Exploring the Incidence and Predictability Problem of Dyscalculia in a School-Based, Rural Population in a Rural State

The term learning disability denotes the inability to learn in keeping with one\u27s potential when presented with the usual curriculum. Dyscalculia is learning disability manifested in the area of mathematics curriculum. Limited research exists in the area of dyscalculia in terms of both incidence and identification procedures. However, a fairly large number of school-aged children show deficits in this area. Despite the necessity for knowledge of mathematics, little emphasis is placed on the identification and remediation of mathematical learning disabilities. A prominent neurologist (Rosenberger, 1989) has hypothesized recently that as much as 10% of the population of school-aged children in the United States may be affected by this disorder, more even than are affected by dyslexia (Rubin, 1990). It is important, therefore, that the issue be studied further. In the study, students with a 1.5 standard deviation difference between their normalized Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) (Hieronymus & Hoover, 1986) reading score and their normalized ITBS math score were defined as dyscalculic if the reading score was at least average and the math score was lower than the reading score or as dyslexic if the ITBS math score was at least average and the reading score was lower than the math score. With these definitions, it was found that dyscalculia did not comprise as much as 10% of the 104 students studied. Implications for laterality as a discriminant between dyslexia and dyscalculia could not be drawn and the generalizability of the clinic based results obtained by Rosenberger (1989) was questioned