Helping Children with Dyscalculia: A Teaching Programme with three Primary School Children

AbstractDyscalculia is a specific learning difficulty which hinders learners from developing the basic number concepts which are needed for the acquisition of mathematics. The aim of this study was to explore strategies which would help children with dyscalculia overcome some of their barriers. After initial assessment of 15 children using the Dyscalculia Screener (Butterworth, 2003), three children were identified with dyscalculia. These children, two 10-year-olds and one 7-year-old, were selected as the participants for the study. Their parents were questioned to confirm the Screener's assessment. Consequently, the children were formatively assessed using the Catch Up††Catch Up is a not-for-profit UK registered charity (1072425). Catch Up Ltd is an endorsed charitable institute ABN: 62154644498. Catch Up is a registered trademark. Numeracy (2009) assessment tools. Twenty 15-minute sessions were carried out with each child, using the Catch Up Numeracy programme. Post-assessment was then carried out. Results suggested that appropriate intervention can allow dyscalculic learners to succeed at acquiring the basic number concepts needed for mathematics learning. Additionally, it was noted that such intervention could greatly impact the affective domain of children, raising self-esteem and developing a more positive attitude to the learning of mathematics