All About Dyscalculia: A Practical Guide for Primary Teachers

All About Dyscalculia is an accessible and informative guide for primary school teachers, designed to increase their knowledge and understanding of dyscalculia and provide practical strategies and advice to build the self-esteem and motivation of learners in their care.

The book explores the indicators of dyscalculia, before detailing a range of teaching strategies that will support dyscalculic children and help them to develop their mathematical understanding and resilience. Throughout the book, there is an emphasis on creating an empathetic learning ethos in the classroom and school that will minimise maths anxiety and lead to a more positive outcome for all learners. All About Dyscalculia includes:

• A comprehensive introduction to dyscalculia and steps to help teachers identify children with dyscalculia in their classrooms.
• Practical strategies for building specific maths abilities, as well as broader problem-solving skills.
• Advice for teachers and parents on how to reduce maths anxiety and support the development of maths proficiency in learners.
• Easy to dip in and out of chapters with worked examples make this book accessible to all teachers and parents.

With suggestions for immediate impact, as well as ideas for more detailed interventions, this practical book will be essential reading for all mainstream primary teachers and SENCOs, as well as a helpful guide to supporting children with dyscalculia at home.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction to Dyscalculia
2. Maths Anxiety
3. Indicators of Dyscalculia
4. Debunking the Myths
5. The Typical Developmental Stages of Maths in Primary School
6. General Good Practice
7. Specific Strategies for Early Years and Key Stage 1
8. Specific Strategies for Key Stage 2
9. Working with Parents and Support Learners at Home
10. Planning for Transition from Primary to Secondary

"When working with dyscalculia the questions from teaching staff and parents are commonly – ‘how do we know?’ ‘what’s the difference between maths anxiety and dyscalculia?’ and ‘what do we do?’ As we learn more with regard to assisting dyscalculic learners to achieve their goals, the demand for a text of this type increases dramatically. Judy’s book is definitely not a ‘shelf sitter’, the text is written in an easy to read, progressive and practical manner. The descriptions and expansions of terms and phrases are fantastic, the ‘how to’ chapters on learning environments and resources can be seamlessly incorporated into lessons. A section on useful websites and publications has real value in highlighting respected information sources."
- Gary Sharpe, Learning challenges with numbers, Dyscalculia – New Zealand

"The book’s greatest strength may be its clear overview of dyscalculia as a core number sense deficit, distinguishing it from difficulties in mathematics in general. The authors provide essential advice, practical guide and updated recourses to experts, school teachers and parents on dealing with dyscalculia in terms of early identification, diagnosis and intervention."
- Giannis Karagiannakis, Fellow researcher, University of Athens

"All About Dyscalculia is an invaluable practical and comprehensive guide for all those working with early years and primary age pupils who struggle with numeracy. It explains thoroughly the meaning and implications of dyscalculia in the classroom, when those with this condition have neuro- atypical brains that work differently. Practical guidance is extensive, about appropriate multisensory methods of assisting pupils’ development of ‘number sense’, that is, common sense about the quantities of number values and how they can perform calculations with understanding. Pupils in difficulty can come to understand number work, rather than just being ‘taught’ and this is clearly explained. This information-packed book is also suitable for more experienced practitioners, with discussion and extensive referencing, for further study of this little-known specific condition. I thoroughly recommend it and learnt more about luminaries in this field too, such as the Hungarian mathematician George Polya, known as ‘The Father of Problem Solving’."
- Jane Emerson, Speech and Language Therapist, Specialist Literacy and Numeracy Teacher, and founder of Emerson House Learning Centre, London

"Dyscalculia is a developmental disability that is present from the early years, but this may not be immediately apparent to parents and educators. How can we identify dyscalculic learners early, and how can we best support them? This book answers these burning questions and more. Readers will not only learn about the typical milestones of mathematics development, and the early warning signs of dyscalculia, but they will also receive essential practical guidance on how to proceed from there. The book also addresses many other important topics, including how to best explain dyscalculia to parents, and how to prepare struggling learners to transition to secondary school. From debunking the myths around dyscalculia to improving the mathematical vocabulary of learners, this well-researched and insightful book provides highly practical guidance to educators who want to offer the best possible support to struggling learners."
- Kinga Morsanyi, Senior Lecturer in Mathematical Cognition, Department of Mathematics Education, Loughborough University