Dyscalculia

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Classification according to ICD-10
R48 Dyslexia and other tool disorders, not elsewhere classified
R48.8 Other and unspecified tool disorders
- acalculia
F81 Localized developmental disorders of school skills
F81.2 Arithmetic disorder
F81.3 combined disorder of school skills
ICD-10 online (WHO version 2019)

Dyscalculia is an impairment of arithmetic thinking.

General

Dyscalculia occurs in five to seven percent of the world's population . In Germany, as in many other countries, it is classified as a “special problem in arithmetic”. In these countries it is neither a “chronic illness” nor a “disability”.

There is controversy among scientists about the question of whether dyscalculia should be treated as a disease or even as a disability: Neurobiologists in particular emphasize that processes that take place in the brain of reading, writing or calculating students are different in students with dyscalculia than in students "Normal" students and that these "malfunctions" would be rated as "illnesses" by the WHO . Dyscalculia is internationally recognized as a mental illness based on the WHO assessment. Accordingly, it is a compensable problem of understanding in the basic arithmetic area (understanding of power , concept of number , basic arithmetic operations , decimal system ), whereby those affected make mistakes with their subjective logic in a systematisable manner , which are based on conceptual internalization problems, which are in principle resolved by targeted measures can. The phenomena nominalism, mechanism and concretism can be observed.

"Solvable" problems with partial performance disorders such as dyscalculia are an indication that there is no disability. Because according to Section 2, Paragraph 1, Clause 1 of Book IX of the Social Code , a handicap only exists if, in all probability, the disorder will still be present six months after it was discovered. Nevertheless, claims a special school , it would be possible by the responsible pension office to obtain a disability status for a child diagnosed with dyscalculia, up to a degree of disability of 50 percent.

The Hanover Administrative Court does not see dyscalculia as a form of disability. In its resolution of February 10, 2012, it stated: "Partial performance disorders in school (here: reading and spelling weaknesses - LRS) do not in themselves constitute mental disorders within the meaning of Section 35a of Book VIII of the Social Code ." A right to integration assistance only exists if a partial performance weakness led to a "secondary neurotization ".

Wolfram Meyerhöfer advocates the thesis that “it is not the children's head [...] that is the problem”. According to the Legakids Foundation, which disseminates Meyerhöfer's view, the categories dyslexia and dyscalculia are not used "to understand the associated learning phenomena, but to deal with questions of resource allocation." The aim is to compensate the child for disadvantages at school. ”The LegaKids Foundation warns against classifying dyslexics as“ sick ”or“ disabled ”, as official confirmation of this status would inappropriately stigmatize those affected . The foundation is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Family, Seniors, Women and Youth . Their reasoning can also be applied to students diagnosed with dyscalculia.

Dyscalculia says nothing about the intelligence of the person concerned. They often include particularly talented people with above-average IQs . Likewise, in dyscalculia, the ability to provide evidence in higher mathematics is not necessarily impaired. There is much evidence in current research that arithmetic and math skills are separated from each other. It is possible that a dyscalculist has difficulty working on arithmetic problems, but can solve abstract mathematical problems without impairment or even with a talent.

The assumption of independence from intelligence and dyscalculia has also found its way into the medical diagnostic systems ICD and DSM . However, this is criticized in that it has not yet been proven that the causes and support measures for dyscalculia with normal intelligence are different from those for weaknesses in arithmetic with lower intelligence.

The World Health Organization has included the phenomenon “dyscalculia” in its international classification of diseases.

Dyscalculia should not be confused with numerical illiteracy : the latter describes the arithmetical inability and weakness to represent facts in numbers or to understand facts presented in numbers.

Apparitions

Nominalism of the concept of number

Under nominalism of the number concept mapping to number name and number / symbol without trained numerical concept be understood as a cognitive basis. This means that children know the number names and their order by heart, but do not think about the underlying quantities. Therefore, they are often dependent on adding and subtracting purely counting. Common phenomena in nominalism:

  • Children persist in the purely counting operation.
  • Transfer payments cannot be made. It is always re-counted.
  • Mastering mathematical tasks requires enormous memory and concentration skills , great effort , which quickly leads to exhaustion . Calculations take a disproportionate amount of time.
  • There is no improvement in the deficits through constant and extensive practice . Practiced things are quickly forgotten or learned by heart without content.

