Dyscalculia and other Non-Cognitive Processing Disorders 

What is Dyscalculia?

 

Dyscalculia is a specific learning disorder involving difficulty in learning or comprehending mathematics. It is much like dyslexia but relates to difficulty and confusion with math symbols. It can affect a person's ability to understand, remember, or manipulate numbers or number facts.

The term is often used to refer specifically to the inability to perform arithmetic operations, but on a more basic level, it can be described as a deficit in "number sense". Dyscalculia occurs in adults and children and is not related to intelligence or IQ level.

 

What Are The Symptoms of Dyscalculia? 

How Do You Know if a Child Has Dyscalculia?

 

When a child shows signs of dyscalculia, he or she needs to be evaluated by a trained professional. This person may work for the school system or may be a professional in private practice. A complete evaluation  is the only way to know for sure if the child has dyscalculia.

 

 

What Are Some Other Non-Cognitive Processing Disorders?

 

Dysgraphia is a deficiency in the ability to write by hand. Children can actually write and often do not have any problems with spelling or reading. This disorder is not associated with any intellectual impairment. Children who suffer from dysgraphia usually lack other fine motor skills such as difficulty tying their shoes and holding a pencil. At younger ages, the child will write inappropriately sized and spaced letters. The dysgraphic child's writing skills are well below their classmates, despite being the same age, measured intelligence and age appropriate education. Often times dysgraphia will occur in a child who has been diagnosed with another learning disorder such as ADHD or dyslexia.

 

Symptoms of dysgraphia often include illegible written work, either original or copied by sight. Letter formation may be acceptable in short samples of writing, but writing that must be sustained requires extreme effort and a huge amount of time to complete. Sustained writing can be extremely painful. Letter shape and size become increasingly inconsistent and illegible. Children with dysgraphia will refuse to complete writing assignments despite having normal or above average intelligence. They also prefer to print rather than use cursive letters. Children become increasingly frustrated  because their creative expression and output is hampered by their inability to get those thoughts on paper.

 

Treatment usually consists of teaching fine motor skills to help control writing movements. Some physicians and other educational professionals recommend the use of computers to avoid the problems and related stress of handwriting. Other professionals advocate the use of tape recorders so the child can dictate his or her thoughts and an adult can type for them. Newer technologies include voice recognition software which could be a huge asset to children suffering from dysgraphia.