Difficulty learning math syndrome (Dyscalculia): Manifestations and solutions

Dyscalculia may sound strange, but it is completely real and affects 6% of the world’s population, or about 42 million people. The treatment and prevention of this disease still brings many shortcomings, leading to a lot of impact on the quality of life and work of patients.

What is Dyscalculia?

Dyscalculia (scientific name is Dyscalculia) describes a person’s difficulty in learning to count numbers, calculate, distinguish big/small or other together. It is a specific form of developmental disorder that, while uncommonly dyslexic, affects more than 6% of the population worldwide.

The term Dyscalculia is used to describe people who have difficulty remembering numbers, basic calculations, or any other math-related problem.

Studies on this disease are not too many, so it is not possible to confirm that the disease occurs more in men or women. The disease can be found in people with low IQ, but there are people with superior intelligence who have this syndrome.

The term “Dyscalculia” is derived from the Greek words, in which “dis” (difficulty) and “culia” (calculate average) were introduced by the scientist Kosc (1974) with the definition of “only difficult”. difficulty in mathematical performance but does not affect other areas of learning”. It was not until 2001 that this term was officially recognized and used by the UK Department of Education and Skills.

It should be understood, that Dyscalculia  is a form of photo-learning disability that affects the mind exclusively with mathematics, numbers or mathematical facts and is not associated with a poor education or mental retardation. Some problems are thought to be related to Mathematical Dysfunction such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (accounting for up to one quarter of cases) or dyslexia.

Symptoms of the syndrome of difficulty in learning math

Problems with dyscalculia cover both basic operations such as addition and subtraction or seeing larger/smaller numbers or basic concepts related to arithmetic. These symptoms will last for a lifetime, even with treatment, they can only partially improve, not completely, leading to a lot of impact on quality of life.

Dyscalculia levels increase with school age, so they often don’t keep up with their peers. Many parents do not find out, but simply think that their children are weak in math, but very few think that this is a disease. Therefore, many cases go undetected and tend to leave school early.

Specifically, some typical symptoms of dyscalculia such as

• Preschool children who do not know how to count or count often miss; failing to recognize “greater than” and “smaller” objects to put them in order; don’t know what to do if numbers are involved; I don’t know that the number 7 and the word “five” have the same meaning.
• Children in grade 1 cannot calculate addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division even as basic as 1+1; do not know how to use the appropriate math; do not understand the meaning of “greater than” and “smaller”; still calculate by hand instead of the mental calculation taught by the teacher.
• Middle school children still do not understand the meaning and level of words such as “hundreds”, “tens”; can’t do math or can’t understand the meaning of scale numbers, formulas, scores. For example, a score of 9 on the test cannot be determined as high or low.
• High school children can’t do number bar charts, can’t do analytical problems; do not know how to solve math problems in different ways, have difficulty in spending or buying and selling because they cannot calculate the amount..
• There is a tendency to confuse   8 and 3, 9 and 7, 6 and 9, 5 and 6…
• It takes a lot of time if you need to do something related to calculations or numbers because you often miscount even though you have done it many times but still have different results.
• Difficulty in even looking at the clock, so often delayed, missed appointments
• Difficulty in coordinating space and time, correspondence or reversibility (time)
• Difficulty learning math makes the patient unable to remember concepts, orders, rules or formulas. For example, when looking at a cookbook, the recipe says 2 tablespoons of salt, but the person cannot determine how much 2 tablespoons is.
• Not understanding the connection between semantic symbols and symbols
• Difficulty understanding verbal symbols (calculations and sequences/sequences)
• Difficulty in performing calculations/calculation strategies or planning routes
• Difficulty remembering other people’s names or faces or tend to substitute names that start with the same letter.
• It is difficult to distinguish left – right, so it is easy to get lost or tend to launch too fast, too slow because the speed cannot be estimated.
• For employees who still have difficulty in some issues such as using Excel tables, charts, reading documents, meeting.. For example, during a meeting, the boss asks to open document page 5, this person will not How can I determine which page it is?

In general, the signs of dyscalculus syndrome are extremely diverse because they affect many aspects of life, from people going to school to working people or in many other issues.

Causes of Dyscalculia Syndrome

As mentioned, the studies on the actual math disorder are not too much, so the fact that the exact causes of the disease are still not completely clarified. According to experts, the cause is caused by not one but many actions together and the feedback of several parts of the brain.

Abnormalities in the brain thought to be related to the cause of Dyscalculia

Specifically, according to experts, a number of factors can increase the risk of having difficulty learning math such as

• Heredity: Statistics show that if someone in the family has the disease, the risk of later people getting the disease is higher.
• Brain differences: research shows that brain structure or activation in the area of ​​the brain responsible for calculation, memory and planning in people with dyscalculia has a different picture than the average person. often.
• Developmental conditions: This can be related to problems during pregnancy and delivery, such as fetal alcohol syndrome caused by the mother drinking too much alcohol during pregnancy. In addition, premature and low birth weight babies also increase the risk of this condition.
• Brain Injury: Injury to certain parts of the brain can also cause dyscalculia, but it is more appropriate to use the term acalculia for this case.
• Some other problems: short-term memory or a dislike of math, hate numbers or under the insidious pressures related to numbers or calculations can also be potential causes of dyslexic syndrome. learn math. However, this cause has not been fully confirmed yet.

Consequences of difficult to calculate syndrome

The consequences related to the syndrome of difficulty in learning math are very clear, because in everyday life, mathematics and numbers are an indispensable category. Even something as simple as buying food requires you to know numbers or do math to figure out how much money you’re spending. If this problem cannot be controlled, it will be easy to be deceived or often fall into a difficult situation, financial deficit.