Mechanism of the calculation process

The mechanism of the computational procedure describes the unreflected mechanical accomplishment of mathematical tasks without understanding the underlying process technologies. This can be observed, for example, when using written calculation methods or when solving so-called analytical tasks ( equations with placeholders). The following are noticeable in mechanical calculation methods:

  • tolerance of contradicting results side by side: "obvious" calculation errors are not recognized.
  • the susceptibility of the mechanisms to errors in more complex or changed tasks. Deviations in the task quickly lead to confusion or incorrectly continued mechanisms,
  • the indiscriminate linking of size information with operations on clothed tasks in order to somehow arrive at a solution. The task can only be reproduced verbatim.

Concretism in acting

Concretism in active operation is understood to mean the pupil's attachment to the means of illustration, fingers also counting as means of illustration. In this case the means of illustration does not appear in the function of representing number in a certain way, rather the acting use of the means is taken for the actual calculation. The following points can often be observed in concrete action:

  • Calculations of mathematical problems cannot be carried out without the means of illustration.
  • Almost exclusively presented or plastic counting aids are used.
  • Means of illustration are used uneconomically and contrarily.

characterization

These three phenomena are not to be seen separately - on the contrary, they complement each other, since computational difficulties are described here from different levels of observation. Nominalism refers to the conceptual side, to the untrained cognitive internalization of the subject matter. Mechanism describes, from a practical point of view, the misunderstood way of dealing with the calculation process. Finally, concretism refers to the unreflective use of the illustrative materials.

Overall, the foundation of mathematical understanding is not or only very vaguely available in those affected. A constructive mathematical idea cannot be understood because the basics are not available. Any practice and automation is in vain here, as the core ideas are untapped. If z. B. Quantity and number are occupied with completely wrong ideas, the inner logic of the place value system cannot be worked out. In modern special education , those affected are also taken into account, whose failure can be attributed to inadequate schooling, lack of motivation and other non-cognitive factors, since they too usually have deficits in mathematics.

If certain conditions of learning are not met, these must be established in advance. If there are signs of non-mathematical impairments, such as considerable psychological problems, serious language deficits or anything else that makes a diagnostic or learning therapy conversation impossible, the help of other specialists is urgently recommended. However, this cannot replace the mathematical learning process. In the case of appropriately diagnosed cognitive deficits in arithmetical thinking, appropriate mathematical support is also required here afterwards or in addition.

Qualitative diagnostics

For targeted help, the problems of the person concerned must be carefully examined. The method of diagnosing arithmetic weaknesses is basically based on a comparison of subjective computing power and objective requirements of the mathematical subject in different contexts. There are a number of standardized tests for this . However, these tests have the disadvantage that they are purely result-oriented, that is, they limit the error analysis to a high degree by simply selecting correct results from incorrect results, then quantifying them and subjecting the rate thus obtained to a fixed evaluation key. Concrete computing techniques remain completely unevaluated. Such diagnoses are essentially like classwork and, in particular, do not meet the requirements of testing aimed at learning-therapeutic intervention.

The mentioned deficiency can be overcome by a qualitative error analysis and a qualitative assessment of the computational techniques and the computational understanding. At the Humboldt University in Berlin, for example, the informal test procedure QUADRIGA (qualitative diagnostics weaknesses in arithmetic) was developed in cooperation with the ZTR Berlin . This is essentially based on the method of "thinking aloud". Here the test person provides information about his calculation methods and, if necessary, his concrete techniques, so that subjective (incorrect or cumbersome) algorithms and non-conceptual solutions can be determined. From the applied computing techniques and the subjective algorithms - compared to the mathematically logical procedure - conclusions can be drawn about the understanding of mathematical contents and operations. This makes learning deficits (here special knowledge deficits about mathematical abstractions as well as illogical procedural techniques: counting instead of arithmetic) visible, and the systematics of the calculation errors can be broken down and explained.

In addition to the interview technique of “thinking aloud”, observations of the behavior of facial expressions , gestures and body language should also allow conclusions to be drawn about whether the respondents' comments correspond to the real approach. In addition, there is the method called “observation of concrete actions with mathematically structured means of illustration”. Behind this is a qualitative analysis of the action techniques on the concrete acting level. Arithmetic weaknesses can often already be demonstrated at the level of action as an apractical way of dealing with means of illustration.

In this way, a differentiated qualitative profiling of arithmetic weaknesses arises, which is particularly important for computer therapy. The therapy can be targeted at the point where the subject's mathematical problems begin.

