Dyscalculia
A specific difficulty with number — quantity, place value, recalling facts, estimating. It sits alongside ordinary intelligence and is far less well recognised than dyslexia, which is why it is usually caught years later.
Why dyscalculia matters.
The tell is not slow arithmetic. It is a child who cannot estimate — who will accept that four times six is ninety without anything feeling wrong, because there is no internal sense of how big numbers are relative to each other.
It responds to structured, concrete teaching that rebuilds number sense from the bottom, which is different from more practice at the level that is already failing. More worksheets is the intervention that most often gets tried first and least often works.
Questions that get a real answer
- Can my child estimate, or only calculate?
- What specifically is being taught, and at what level?
- Are they using concrete materials, or straight to symbols?
Ask these of anyone, including us. What you are listening for is not the right answer — it is whether the answer is specific enough to be wrong.
Terms that usually turn up alongside it.
Dysgraphia
A specific difficulty with the physical and organisational act of writing — letter formation, spacing, speed
GlossaryDyspraxia
Difficulty planning and carrying out coordinated movement — not weakness, but the sequencing of an action.
GlossaryEarly intervention
Support delivered in the preschool years, when change tends to come faster. It is a genuinely strong argument
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