Dyscalculia belongs to a group of specific learning difficulties. It is a disorder in the development of mathematical abilities that have their source in genetic or congenital abnormalities in the functioning of the part of the brain responsible for the maturation of mathematical skills with age. As a result of these irregularities, the child does not achieve mathematical proficiency adequate to developmental age, despite the fact that his intelligence quotient is normal and no other disorders occur. The consequence is poorer school results and aversion to mathematics-related sentences.

Dyscalculia often occurs with dyslexic difficulties.

Dyscalculia belongs to a group of special learning difficulties. It is a disorder in the development of mathematical abilities that have their source in genetic or congenital abnormalities in the functioning of the part of the brain responsible for the maturation of mathematical skills with age. As a result of these irregularities, the child does not achieve mathematical proficiency adequate to developmental age, despite the fact that his intelligence quotient is normal and there are no other disorders. The consequence is poorer academic performance and aversion to mathematics-related sentences.

Dyscalculia often occurs with dyslexic difficulties.

Different types of dyscalculia are described, so there is no single set of symptoms that would characterize all people affected by this disorder.

However, we can talk about manifestations of dyscalculia that should worry parents:

1. a preschool child:

has poor eye-hand coordination
has difficulty building with blocks
draws reluctantly and primitively, a 3-year-old cannot draw a circle, a 4-year-old squares and a 5-year-old triangle
has a poor orientation in the scheme of the whole body and space
does not differentiate the left side from the right, right and left hand, leg (zero grade)
cannot draw a rhombus or recreate a complex geometric figure (zero grade)

2. child in school:

has difficulty remembering and saving numbers
confuses the symbols "+ '," - "
can only count on fingers, beads etc. (counting on specifics)
it is difficult for him to master the multiplication table
can't solve text tasks
confuses pages and directions in geometry
does not use mathematical concepts
has difficulty placing space figures
omits small parts of the picture when redrawing
has problems reading multi-digit numbers, especially those with zero
lose numbers and characters of actions
incompetently calculates and compares time units
it's hard for him to understand fractional expressions
he even slowly performs simple mathematical operations
has a problem with the order in which the actions were performed
shows difficulties in ordering numbers by their value
can not read charts, diagrams, graphs

In addition to maths, physics or chemistry lessons, there are other difficulties, such as poor movement coordination, problems with reading time and maps, disturbances in orientation in the field, forgetting dates, difficulties in remembering movement sequences or not following fast changing instructions related to movement.

First of all, help should be based on the joint action of the child, parents, teachers and therapist and the actions must be individualized. It is worth ensuring that the child participates in corrective and compensatory classes at school and, apart from that, attends pedagogical therapy focused on developing and improving mathematical and perceptual skills and the integration of reflexes.

There are rules to help you work with a child who has math difficulties (e.g. while doing homework),

learning in a polisensory manner - the involvement of high motor skills (e.g. measuring distances in steps)
as the most frequent reference of mathematics to everyday situations and showing its usefulness and presence in current life
combining mathematics with pleasure, for example, including its elements in your favorite games
using verbal messages and explanations to understand mathematical language
using visual aids to better understand the task
exercise of short-term memory, visual perception and visual-spatial imagination
not judging / criticizing / working methods of the child, even if it is quite long and inefficient (desire and effort count)
caring for activities to be ordered, showing what results
acquiring knowledge in accordance with the established profile of domination and hemispheric specialization and senses.