What is dyscalculia?
Dyscalculia is a specific learning difficulty that affects a child's ability to understand numbers and learn maths facts. Children with dyscalculia may have difficulty with number sense, subitising (recognising quantities without counting), understanding place value, learning times tables, and working with fractions or decimals. Unlike dyslexia, which is widely recognised, dyscalculia is less well understood - but it's equally real and equally disabling. If your child is significantly behind in maths despite years of support, dyscalculia may be the explanation.
Getting a dyscalculia assessment
An educational psychologist assessment is the best way to identify dyscalculia. The assessment will look at your child's cognitive profile and specifically their numerical reasoning and processing speed. If the school hasn't arranged an EP assessment, you can request one or obtain a private assessment. The EP report should clearly identify whether dyscalculia is present and what specific strategies and approaches would help your child learn.
When to request an EHCP
Consider requesting an EHCP if: your child is significantly behind their peers in maths despite targeted interventions (like maths small group work, concrete manipulatives, visual supports); the gap between their ability in other subjects and maths is stark; the difficulty is causing them distress, anxiety, or loss of confidence; or standard school-level support hasn't been sufficient. Dyscalculia can affect not just maths but confidence in learning generally - don't underestimate the impact.
Specialist maths teaching approaches
Children with dyscalculia need specialist teaching using approaches designed for number difficulty. This might include: Denes and Neurpath programmes, concrete-pictorial-abstract (CPA) approaches, multi-sensory learning, use of mathematical manipulatives, visual representations, and explicit teaching of strategies. Your EHCP should specify that teaching will use evidence-based approaches for dyscalculia. Request that the teacher is trained in dyscalculia-specific pedagogy. Don't accept just "extra maths help" - your child needs specialist teaching.
Exam access and assistive technology
In exams, students with dyscalculia may be entitled to access arrangements. Talk to the school about using a calculator, extra time, or a reader-scribe for maths papers. As your child gets older, assistive technology (mathematical software, graphing calculators, text-to-speech for word problems) may become increasingly important. The EHCP should address exam access early - it's too late to think about this in Year 10.