Lots of children suffer with undiagnosed maths learning difficulty, finds study

Do you know what dyscalculia is?

Many kids struggle with counting and maths when they go to school but for some, the issue could be an undiagnosed learning difficulty. A new study of thousands of children suggests that dyscalculia, a condition that makes understanding number facts and number procedures harder, is widely under diagnosed. Researchers at Queen's University in Belfast followed 2,421 primary school children over a number of years as they learned maths. They expected the numbers suffering with dyscalculia to be roughly similar to those who suffered with dyslexia. Of the participants, 108 had been previously diagnosed with dyslexia but just one had been diagnosed with dyscalculia. Over the course of the study, researchers estimated that 112 of the children actually had the condition. The issue is being overlooked because of the idea that maths is simply hard for a lot of people, said Dr Kinga Morsanyi of the University's School of Psychology. "In society, there is sadly a widespread notion that you need a special talent to be good at maths, and that struggling with maths is normal for some people, but this is not the case and it's not something we would accept if a pupil was unable to read," he told RTÉ. Children with the condition are less likely to get help than those with dyslexia and other learning difficulties, he continued. Dr Morsanyi has called for more awareness of the condition to help children tackle the issue early. "Numeracy difficulties often lead to problems in later life, including greatly reduced employment opportunities, increased health risks and an increased risk of involvement with the criminal justice system." Want to know more about dyscalculia? Check out the information here and here.