Dyscalculia: When 2 + 2 = 5

If you have a child in middle school or high school taking Algebra and you feel frustrated, you’re not alone. In a 2011 survey released by Sylvan Learning, a private for profit educational firm, 71% of parents questioned would prefer teaching their children to drive a car than tutor them in Algebra.

A child’s problem with math could be related to poor wiring in their parietal cortex located in the rear of the brain. The National Institute of Health showed that the innate capacity to estimate is impaired in children who have a math learning disability called dyscalculia.

Like dyslexia, a brain impairment that causes individual reading problems, dyscalculia causes people to be stymied by math.

In the past, if a child had problems with 2 + 2, couldn’t recognize a negative number, or succeed in the simplest Algebra problem teachers felt that the child was lazy or unmotivated.

Unfortunately, new research is discovering that math hassles could be due to dyscalculia, but little research has been done to deal with the problem. What we do know is kids with dyscalculia have trouble recalling math facts, and have difficulty applying what they know to solve math problems.

Symptoms vary from child to child. So take notes as your child goes from preschool to high school. In preschool, does your kid have trouble learning to count? Can she recognize patterns such as smallest to largest? As he ages, does he have trouble learning basic math facts like 2 x 4=8? Do you see him struggling with words related to math like greater than and less than?

There aren’t specialized teaching programs or medications to dampen the affects of dyscalculia. However, there are a few strategies you can use at home. First, use concrete examples that connect math to real life such as sorting buttons. This will help your child’s number sense. When a child has trouble with his homework, use visual aids to help him solve his problems. To keep numbers lined up, use graph paper. Finally, cover up the other problems the child has to do with paper so she can focus on the immediate task.  

If you suspect your child has dyscalculia, talk to your pediatrician and your child’s teacher so you can work together as a team to help your son or daughter deal with dyscalculia in a positive way.