What is dyscalculia?

Dyscalculia is a serious difficulty with understanding and working with numbers and quantities.

Children with dyscalculia have this difficulty even when they’ve had opportunities to learn about numbers and quantities and have tried very hard to learn.

Dyscalculia is a type of learning difficulty – that is, a specific, serious and ongoing difficulty in a particular area of learning. It’s also sometimes called a specific learning disorder in mathematics.

Dyscalculia is a lifelong condition.

Dyscalculia is a natural variation in the way the brain processes and makes sense of numbers and quantities. It’s a form of neurodivergence. It’s common for children with dyscalculia to have other forms of neurodivergence too, like dyslexia or ADHD.

What are the signs of dyscalculia in preschoolers?

Children can have signs of dyscalculia in the years before they start school.

Preschoolers might be at risk of developing dyscalculia if they have difficulty:

• learning to count
• keeping track while counting
• understanding words like ‘bigger’ or ‘smaller’ and ‘more’ or ‘less’
• matching number words with numerals – for example, matching ‘two’ with ‘2’
• identifying a small number of objects and instead have to count them individually – for example, identifying 3 stickers or 4 ducks
• matching number words with groups of objects – for example, matching ‘4 cars’ to a group of 4 cars
• sorting objects into patterns – for example, sorting smallest to biggest or tallest to shortest.

What are the signs of dyscalculia in school-age children?

Signs of dyscalculia often become clearer once children start primary school and begin learning maths more formally.

Children in primary school might have dyscalculia if they have difficulty:

• keeping track while counting and instead rely heavily on using their fingers or tally marks
• counting backwards – for example, counting 10, 9, 8 …
• skip counting – that is, counting in 2s, 5s and 10s
• remembering basic number facts – for example, remembering that 5 + 5 = 10
• remembering times tables
• recognising relationships between numbers – for example, recognising that 7 + 5 is the same as 5 + 7
• connecting physical objects, like counters, with number symbols
• understanding maths language – for example, understanding that ‘minus’, ‘take away’ and ‘subtract’ mean the same thing
• understanding maths word problems – for example, understanding the problem, ‘Sally has 10 lollies. She gives 2 to Fred. How many does she have left?’
• organising their written work – for example, mixing up the order of numbers when they’re writing or struggling to line up numbers in columns.

If children feel anxious about or avoid doing maths at this age, it might also be a sign of dyscalculia.

If you think your child is having early difficulties with numbers or maths, it’s important to get support for them as soon as possible. With this support, your child can improve their skills. This will help your child stay engaged with school and feel more confident about their learning.

What are the signs of dyscalculia in older children and teenagers?

Signs of dyscalculia become even clearer in secondary school when maths gets harder.

Children in secondary school might have dyscalculia if they have difficulty:

• understanding abstract maths like algebra or fractions the way you’d expect for their age
• understanding the steps to solving maths problems and instead rely on memorising them
• managing or estimating time
• using and managing money
• explaining their maths thinking or spotting obvious maths errors.

If children rush through maths tasks or avoid them at this age, it might also be a sign of dyscalculia.

Children with maths difficulties often feel anxious about maths. But this doesn’t necessarily mean they have dyscalculia. Also, not all children with dyscalculia feel anxious about doing maths.

How is dyscalculia diagnosed?

Before your child can be diagnosed with dyscalculia, they need to get specific support for maths. If your child still has maths difficulties after getting support, professionals might look at a dyscalculia diagnosis.

Step 1: talk with your child’s teacher

• Ask the teacher whether your child is progressing as expected in maths.
• Tell the teacher what you’ve noticed about your child’s difficulties with maths.
• Ask whether your child can get additional support at school – for example, an individual learning plan.

Step 2: seek specialist advice

If your child keeps having difficulties with numbers and maths, talk to your GP or paediatrician or a psychologist. These professionals can help you get support and a formal assessment for your child.

Step 3: get a formal assessment

Your child might see a psychologist for assessment and diagnosis. The psychologist might use a range of tests to assess your child’s current skills compared to what’s typical for their age and grade level. This also helps the psychologist identify your child’s strengths and particular support needs.

You don’t need a GP referral to see a psychologist. But a GP might be able to refer your child to a specialist or clinic that offers assessments at a lower cost.

For more information about assessment, you can try contacting your nearest Auspeld (Australian Federation of SPELD Associations) branch.

What are the best educational support options for children with dyscalculia?

Specialised support starts with identifying your child’s strengths and encouraging their interests.

Support options for children with dyscalculia include:

• specialist small group programs at school
• one-on-one tutoring with a trained teacher
• educational adjustments
• assistive technologies like calculators and maths apps.

Kids and teens with dyscalculia have many strengths. When you identify and understand your child’s strengths, you can help your child make the most of them. Identifying your child’s strengths starts with looking out for things they do well. This might be skills, talents or personal qualities.

How can you support your child with dyscalculia?

Advocate for your child

• Learn as much as you can about dyscalculia and work with your child’s preschool or school to make sure your child’s needs, interests and rights are being met.
• Keep in close touch with your child’s teacher and other professionals. Ask them for advice on supporting your child at home.

Help your child feel good about themselves

• Explain to your child that they learn differently from others and their dyscalculia has nothing to do with how smart they are. If your child has a psychologist, they can suggest how to talk with your child about their learning difficulties.
• Praise your child’s effort and successes, whether it’s in the classroom or in other areas like sport, drama or music.
• Build your child’s confidence, resilience and self-compassion. Find out how in our articles on resilience for children, self-compassion for children, resilience for pre-teens and teenagers, self-compassion for pre-teens and teenagers and confidence for pre-teens and teenagers.

Support your child’s learning at home

• If your child is younger, play number and counting games. For example, you could guess how many objects there are in a small group without counting, line up toys from smallest to biggest, or sort objects by colour or shape.
• Practise understanding number facts through play and everyday activities. For example, you and your child could tally scores in sports, play games like Uno or dominoes, add number plates on cars, or work out the cost of movie tickets.
• Use everyday activities to reinforce maths ideas. For example, you could use cooking to help your child learn about measurements and time. Or you could ask your child to set the table for the correct number of people. Or you could go shopping together and talk about prices and change.

Dyscalculia is an accepted disability under the Australian Disability Discrimination Act. Your child has the right to the same educational opportunities as other students. You can read more in our articles on disability law in Australia, anti-discrimination laws in Australia and education rights for children with disability.

What causes dyscalculia?

We don’t yet understand what causes specific learning disorders like dyscalculia. But we do know that specific learning disorders are related to differences in the way the brain processes information.