Math disabilities: Overview

What is a math disability?

A math disability is a specific type of learning disability. Children with math disabilities have average to above average intellectual abilities but experience challenges with math. These difficulties affect how they perform in school, and their achievement falls well below what is expected for children of their age, grade and intellectual ability. A child may have a math disability if they are functioning at least two grades behind their current grade level in math.

Math disabilities may involve problems with:

• Grouping objects
• Counting objects
• Recognizing number symbols
• Copying numbers
• Using arithmetic signs correctly
• Understanding math terms and operations
• Following sequences of math steps
• Learning multiplication tables
• Decoding written problems into math symbols

Types of math disabilities

There are many different types of math disabilities. They can stem from a child’s difficulty with visual spatial processing, organization, memory or sequencing, among other difficulties.

Signs of a math disability

Signs that your child may be having difficulties with math include:

• Trouble recognizing numbers
• Trouble learning number names
• Number facts are slow to develop: your child always uses fingers or counters to find the answer
• Counting difficulties (e.g., poor understanding of sequential order)
• Not understanding one-to-one correspondence
• Unable to add and subtract with counters
• Difficulty understanding that adding and subtracting are reciprocal operations
• Trouble learning and remembering the rules and order of math operations

Math disabilities can go unnoticed in early grades because children can compensate with other skills (e.g., excellent memory). A math disability may not be identified until Grade 5 or later.

For a list of typical math milestones achieved by children at different grade levels, see Mathematics milestones.

Diagnosis of a math disability

If your child’s math abilities are substantially below the expected level for their age, intellectual abilities and education (at least two grades behind), they may be diagnosed with a math disability.

If you suspect your child might have a math disability, it is important to share your concerns with your child’s teachers. They will be able to observe your child’s learning, and identify available resources and strategies to help improve your child’s math skills. If the resources and strategies provided by the school do not help improve your child’s learning, your child might benefit from a formal psychoeducational assessment.

A psychoeducational assessment can identify your child’s strengths and learning challenges, and diagnose learning, developmental or attention-related disorders, as well as giftedness. The assessment will get to the root cause of your child’s academic issues, and identify a plan for solving them.

Treatment

Math disabilities can be treated with two main approaches—accommodations and interventions.

The earlier children receive an evidence-based math intervention over a reasonable period of time, the more likely they are to catch up with their peers.

Accommodations

Accommodations are changes made in the classroom to help students work around their weaknesses. Accommodations can help some children succeed without direct intervention. Accommodations for a math disability might include:

• Use of manipulatives (objects used for hands-on learning, like blocks)
• Use of real objects for patterns and sequencing
• Use of graph paper to help align numbers
• Number lines and examples in lessons
• Addition and multiplication fact charts
• Use of a calculator

Interventions

Interventions help students address their areas of need so that they can overcome them. Interventions teach children how to learn, and allows them to succeed as independent learners. Interventions for a math disability typically include addressing the core learning difficulties (grouping, counting, sequencing) through direct instruction. Direct instruction teaches skills in a targeted, well-organized way. Through drills and repetition, it provides children with opportunities for guided practise and cumulative learning. Prodigy™ is one resource your child can use to support math skills.

How to help your child with a math disability

Below are some suggestions for how to work with your child at home if they have a math disability:

• Engage your child in games such as Mighty Minds and Blokus to improve the visual-spatial reasoning abilities that underlie many math skills.
• Play card games (e.g., war, Uno) or dice games (e.g., Yahtzee) with your child to develop their concept of numbers and automatic math skills.
• Help your child build non-academic skills, such as athletics, hobbies, music, or group activities.

References

Learning Disabilities in Mathematics. Learning Disabilities Association of Ontario. Retrieved from http://www.ldao.ca/introduction-to-ldsadhd/articles/about-education/learning-disabilities-in-mathematics/.