Integrative learning therapy

Children with poor numeracy need individual help. Normal school lessons as well as classic remedial or tutoring lessons cannot lead to success with mathematically weak students if standardized, group-related procedures are used and not linked to the individual learning situation. An integrative learning intervention takes into account the specific learning situation of the student by not using a uniform program, but rather creating an individual requirement program of measures in the form of an integrative learning therapy . Depending on the individual characteristics and disturbances of the learning process as well as the subjective processing of the poor performance, appropriate teaching and learning forms are selected and currently varied. Individual therapy has therefore emerged as an appropriate form of therapy for this. In mathematics, learning content is strictly based on one another. It must therefore be ensured that the student has understood the argumentation even for the smallest steps. Therefore, the central form of intervention is the therapeutic learning dialogue with the student. Leading this is the task of a mathematically and educationally-psychologically trained learning therapist for dyscalculia, who can explain the basics of mathematics individually. Progress diagnostics integrated into the learning therapy ensure the learning progress so that the deficits in the learning material can be systematically worked through through adapted learning steps. In this way, the therapy creates a well-founded and growing trust in the students' newly acquired knowledge and skills right from the start. So -called serious games represent a new branch of learning therapy in the area of ​​dyscalculia . There are specialized computer games that adapt to individual learning progress and specifically promote the weaknesses of those affected. The computer learning game Meister Cody - Talasia also offers a diagnostic test that was developed by psychologists from the University of Münster.

Prevention

The arithmetic basics of mathematical comprehension are created in the first two years of school, so the first learning steps are of great importance. Determining a lacking or missing cognitive foundation of arithmetic understanding can only be carried out after the first learning steps have been completed. But preventive help in a preventive sense is already possible in the first two classes . In order to prevent the development of a possible impending arithmetic weakness in advance, there are two tools for learning support. If there are first indications of a disrupted mathematical learning process, a so-called prevention diagnosis should be carried out, with the help of which the internalization of the current school material in the first two school classes - simultaneously with the teaching - as well as the training of prenumeric abstraction in the sense of Piaget ( invariance , number constancy , quantity constancy ) can be examined at school entry. If there is any suspicion that a mathematical weakness will develop in the future, early learning therapy support can be initiated as a preventive measure , in which the pre-numerical and first numerical abstractions are worked out. Furthermore, it is part of the educational mandate of the kindergartens (not defined in all countries) to teach the children the basic terms of counting and arithmetic (with illustrative material) in the number range up to 12 (20). The aim is to give the children an idea of ​​quantities and to train their basic mathematical understanding - analogous to grammatical language understanding.

Promotion of awareness

In the opinion of Blicklab Freiburg, simultaneous recording plays a role in dealing with quantities ; this ability is therefore not properly developed in some numerically weak children. With a training program that can improve perception and vision, a child can learn to grasp numbers of things faster and, as a result, to do better math. On the other hand, it can be observed that even children with poor simultaneous perception learn basic mathematical terms without needing to improve their ability to quickly visualize the number of objects presented, and there are many dyscalculics with well-trained simultaneous perception despite dyscalculia. Typical for children with dyscalculia are often good schematic arithmetic skills with a simultaneous lack of understanding of the meaning of the mathematical techniques used. Obviously, perception training is only helpful if it is not only used to perfect arithmetic and counting techniques, but important conceptual fundamentals are already in place that can be used for mathematical operations (concept of quantity / concept of number, etc.). This leads directly to the insight that any unspecific training applications that have not previously determined any learning-analytical knowledge about a child must lead to considerable damage and therapeutic errors - congenial to the overwhelming situation of mathematically weak children in elementary schools who do not have any specialists or time contingents for individual mathematical learning-level analyzes have or do not use such diagnostic agents for various reasons. This dilemma therefore also affects all other forms of perception training. The learning of and the conscious handling of basic mathematical terms is therefore the specific content of serious therapeutic approaches to remedy dyscalculia. Svenja Lommer worked out in her Göttingen dissertation (with Arnd Krüger ) that psychomotor exercises that improve whole-body perception could also reduce significant dyscalculic performance deficits.

Secondary psychological symptoms

Psychosocial situation

The importance of developmental psychological aspects for the emergence of clinical psychological symptoms is generally emphasized today: “Against the background of maturation and development processes, mental disorders in childhood and adolescence are rather very different in nature and in their course and in many respects require fundamentally different ones Approaches. ”The close connection between circumscribed developmental disorders and mental abnormalities is emphasized by many authors. In a study, Esser (1991) found psychiatric abnormalities in 46% of children with learning disorders.

