Math Computation and Concepts

So what is a Math Learning Disability? According to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA), a learning disability in mathematics can be identified in the area of mathematics calculation
(arithmetic) and/or mathematics problem solving. Between 5% and 8% of school-age children have
some form of a math learning disability. Just as a student who has reading disabilities can cover a gamut
of problems, math learning disabilities can range from mild to severe, as well.

Sometimes referred to as dyscalculia (medical term), a math learning disability causes serious math
difficulties. Dyscalculia is a brain-based condition that makes it hard to make sense of numbers and
math concepts. Some students with dyscalculia have difficulty grasping basic number concepts,
memorizing basic number facts and understanding the logic behind it while others understand the logic
behind the math but aren’t sure how and when to apply their knowledge to solving problems.

Not all students who have a mathematics learning disability have dyscalculia. Research has shown that
56 percent of students with a reading disorder have poor math achievement and 43 percent of students
with a math disability have poor reading skills. Because math involves reading and many pre-reading
skills (reading numbers, direction, left, right, middle, top, bottom etc.) often the math learning issues are
a result of reading or language problems. Reading/ language disabilities can interfere with math
learning. Many students with reading or language problems have a tendency to avoid verbalizing in
math activities. The way math is taught today requires students to explain how they obtained their
answer, the process they used and the reasonableness of their answer. This contributes to some
students being unable to perform adequately in math not because of their math abilities but because of
their language/reading ability. Students identified with dyslexia (medical term) or a reading disability
often meet the criteria for dyscalculia or a math learning disability. Both conditions can affect a child’s
ability to understand math-related words. But for students who have a true math learning disability
there are specific, types, symptoms and behaviors, the classroom teacher can identify and remediate.

Students with a learning disability in mathematics usually have trouble understanding math
computation and concepts and exhibiting sufficient school progress in mathematics similar to the
student’s peer group even after the classroom teacher has provided the student with appropriate
learning experiences over a period of time. Students who exhibit problems learning mathematics skills
and concepts continue to have problems across their school years and even into adulthood if the
specific areas of disability are not remediated. Specific problems in the areas of memory, cognitive
development, and visual-spatial ability contribute to difficulties learning mathematics.

Beginning as early as preschool, some students are confused by learning simple math skills. You may
notice primary grade children who have difficulty learning number names, counting, and recognizing
how many items are in a group. Some of these children continue to demonstrate problems learning
math as they proceed through school.

A math learning disability affects more than a student’s ability to handle math class and homework.
Math skills and concepts are used everywhere from the kitchen to the classroom to the workplace. An
inability to be successful in math can lead to low self-esteem in that area echoed in the too often heard
adult excuse, “Oh, I never was any good in math.” If a student has trouble learning left from right, he
may have trouble getting places by reading maps or following directions. As an adult, it may be difficult
to stick to a budget, balance a checkbook, estimate costs, calculate a tip and count exact change. A
student’s ability to measure quantities, including units of time can cause problems estimating how long
a minute is or keeping track of how much time has passed making it difficult to stick to a schedule or get
to class on time. The use of technology today will help many students who have these issues but there is
no substitution for the ability to see the “reasonableness of an answer” when done on a calculator or
the need to calculate numbers instantly in a variety of situations in the adult world. In today's world,
math knowledge, reasoning, and skills are as important as the ability to read effectively and efficiently.

To be successful in math, students must use memory skills to recall rules and formulas; recognize
patterns and solve multi-step problems and use advanced language skills to understand vocabulary and
instructions and explain processes and rationale. Higher-order thinking skills are necessary to consider
alternative strategies while solving problems, assessing the reasonableness of the answer, and
transferring and applying learned skills to new problems. Usually more than several of these skills occur
simultaneously while solving a single math problem.

Math skills are often cumulative in nature, one skill building upon previously learned skills. It is a
pyramid effect that can plunge a child into a downward spiral if the most basic and fundamental math
understandings are not achieved in the early grades of schooling. For example, a student will have great
difficulty in algebra without an understanding of basic arithmetic. Unfortunately, the effects of math
disabilities can also be cumulative. When a student is unable to perform basic math computations they
are often barred from taking higher-level math. Many times the student has the capacity for abstract
mathematical thinking but cannot pass the entrance exam necessary to be admitted to the higher level
classes. Students with math disabilities should have their areas of need dealt with as early on in school
as possible before they lose confidence or develop a math phobia. These learning issues can exist
independently of one another or occur in combination. If left untreated, a child’s ability to progress in
mathematics becomes difficult and many times unachievable.

So what are the signs and symptoms a classroom teacher should look for when suspecting a math
learning disability. Generally the list of symptoms looks like this:

 Shows difficulty understanding concepts of place value, and quantity, number lines, positive and
negative value, carrying and borrowing
 Is unable to perform the basic operations of math after multiple teaching opportunities
 Has difficulty understanding and doing word problems
 Has difficulty sequencing information or events
 Exhibits difficulty using steps involved in math operations
 Shows difficulty understanding fractions
 Is challenged making change and handling money
 Displays difficulty recognizing patterns when adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing
 Has difficulty putting language to math processes
 Has difficulty understanding concepts related to time such as days, weeks, months, seasons,
quarters, etc.
 Exhibits difficulty organizing problems on the page, keeping numbers lined up, following through
on long division problems
 Excerpted from a web page for Learning Disabilities Association of America

http://ldaamerica.org/types-of-learning-disabilities/dyscalculia/
These signs can be divided into five categories more specifically: memory, number facts, computation,
knowledge transfer, language of math and visual-spatial ability.

