Back to Basics

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Back to Basics

• Pauline Clayton
• Principal Tutor Maths
• Dyslexia Action
• DDIG conference March 2007

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What should we consider?

• Dyslexia and maths
• Dyscalculia
• Mental calculation
• Learning styles
• Where we are now

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What do we think of when we hear dyslexia?
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Strengths Weaknesses

• Organisation
• Reading
• Comprehension
• Spelling and writing
• Short term/working memory
• Recalling information from long term memory
• Word retrieval
• Slow speed of information processing
• Lack of confidence
• Poor self esteem
• Maths

• Visual spatial ability
• Can see overall picture
• Maths
• Computing
• Spoken language skills

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What skills do you need to succeed at maths?
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Where does dyscalculia come in?What is it?
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Latest Research
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Butterworth (06)

• Counting and estimating?
• Dyscalculic learners can see difference in
  numbers by counting
• Cannot estimate, by an overview, which is the
  greater

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Piazza et al (07)

• Showed that regions of the parietal lobe activate
  in response to numbers either when presented as
  patterns of dots or a Arabic numerals

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Kadosh et al (07)

• Demonstrated that two hemispheres of parietal
  lobe function differently in processing numbers.
  
• Left harbours abstract numerical representations
• Right shows dependence on the notation used e.g.
  8 or eight

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Researchers said that exploring how the
processing of numerical symbols develops could
have clinical implications. Investigation, in
particular, at which stage such a
representational divergence appears could
contribute to both numerical cognition research
and to the rehabilitation of people suffering
from developmental dyscalculia.
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Learning StylesHow do we approach maths?

• Holistically or sequentially
• Qualitatively of quantitatively
• Grasshopper or inchworm

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Mental calculation

• How many skills can you think of that are needed
  for mental calculation?

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Questions arising

• Have some learners been pushed into one
  learning style? Perhaps the one the teacher
  prefers?
• With our current assessment tools, can we, as
  teachers, say that a learner is definitely
  dyscalculic?

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More ..

• Are we labelling too many learners, who have, for
  a variety of reasons, difficulties in maths, as
  dyscalculic?
• How do we teach dyscalculic learners?

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Chinn (2007) says As yet, unlike dyslexia, no
one has come up with a magic cure for maths
difficulties. But they will.Article in
Dyslexia Review 2007
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References

• http//www.ac.uk/media/library/counting March 06.
  Scientists find brain function most important to
  maths ability
• http//www.neuron.org Jan 07 Notation-Dependent
  and Interdependent Representaions of Numbers in
  the Parietal Lobes Neuron 53, 307-314, Jan 18
  2007
• Butterworth Yeo (2004) Dyscalculia Guidance
  David Fulton. London
• Chinn S (2004)the trouble with maths.
  RouteledgeFalmer. London
• Sharma, Mahesh (1990) Dyslexia, Dyscalculia and
  some Remedial Perspectives for Mathematics
  Learning Problems Maths Notebook From Theory
  into Practice no. 7, 8, 9, 10. The Center for
  Teaching/learning of mathematics. Framington USA