Learning disorders can be explained both as a consequence and as a cause of behavioral problems (Fritz & Stratmann 1993). The assumption that fears, depression and the resulting divergent learning behavior impair cognitive development is just as undisputed as the fact of secondary neurotization as a result of learning disorders and the resulting failure experiences. The special importance of learning disorders in childhood for the impairment of mental health is proven by many studies. In a study of therapeutic failures in dyslexia therapy, Brunsting-Müller (1993) found that the child's problem-coping strategies and the reaction of the social environment have a greater influence on the success of the therapy than intelligence or language skills.

One can speak of a secondary neurotization as a reaction to learning disorders if the psychiatric symptoms shown in self-image and behavior can be traced back directly or indirectly to the learning disorder. The emergence of reactive depression and the development of the associated, increasingly generalized fears and psychosomatic and psychomotor impairments from cognitive and psychosocial processes can be traced back to the arithmetic weakness. The causal factors seem to be an extremely comprehensive complex of conditions made up of social, emotional and cognitive factors. These aspects can be seen as mediators of the origin of the disturbance. The symptom complex of psychiatric abnormalities in numerically weak children includes fears, depressive symptoms, somatoform disorders and the resulting behavioral problems.

Psychosocial factors

Fears, loss of control and general depression are triggered by the behavior of the caregiver. Punishment , excessive demands , exposure, parental suffering, etc. contribute to the development of fears, a negative self-image and the development of avoidance and compensation strategies to a considerable extent. On the part of the teacher, there is often shortened causal attribution aimed at the person (“bad student”, “unwilling”, “lazy”, “unfocused”, “less talented” etc.). A resigned attitude resulting from this, which is expressed in the protection of the child, can affect the attributions as well as his self-image (“I'm just stupid”). If the teachers react with additional support, the well-intentioned help - especially for children suffering from dyscalculia - often goes by and can become an emotional burden for the children. The classmates are further stress factors in the school situation. “The pupil experiences himself inferior to his peers in a comparative situation.” Extrinsic achievement motivation, ie achievement success in comparison (“The others can do it!”), Can in connection with childish competitive behavior, which z. B. in teasing, lead to the social isolation of the mathematically weak child, to a "secondary neurotization", which enables parents and the school to make use of help from the welfare state (with the side effect that the child may be stigmatized as "disabled") becomes). The family situation is also important for the development of symptoms of neurotization. Parents faced with the problem of their own child's failure at school find themselves in a difficult psychosocial situation. "The parents react to this with concern, increase their (inadequate) training efforts with increasing domestic tension, increase their overprotection or brand the child as a black sheep."

Attempts at explanations stop with shortened causal attributions and accusations. The onerous question: “What did I do wrong?”, Which is often associated with strong feelings of guilt, is supplemented by assigning blame to the teacher. The psychological burden on the parents resulting from the question of guilt can arouse feelings of guilt in the child, which add to the problem of school failure. Assigning blame to the teacher can create tension between the home and school and thus further affect the child's situation. Attempts at explanations aimed at the child, which mainly revolve around the question of changeability, often lead to resigned attribution of giftedness, which is owed to the shortened causal chain “No achievement - that is, untalented”. The resulting belief in the immutability of fate makes encouragement appear to be of little use, the child is stigmatized as stupid, the situation is accepted. The reverse use of the concept of endowment can prove to be just as disastrous. Parents consider their child to be actually "intelligent", whereby the questionable concept of intelligence as a quasi genetically determined determinant is intended to justify the performance, on the other hand, it should contradict this in the case of their own child. So if parents cling to the concept of talent, but on the other hand do not want to attest to their child's lack of talent, there is a risk that the attribution to the “child's will”, i.e. its motivation, is ultimately shifted to its good behavior. The child is “to blame”, is punished instead of encouraged and experiences not only the failure at school but also the moral one.

Self-image

Children are less able to provide information about their thinking and more difficult to verbalize. Nevertheless, children are also able to develop a strong self-image. The cognitive theory of depression by Beck (1967) seems to provide useful information for describing childhood cognitions that can contribute to clinical symptoms. The "negative triad" includes the assessment of oneself, the environment and the future.