Memory

Memory is crucial to the acquisition of math skills and problems and may affect a child’s math
performance. Whether memory is by rote learning or mnemonics (creating rhymes, sentences or bizarre
imagery remember things) it is crucial for the success of the student in math. A student might have
memory problems that interfere with his ability to (remember) basic arithmetic facts quickly, to recall
the steps needed to solve more difficult word problems, to remember what specific symbols mean or
recalling facts known previously.

Math learning disabled students with memory problems will continue to count on their fingers, make
slash marks or circles on their paper and are unable to develop efficient memory strategies to help with
the memorization of math facts, processes and formula. They expend large amounts of time and energy
trying to figure out the most basic of facts such as “7x8=?” because the answers are not in their memory
bank.

Number Facts

The most common problem in primary aged students is with number sense or how numbers work. For
students to be successful in math they must understand how to count and recognize numbers, how to
say and write numbers and understand 1:1 correspondence (a picture of 5 apples corresponds to the
number 5). If students don’t understand the basics about how numbers work, learning math and using it
every day can be very frustrating.

In the intermediate grades, number facts are the basic computations (+,-, x. /) that students are required
to memorize in the primary grades of elementary school. Automaticity of the basic facts are necessary
to allow a student to learn more advanced mathematical thinking without expending time and effort to
perform simple calculations. A student with a deficiency in this skill may not be able to recall basic math
facts, procedures, rules, or formulas, be very slow to retrieve facts or have careless mistakes due to lack
of memorized facts while doing math.

Computation
A child with a learning disability in math computation may often struggle learning the basic skills in early
math instruction where the problem requires memory skills. Students who struggle to master arithmetic
combinations (basic facts) have problems with some or most of the following skills: identifying signs and
their meaning, automatically remembering answers to basic arithmetic facts, understanding the
commutative property (e.g., 3 + 4 = 7 and 4 + 3 = 7), solving multi-digit calculations that require
“borrowing” (subtraction) and “carrying” (addition), not lining numbers up correctly when copying
problems from a chalkboard or textbook, ignoring decimal points, and forgetting the math steps
involved in solving problems,

Many students make errors because they misread signs, carry numbers incorrectly, or do not write
numerals clearly enough or in the correct column to obtain the correct answer. They continue to show
inconsistencies at computing especially in primary grades where basic computation and correct answers
are stressed. Sometimes difficulties with handwriting slow them down or make their written work hard
or impossible to read. They may also have difficulty remembering previously encountered patterns that
they were able to do correctly just the previous day. Students with computation learning difficulties
often forget what they are doing in the middle of a math problem, copy problems incorrectly, have
difficulty sequencing multiple steps, become overwhelmed when faced with a worksheet full of math
exercises and get bogged down in the individual steps and cannot get to the final answer (think long
division or multiplication with 2 or more multipliers).

Knowledge Transfer
While memory, number facts and computation are the building blocks to obtaining higher level math
skills, the ability to transfer that knowledge is imperative to be able to connect the abstract or
conceptual aspects of math with reality. A student must be able to distinguish between what is
important in a math problem and what is not, particularly in word problems that include irrelevant
information, see the appropriateness or reasonableness of an answer, switch between multiple steps in
a complex math problem and understand when they must be separated and interpret and manipulate
geometric configurations.

The Language of Math

For some students, a math disability is driven by problems with reading and language. The language of
math is where the student with a reading disability also begins to exhibit problems in math. Often, it is
not the math problem but rather the written directions, the math word problem or the writing of the
information. This reading/ language problem is exacerbated by the unique terminology found in math
and word problems especially difficult to translate. Their difficulty understanding written or verbal
directions or explanations further frustrates this student and makes math a torturous experience on a
daily basis. These students will experience difficulty with language in word problems, learning or
recalling specialized terms, understanding directions, keeping math concepts and procedures straight,
reading math texts independently, and remembering assigned values or definitions in math problems.
These students often have to verbalize and explain what they are doing and demonstrate with concrete
materials. Both younger and older students should develop the habit of reading or saying problems
before and/or after computing them. This self-verbalizing will help the student to monitor more of their
careless errors and see the word problems as meaningful sentences that need to be read for
understanding.

Visual-Spatial Ability
Visual-spatial ability is similar to but more severe than knowledge-transfer problems. It is an inability to
effectively visualize math concepts. Students are usually unable to judge the relative size among three
dissimilar objects, have difficulty laying out problems in a neat and organized manner, are unable to
describe what a three-dimensional object would look like if the object is rotated and viewed from a
different angle, and are unable to comprehend what quantities and mathematical formulas represent in
the real world. This disability requires that a student rely almost entirely on rote memorization of verbal
or written descriptions of math concepts.

Learning difficulties often result in weak or lacking understanding of concepts, very poor "number
sense," specific difficulty with pictorial representations and/or poorly controlled handwriting and
confused arrangements of numerals and signs on the page.

Visual-spatial problems may interfere with a child’s ability to perform math problems correctly by
misaligning numerals in columns for calculation, understanding the base ten system and thus having
problems with place value and math word problems.