Specifically, some typical consequences from difficult math syndrome to the life and future of each person such as:

• Math is also an important subject in the education system, so this syndrome can prevent children from keeping up with their classmates, or even at risk of staying in class.
• Some people, because they are too afraid of math and cannot keep up with their friends, are under pressure from family and school, and also tend to leave school early.
• Easily bullied, despised, and teased by friends due to the inability to complete even simple and basic calculations.
• Spending a lot of time and effort on a lot of common calculation and memorization problems.
• Often getting lost, late for appointments, affecting work or friends relationships.
• Lack of important social skills due to fear of calculation.
• Difficulty in taking care of themselves, can be easily deceived, can’t control their finances, so they are often in need, financially not enough, so they fall into a difficult life.
• Difficulty in finding a suitable job, especially almost unable to do the work in calculation, finance, planning..
• There is an increased risk of anxiety or depression due to obsessing over numbers and not sharing your feelings with anyone.
• Limit relationships due to poor memory of faces or names.
• May have to depend on the family if there is no direction to detect and treat at an early stage

However, as most have said, this disorder is often present at birth and begins to be most evident when the child enters school age. Many parents often subjectively only think that their children are bad at math, don’t like math, but very few people think that not being able to calculate is a mental illness. Therefore, these consequences are even longer lasting, especially when families tend to force their children to study too much.

On the other hand, if the math disorder is co-existed with dyslexia or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, it will also cause a lot of difficulties in treatment. However, research statistics show that up to 43-65% of children who have difficulty learning math also have difficulty reading.

Diagnosing the syndrome of difficulty in learning math

Although the disease cannot be completely cured, early detection and treatment intervention will bring many positive changes to improve the life of people with Dyscalculia. As soon as parents detect that their children have these signs, they need to take their children to the psychiatrist – psychology specialists to be examined and do full tests so that they can make an accurate diagnosis.

The family needs to take the patient to a mental health center for diagnostic tests

Some commonly used tools in diagnosing dyscalculia today are KRT-R, TTA, ECHAS-C, PEDA1C, TEDI-MATH, TEDI-MATH GRANDS, ZAREKI-R, NUMERICAL, UDN-II. Experts also assess through areas such as Counting and counting, logical manipulation, counting and calculation or doing math exercises..

As mentioned before, the math problem has not been studied as deeply as dyslexia, so not all hospitals have enough expertise in diagnosis. Families should take their children to large hospitals or special children’s centers for more accurate examination, from which they can develop the most appropriate treatment plan for each person.

Direction of treatment of difficult to learn math syndrome

Similar to screening or diagnosis, the treatment of people with dyscalculia also faces many shortcomings. If people with dyslexia can use speech therapy to improve, people with dyscalculia need to be persistent, use their own “tricks” to be able to memorize and limit the problem. minimize the impact on life.

Life support

The support of families and schools is also necessary to reduce the psychological burden for people with this disease. In daily life, in order to avoid difficulties related to numbers, such as going to the market, families need to always accompany them to promptly remind, support and avoid unexpected situations.

Families should meet and discuss with the school about their child’s condition to find appropriate support

Specifically, some issues that help people with Dyscalculia are as follows:

• Parents should discuss directly with the school about their child’s condition in order to find the right measures to support, avoid the child not keeping up with friends or having to drop out of school just because of math.
• The school may consider reducing the load of math learning or giving your child more time to take the test, and have a separate study and exam mode for these cases because it is certain that the child will not keep up.
• Promote your child’s strengths to make up for his shortcomings, improve his present life, and help his future path. For example, if your child is bad at math, you can develop your child’s skills in literature, art or even sports, problems that are not affected by numbers or calculations. Often children with disabilities in this area often have outstanding abilities in other areas, parents should rely on that to help their children become a useful person for society.
• Teach the patient how to protect himself or to seek help when experiencing calculation problems without a loved one around. For example, instead of paying in cash, you can switch to swiping a card when going to the supermarket.
• Persevere to learn together and help your child remember. Of course, this journey is very long, but if you persevere and try harder every day, you will definitely be able to collect “sweet fruits”.
• You can use notes, alarms, signs, software or applications to support your child’s ability to calculate and remember numbers. For example, color can be used to distinguish money denominations.
• Always cheering and supporting your child’s progress, even if it’s very small, it is always necessary to create motivation and will for him to be determined to move forward.
• Take your children to specialized educational institutions to exchange and find more suitable learning environments.
• Share, listen and discuss with your child every day to understand their thoughts, feelings, and thoughts.
• There should be no pressure regarding calculations or any other matter.

Psychological support

Families can also refer people with dyscalculia to psychological centers for emotional care. This is also extremely necessary because these people often have negative thoughts about themselves, misjudged views, often feel ashamed because they are inferior and different from their friends. The pressure of numbers and daily life and relationships will make patients more susceptible to severe stress or other problems such as depression or anxiety disorders.

Psychotherapy can help your child increase self-confidence and prevent other psychological problems

Through talking, the therapist will remove the psychological stress in the patient, help them understand that the inability to remember numbers, not being able to calculate quickly is not their fault, and change the false self-perception towards more positive values. When emotions are more comfortable, sleep better, the ability to concentrate, remember, determine space and time also brings better changes.

Psychotherapy can help patients see themselves positively, instead of just looking at their shortcomings, focusing on developing other strengths. Self-confidence is gradually increased, patients dare to step out of the safe boundary to do the things they have always wished but did not dare to do. This can be of great value both now and in the future for people with dyscalculia.

Difficulty learning math syndrome will cause a lot of problems to everyone’s life, work, and spirit because calculations or numbers are always present in all aspects of society and life. Persistence, using alternative tips to remember, seeking help when needed are the necessary solutions to minimize these effects. Families, society, schools and agencies also need to join hands to support these subjects to have a better life.