The assessment of the future cannot be made by children of primary school age in detail, but they are presented with a diffuse picture of possible threats that do not appear to be controllable. The combination of experiencing one's own responsibility for school performance with the knowledge that both success and failure are independent of one's own effort leads to the development of “learned helplessness” in the sense of Seligmann (1974). The future does not seem to be able to cope with it, the expectation of constant new failure contributes to a negative view of the future and to the development of fears.

Experiencing and assessing the environment can strain the child's psyche in various ways. First of all, classmates and siblings in particular, due to the comparative and competitive situation, attribute inferiority (“You are stupid anyway!”) And exclusion. This behavior is accompanied by pejorative and isolating, sometimes directly aggressive behavior. Even if such direct pejorative behavior is less common among adults, well-meaning behavior can indirectly further impair the child's self-image. On the part of the teacher, in addition to angry and dismissive reactions, special encouragement can also lead to new experiences of failure, and taking care of the child in class can lead to a feeling of isolation or of having been given up. Parents' expectations, hopes and fears are reflected in their behavior towards the child and can exacerbate their situation. The teacher “is stupid”, the classmates, the school subject or the school and the parental home in general are experienced as hostile and threatening, so that cognitions arise about the apparently hostile environment with the attributes of uncontrollability and hostility. The self-concept of the computationally weak child thus includes responsibility for failure in relation to their own person, awareness of their own failure and the feeling of inferiority - and in relation to the environment and the future - the expectation of diffuse threats such as uncontrollable failure.

Clinical psychology accepts that feeling fear is part of everyday school life. Schneider et al. a., "that fears in childhood and adolescence are part of the normal development process" (1993, p. 213). “In the case of seven to ten year olds, the fears are more and more often related to school, to possible and supposed failure and to negative evaluation by others…” (ibid.). An increased level of anxiety can be observed in particular among students with learning disabilities. The development of fears in mathematicians will initially relate to situations and people that directly trigger fear and is then accompanied by more and more generalizations. These are first of all exam situations in the subject of mathematics, as a person the teacher. While the fear of exam situations in mathematics can initially extend to the entire mathematics learning area, then to school and any exam situation, social phobias can extend to classmates, other teachers, parents, siblings and friends, depending on the reaction of the environment. In the worst case, social anxiety can generalize to any social contact and school phobia to other situations.

The importance of developmental aspects for depression in childhood is shown by the symptoms, which are similar to those of children with learning disabilities. Altherr (1993) names sleep disorders, loss of appetite, crying and a feeling of loneliness as symptoms of depression. Depressed children have few friends at school, are often teased, and have low self-esteem. All depressed children have difficulties at school. They have the feeling that they are failures, are unmotivated, their psychomotor skills are often noticeable. 50% of them are judged to be suicidal. Their critical ability, social competence and their skills are severely limited. Psychosomatic complaints are often found in poor numeracy children. Children who suffer from school failure are exposed to enormous stressful situations. Because of the irrational calculation strategies, the tension is higher, you need up to three hours for homework. In addition to the cognitive, there are psychological and psychosocial stressors. The development of psychosomatic complaints can thus be understood both as a direct consequence of dyscalculia due to cognitive stressors and as a symptom of secondary neurotization.

Behavioral problems

Behavioral problems can be seen as symptoms of neurotization or as a consequence thereof. In connection with learning disorders, avoidance and compensation strategies in particular can be observed. Fear management strategies and avoidance of discrepancies often lead to further social disintegration. The child tries to avoid unpleasant - because fear-inducing - situations. It no longer deals with the subject of mathematics, isolates itself from the environment, reduces social contacts. Further generalization of the avoidance behavior can ultimately lead to complete withdrawal. The child tries to compensate for his self-image, the reaction of the environment etc. by getting credit for foolish behavior, aggression etc. The poor assessment of the environment can lead to a general inability to be objective self-criticism (avoidance of discrepancies). Sometimes the child tries to distance himself from himself through role play.

General failure to perform

General school failure in arithmetic children often only occurs after a long period of failure in mathematics and as a result of secondary neurotization and the child's negative self-image. The child's assessment of their own inability makes them resign themselves to other subjects. The “learned helplessness” has generalized and has become a stable personality trait. General avoidance behavior generated by fear defense becomes the starting point for general school failure. The further life of the child is mapped out. The general school failure confirms the negative self-image, the social reaction of the environment not only leads to the "vicious circle of learning disorders", but also to the "vicious circle of neurotization".

