for number processing (1)(5). This suggests that a dyscalculic brain may not have developed the neural systems needed to coordinate all the elements of a numerical task in an efficient way.

Dyscalculia today

Dyscalculia’s global prevalence is quite high at about 7%, meaning it’s likely that in each classroom of 25 students, 1 or 2 students may have dyscalculia (6). Dyscalculia is just as prevalent as dyslexia, though it does not seem to receive the same recognition or allocated resources as other learning disorders. So why has dyscalculia been dubbed “the poorer cousin” of dyslexia (1)? 

For a start, raising awareness of dyscalculia is quite difficult due to societal attitudes which maintain that “maths is difficult for everyone”, “most people don’t like maths anyway!” or “you’ll always have to work harder in maths than other subjects”. In addition, dyscalculia has received less investigative attention among researchers than other learning disorders. Therefore, there remains a relative lack of knowledge and accessible resources for those with dyscalculia in comparison with dyslexia (7). 

If left undiagnosed, dyscalculia can cause a great deal of turmoil and anxiety for a child in school, which persists into adulthood. Poor numeracy in adulthood has been linked with lower socioeconomic success, depression and lower overall health – yet still, in many adults, dyscalculia remains unrecognised (6).

If dyscalculia is suspected, catching it as early as possible by seeking a diagnosis from a neuropsychologist or an educational psychologist is crucial in its remediation. Some exciting current research explores interventions for dyscalculia including the reframing of learning strategies, interactive games or even musical training to improve symptoms of dyscalculia, with several promising outcomes (8)(9) . Hopefully (in the not so distant future!) – with continued research and open discussion – dyscalculia, its symptoms and supports will be common knowledge for everyone.

What we do at UCD Neuropsychology

Our lab explores numerical cognition and the factors which contribute to difficulties in mathematics. Dr Flávia Santos, a senior member of the UCD Neuropsychology Lab, and principal investigator in the UCD Music and Math Cognition group, has published extensively on dyscalculia, its impacts and interventions. Our Masters students, PhDs and Post-doctoral researchers investigate many other cognitive (spatial reasoning, working memory, phonological processing) and emotional factors (math anxiety in parents, teachers and children) which might relate to mathematical difficulties. Our work uses tools such as eye-tracking and electroencephalography to pinpoint specific mechanisms in numerical thinking. We even test digital games which might improve numerical understanding, math anxiety and attitudes towards maths in children. Keep an eye out for our most recent publications on our twitter page @DrFlaviaHSantos.

Further resources:

For young brains:

  • Bugden S and Ansari D (2014) When Your Brain Cannot Do 2 + 2: A Case of Developmental Dyscalculia. Front. Young Minds. 2:8. DOI: 10.3389/frym.2014.00008

  • A video about math anxiety from the UCD Music and Math Cognition Lab: https://www.ucd.ie/psychology/research/researchcentresandlaboratories/musicmathcognitionlab/

References

  1. Butterworth, B., Varma, S., & Laurillard, D. (2011). Dyscalculia: From brain to education. Science, 332(6033), 1049-1053. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1201536 

  2. Dehaene, S., Piazza, M., Pinel, P., & Cohen, L. (2003). Three parietal circuits for number processing. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 20(3), 487–506. https://doi.org/10.1080/0264329024400023

  3. Ischebeck, A., Zamarian, L., Schocke, M., & Delazer, M. (2009). Flexible transfer of knowledge in mental arithmetic--an fMRI study. NeuroImage, 44(3), 1103–1112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2008.10.025 

  4. Price, G. R., Holloway, I., Rasanen, P., Manu, V., Ansari, D. 2007. Impaired parietal magnitude processing in developmental dyscalculia. Curr. Biol. 17:R1042–3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2007.10.013  

  5. Rykhlevskaia E, Uddin LQ, Kondos L and Menon V (2009). Neuroanatomical correlates of developmental dyscalculia: combined evidence from morphometry and tractography. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 3:51. DOI: 10.3389/neuro.09.051.2009  

  6. Kaufmann, L., von Aster, M., Göbel, S. M., Marksteiner, J., & Klein, E. (2020). Developmental dyscalculia in adults. Lernen und Lernstörungen. https://doi.org/10.1024/2235-0977/a000294

  7. Rapin, I. (2016). Dyscalculia and the calculating brain. Pediatric neurology, 61, 11-20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pediatrneurol.2016.02.007 

  8. Kaufmann, L., & von Aster, M. (2012). The diagnosis and management of dyscalculia. Deutsches Ärzteblatt International,109(45), 767. DOI: 10.3238/arztebl.2012.0767

  9. Ribeiro, F. S., & Santos, F. H. (2020). Persistent effects of musical training on mathematical skills of children with developmental dyscalculia. Frontiers in Psychology,10, 2888. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02888 

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