Help for parents

If you are the parent of a child who is, or you believe might be, dyscalculic, this page should help you.

If you are starting this page by thinking that you need your child assessed for dyscalculia please do read through these notes rather than moving straight on to ways of getting your child assessed.

We find that most children do not benefit from being assessed, and since assessment is very expensive it can save you a lot of money if you do not go down this route.  There’s more information in the first section below.

These notes take you through the following steps:

• Working with your child’s school
• Working with a private tutor
• Teaching your child yourself
• Resources that are available for you, for the tutor and for the school.

Step 1: Working with your child’s school 

All local authority schools have a duty to meet the special needs requirements of the children in their school.  This duty may not apply to private schools and academies – although they may be willing to help.  It is always worth asking.

Certainly if you can get your school’s help, this is normally the most effective route to solving the problem of dyscalculia.

However, although many schools are willing to help, not all schools feel able to do so, and they may argue that your child has no special need. 

The only definitive way to resolve this issue is to have your child tested by an educational psychologist (there’s help with this at http://www.dyscalculia.me.uk/testing.html#edu
But before you go down this route, please do note the following:

• It will cost you several hundred pounds if you refer a child to an educational psychologist yourself.
• Even with an educational psychologist’s report some schools refuse to act, saying that the report is “just one person’s opinion – our view is different”.
• Even if the school do accept the report, they might well take a year to set up any sort of provision for your child.
• If you do challenge the school, you are setting yourself at odds with your child’s school, and that might not be in the long term interest of your child.

So we suggest first of all that you go to the school, suggest that your child might have particular problems with maths because of the inherited genetic issue known as dyscalculia, and ask if they can help.

Try to talk to the Special Needs Co-ordinator (known as a the SENCO in many schools), or the head or deputy head or head of maths – whomever seems the best person to approach.
If the school says, “yes we know about this and we have materials,” then you have your solution.  But if the school says, “we’ve never come across this before”, you might like to refer them to our materials. They are described on www.shop.firstandbest.co.uk - there is a link on the left side called Dyscalculia – schools.

Of course the school may prefer to buy materials elsewhere – that is a matter for them.  Our materials are in use in over 2000 schools in the UK, but each teacher does need to be happy with his or her own choice.

2.  A private tutor

Private tutors can help – but most maths tutors tend to use the same sorts of materials and approaches as happens in the standard maths classroom.  If the tutor is teaching in the standard way, but more slowly, there is likely to be little progress.  Dyscalculic children have particular problems in processing mathematical concepts, and tend to benefit by a radically different approach.

So you might like to suggest to the tutor that he/she has a look at our materials on www.shop.firstandbest.co.uk - using the link for Dyscalculia – parents on the left side of the page.

3.  Helping your child yourself

You don’t need a degree in maths to be able to help your child yourself – but you do need to be at ease with basic maths.  So if you have never been able to understand fractions or long division, it is probably not a good idea to try working with your child.  Dyscalculia is an inherited problem, so if your child has it, there is a chance you may have it.
However, leaving that issue aside, if you feel you are able to work with your child yourself, you will need to set aside ten minutes a day (either before or after school) at least five days a week.

The key thing is to do the work with your child day after day, missing out as few days as possible.  If your child learns a musical instrument you will know what this is like – if the practice is occasional, it simply doesn’t work.

The books listed below will give you all the information you need to work with your child each day.

4. The resources

Here is a list of the resources that you will need as a parent and which can be used by private tutors.  These books consist of simple activities for you to carry out with your child.  Each set of instructions is normally just three or four lines long.

The activity books…

Dyscalculia activities 1: addition to division  (Ref number T1654)
This book is intended for children who find the basics of maths complex and confusing.  The volume starts with the fundamentals of number and simple addition, and concludes with long division.

Dyscalculia activities 2: shapes, fractions, percentages  (Ref T 1719)
This volume assumes that the child knows how to complete long division problems successfully, and moves on to the properties of various shapes, and the issues surrounding fractions and percentages.

Dyscalculia activities 3: Time and timetables (Ref 1712)
Dyscalculia activities 3 deals exclusively with issues relating to time, which often cause particular problems for dyscalculic children.  You should use this book if other areas of maths are secure, but time (for example the sequence of months in the year, reading timetables and calendars etc) remains a particular problem.

Other resources

You will also need the following to carry out the activities in book 1.

• A set of coloured counters, of the type used in the classic Ludo game.
• A set of cards measuring about 3 inches by 2 inches.

These can also be purchased from ourselves via the online shop. Throughout you will also need to have a pair of scissors, paper and some card.

Buying the books, cards and counters

Sample pages of the books can be viewed by clicking on the links below:
Dyscalculia Activities 1
Dyscalculia Activities 2
Dyscalculia Activities 3

You can order these books, either as books or on a CD, and the cards and counters:

• At the on-line shop.
• By phone with a credit card to 01536 399 011
• By fax with a credit card to 01536 399 012
• By post with a cheque or credit card details to Hamilton House Mailings, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Rd., Corby, Northants NN17 4HH