Family, school, the entire social environment of the child concerned reacts e.g. Sometimes with bewilderment, amazement and incomprehension that the child “can't even add up the simplest things”. This in turn is noticed by the child. His failure to learn and perform as well as his reaction to this failure lead to conflicts and further reactions in this environment, which reinforce and stabilize the disturbance. Mental health problems can often gain such momentum that they appear as a cause rather than a reaction to underlying problems. The motivation drops more and more, the child increasingly shows behavior avoidance of exertion and his negative self-image intensifies more and more. This escalatingly prevents the acquisition of mathematical competence, whereby the negative self-image is often transferred to non-mathematical performance areas, so that, based on the initially isolated learning disorder in the mathematical area, a general learning disorder can develop. The reasons for the general behavioral problems or behavioral problems associated with these children become clear when one considers the situation of an affected child. It is marked by years of failure and the child has no way of escaping it. Adults are by no means exposed to such situations with the same frequency and consequence and otherwise show comparable reactions (stress at work, job bullying, etc.). A high number of unreported cases can be assumed because children who are not treated, from a certain stage in the vicious circle development, actually show the picture of general failure. The latter is to be seen as the reason that more than 35% of German special school referrals can ultimately be traced back to an unrecognized or untreated arithmetic weakness.

Development dynamics of mental disorders

A numerical weakness that is not recognized and treated at an early stage can lead to a dynamic development of further psychological and behavioral disorders. The accompanying symptoms of arithmetic weaknesses - refusal to work, lack of drive, apparent concentration disorders, passivity, fear, negative self-image, excessive need to lean on, teaching disorders, aggressive behavior, headache or stomach ache and much more - initially serve to cope with the overwhelming situation. However, they can develop to such an extent that they “superimpose” the arithmetic weakness and the connection with it is hardly recognizable. In some cases this can lead to the secondary symptoms being even assumed to be causal. The perception of the arithmetic weak child that other children learn arithmetic faster and more successfully, receive praise for it, while either a lack of intelligence or a lack of work zeal and lack of concentration on the part of parents and teachers, in the form of ridicule and exclusion on the part of classmates, is attributed to them have a negative effect on their own self-image.

The first measures to remedy the lack of learning success - more practice at home, remedial classes at school, increased pressure with regard to the work posture - are seen as a punishment, because they cannot remedy the weakness in learning and, accordingly, the recognition of the actual performance of the child is absent. Attempts to compensate are seldom successful because, on the one hand, the weakness exists in a supposedly higher-value area, i.e. performance in sports or art classes is not as important, and on the other hand, disruptions in class can lead to an increase in the reputation of classmates, but have negative consequences for teachers and bring parents with them. The permanent experience of failure in arithmetic, the failure of the first aid measures and the failure of the compensation and avoidance attempts usually leads to a negative occupation in the subject of mathematics, to a negative attitude towards the mathematics teachers, to serious domestic disputes, connected with the feeling of rejection and aversion on the part of parents and to a considerable weakening of self-esteem. To the hopelessness of the situation in which arithmetically weak children believe they are, they react with further psychological, including psychosomatic, and behavioral disorders, through which their further development is considerably endangered, which intensify their suffering and which can result in permanent psychological disabilities .

Treatment of the secondary symptoms

The described dynamic in the development of secondary symptoms requires treatment that also intervenes in the child's social environment and aims to reduce the pressure to perform in the field of mathematics. The parents must be informed about the connections between the child's mental and behavioral disorders and the arithmetic disorder. The psychological situation of the child must be made clear to them, performance expectations must be reduced, common objectives of the measures must be agreed. In particular, they must be advised on helpful and hindering learning aids. Teacher counseling should include an explanation of the numeracy weaknesses and the dynamics of the secondary symptoms. Specifically, teachers should be informed about the learning opportunities of the numerically weak child so that the child's performance can be realistically assessed regardless of the learning success. Furthermore, the teachers should be given assistance in how they can promote the child's learning endeavors. An exemption from grading is recommended whenever possible.

