Medill News Service : By Jane Wolkowicz |June 11, 2011
Dyscalculia, a widely under-diagnosed learning disability which makes it difficult for individuals to grasp math concepts, might affect as many people as dyslexia.
Specialized teaching to help those with dyscalculia should be made widely available in mainstream education, according to a review of research recently published in the journal Science.
The disorder can have a significant impact on an individual's quality of life and on the economy, according to neuroscientist Brian Butterworth, of the University College London, and colleagues.
"In the past dyscalculia has been diagnosed in a coarse way with no real scientific basis," said Sashank Varma, an educational psychologist at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, who contributed to the research. "But over the last 10 years, scientists have triangulated and found a simple deficit with (how individuals with dyscalculia determine) number sense and number magnitude."
He said researchers have started to understand the neurological basis behind the disorder.
And they found an area of the brain located in the left cerebral hemisphere, the intraparietal sulcus, that switches on to determine number magnitude, to be less active in individuals with dyscalculia.
Jordi Kleiner, a learning disabilities specialist in Glencoe, Ill., who often sees patients with dyscalculia, said the disorder can "pervade an individual's very existence. "
For example, Kleiner helped a bus driver in her 50s who had struggled with numbers her entire life. She said her greatest difficultly was writing checks.
"She had to keep a piece of paper in her checkbook showing her how to spell out all of the names of numbers, so she could identify them," Kleiner said.
According to the Learning Disabilities Association of America in Pittsburgh, someone with dyscalculia "shows difficulty understanding concepts of place value, quantity, number lines and positive and negative value."
People with the condition also may be challenged in handling money and making change, and may have difficulty understanding concepts related to time including days, weeks, months, seasons and quarters.
Varma believes the problem could be identified in elementary school.
"School physiologists don't tend to diagnose this, but when we try to identify who has this problem, we find it has the same prevalence as dyslexia, but with 1/100th of the funding," he said.
Dyscalculia, a widely under-diagnosed learning disability which makes it difficult for individuals to grasp math concepts, might affect as many people as dyslexia.
Specialized teaching to help those with dyscalculia should be made widely available in mainstream education, according to a review of research recently published in the journal Science.
The disorder can have a significant impact on an individual's quality of life and on the economy, according to neuroscientist Brian Butterworth, of the University College London, and colleagues.
"In the past dyscalculia has been diagnosed in a coarse way with no real scientific basis," said Sashank Varma, an educational psychologist at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, who contributed to the research. "But over the last 10 years, scientists have triangulated and found a simple deficit with (how individuals with dyscalculia determine) number sense and number magnitude."
He said researchers have started to understand the neurological basis behind the disorder.
And they found an area of the brain located in the left cerebral hemisphere, the intraparietal sulcus, that switches on to determine number magnitude, to be less active in individuals with dyscalculia.
Jordi Kleiner, a learning disabilities specialist in Glencoe, Ill., who often sees patients with dyscalculia, said the disorder can "pervade an individual's very existence. "
For example, Kleiner helped a bus driver in her 50s who had struggled with numbers her entire life. She said her greatest difficultly was writing checks.
"She had to keep a piece of paper in her checkbook showing her how to spell out all of the names of numbers, so she could identify them," Kleiner said.
According to the Learning Disabilities Association of America in Pittsburgh, someone with dyscalculia "shows difficulty understanding concepts of place value, quantity, number lines and positive and negative value."
People with the condition also may be challenged in handling money and making change, and may have difficulty understanding concepts related to time including days, weeks, months, seasons and quarters.
Varma believes the problem could be identified in elementary school.
"School physiologists don't tend to diagnose this, but when we try to identify who has this problem, we find it has the same prevalence as dyslexia, but with 1/100th of the funding," he said.
1 comment:
I am so glad I read your blog. I am new to this and your insights and advice were very helpful.
learning disabilities children
Post a Comment