Building a firm foundation in maths is vital. For many learners with dyscalculia or maths difficulties a firm foundation is never built, instead they have a very wobbly maths tower; the foundation concepts knowledge and understanding of maths, like number bonds, times tables and place value are not fully grasped.

However, the next, harder level concepts, knowledge, and understanding is still taught to the learner as the class moves on. They then move to the next year group with even harder concepts and expectations and often fall further and further behind.

Maths is a building block subject, one layer relies on the next, for example times tables and division is vital for understanding and completing fraction processes, so then the learner with dyscalculia and maths difficulties doesn’t have the pre-skills they need to succeed.

Dyscalculic adults often describe this as like they are trying to complete a puzzle where the pieces shift around, move, and don’t fit together.

When this happens for a prolonged period, often even with small group intervention, the learner becomes, understandably, more and more unsure and maths anxiety kicks in which further impacts their ability to process information.

This is why the key to success for a learner with dyscalculia and maths difficulties is to give them work at the level they are at and not at the ‘expected level’.

To achieve this, we need to complete an assessment for intervention, so we know what level the learner is at and then pitch our teaching, intervention etc at this level (or ideal just before the level of breakdown to improve confidence)