The aim is to reduce the secondary symptoms to such an extent that the child is able to approach learning to calculate again. It is necessary to create a relationship of trust, an atmosphere of acceptance - regardless of the results of the performance - and the objective consideration of the deficits. The child's self-esteem must be strengthened, adequate coping behavior with regard to difficulties and caregivers (parents, teachers and classmates) must be addressed and suitable learning strategies must be developed with the child. The use of psychotherapeutic interventions should be determined according to the severity and degree of development of the secondary symptoms. In doing so, however, it is important to ensure that the approach is “holistic”, i.e. on the level of cognition as well as on that of emotions and social behavior.

etymology

Dyscalculia is derived from the ancient Greek prefix δυς- (which denotes something unfortunate or adverse, corresponding to the prefix “miss-” or “un-” in German ) as well as the Latin calculus “bill”, meaning “calculation” literal inability or disorder to calculate . The synonym Arithmasthenie is on the two ancient Greek ingredients ἀριθμεῖν arithmein "count" and ἀσθένεια astheneia "weakness", "disease" due, which literally with dyscalculia is to be translated.

literature

Trade magazines

Web links

Wiktionary: Dyscalculia  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Brian Butterworth, Sashank Varma, Diana Laurillard: Dyscalculia: From Brain to Education. In: Science . Volume 332, No. 6033, 2011, pp. 1049–1053, doi: 10.1126 / science.1201536 ( review article , English)
  2. ↑ Förderschule Sprungtuch GmbH Viersen: Disability cards for people with dyslexia and / or dyscalculia . openpr.de, April 20, 2015
  3. ↑ Administrative Court of Hanover: Integration assistance according to youth welfare law; Entitlement to reimbursement of costs for dyslexia therapy. Decision of February 10, 2012
  4. ↑ Wolfram Meyerhöfer: Dyslexia? Dyscalculia? It's not the children's mind that is the problem! . LegaKids Foundation, November 6, 2015
  5. ↑ Britta Büchner / Michael Kortländer / Birgit Werner / Nicole Robering / Friedrich Schönweiss: Dyslexia - a disease, a disability, a disorder? Right to education and individual support instead of selection and stigmatization (PDF) legakids.de, April 9, 2013
  6. ↑ Homepage of legakids.net
  7. ^ A b B. Butterworth: Foundational numerical capacities and the origins of dyscalculia. In: Trends in cognitive sciences. Volume 14, Number 12, December 2010, pp. 534-541, ISSN  1879-307X . doi: 10.1016 / j.tics.2010.09.007 . PMID 20971676 . (Review).
  8. ↑ D. Grube: arithmetic weakness. In: W. Schneider, M. Hasselhorn (Ed.): Handbook of Pedagogical Psychology. 2008, pp. 642-652.
  9. ↑ Poor numeracy - is it the genes or the teachers? on Sueddeutsche.de, accessed on December 9, 2019
  10. ^ Steffen (ZTR Halle-Leipzig) / Wieneke (ZTR Berlin) 1998
  11. ↑ Cody-Test Link to the scientific background of the CODY project. Retrieved May 12, 2015
  12. ↑ Study on the enhancement of perception through vision training (PDF; 106 kB)
  13. ↑ Poor numeracy - information and advice on so-called dyscalculia. Critical help from a practical expert. (PDF; 49 kB)
  14. ↑ Open letter - criticism of the eye training of the eye laboratory
  15. ↑ Svenja Lommer: The effect of psychomotor exercises on dyscalculia, taking into account perceptual disorders. (= Sports Science. Volume 5). Sierke, Göttingen 2009, ISBN 978-3-86844-104-8 .
  16. ↑ H.-C. Steinhausen, M. v. Aster (Ed.): Handbook of behavior therapy and behavioral medicine in children and adolescents. Beltz, Weinheim 1993, ISBN 3-621-27189-9 , p. 1
  17. ↑ D. Betz, H. Breuninger: vicious circle learning disorders. Psychologie-Verl.-Union, Munich / Weinheim 1987, ISBN 3-621-27000-0 ; H. Grissemann: Basics and practice of dyscalculia therapy. Huber, Bern 1990, ISBN 3-456-81843-2 .
  18. ↑ H. Grissemann: Basics and Practice of Dyscalculia Therapy. 1990, p.
  19. ↑ Lorenz 1987, p. 5
  20. ↑ Lorenz 1988, p. 83
  21. ↑ a b Wilhelm Gemoll: Greek-German school and manual dictionary. Munich / Vienna 1965.
  22. ↑ Erich Pertsch: Langenscheidts Large School Dictionary Latin-German. Langenscheidt, Berlin 1978, ISBN 3-468-07201-5 .