Dyscalculia – Ideas to help at home

Dyscalculia is a learning difference that can make it difficult for people to work with numbers and maths concepts. 

One activity that can be helpful for developing number sense is working with random numbers of small objects – counters, circles, beans. Pick a random number of the objects out (less than ten). Count them carefully together to see how many there are. Then challenge your student to see how many different ways they can arrange the objects into groups. For example, 4 beans can be arranged as 1+3, 2+2, or as 1+1+1+1. Being able to visually see and process different ways of arranging numbers can really help with developing the skill to subitise and do maths in a more visual way.

Making Ten (1 page)

Understanding and remembering which numbers go together to make ten is a really important skill for learning to add larger numbers mentally. Once you remember and understand that 8 + 2 = 10, it is easier to learn 8 + 3 = 11. You can “regroup” 3 into 2 and 1, then do 8 + 2 + 1 = 10 +1. There are a lot of ways to practice making tens. Here are a couple of easy activities you can try at home.

You’ll need an egg carton and some small objects to use as manipulatives like counters, lego, or dried beans. If your egg carton has 12 holes, cut off the last two so you have ten holes. Take a small number of the objects (fewer than ten) and place them in the egg carton, counting as you go. When you have placed them all in the egg carton, look at how many slots are left. Now you know the number of objects plus the number of empty slots = ten.

Once your student is more confident with the facts, you can move away from the tangible objects and review with dice or playing cards. In tutoring, we sometimes play the make tens game. You’ll need two dice and somewhere to write the score down. Each player rolls one dice without showing the other player their total. The score you get is whatever needs to be added to the number you roll to make ten. Look at your total and decide if it’s a good score – if not you can ask to swap with the other player. If both players want to keep or to swap, its simple; otherwise, do rock, paper, scissors to decide. Then you write down each player’s score. At the end you can either see how many rounds each player one, or add up the total score, depending on skill level. 

Learning which numbers go together to make ten really helps later. It’s much harder to perform larger calculations, when you still need to use a lot of your brain to manage the simple addition and subtraction parts of the problems.

Times Tables Patterns and Tricks (1 page)

There are a lot of little patterns, tools and tricks that can help with remembering multiplication facts.

2x tables

When first learning 2x tables, students need to be able to skip count. One game that works well for this is “whisper counting”. We write all the numbers up to 20. We move our fingers along the chart saying each number in turn. Instead of reading all the numbers in a normal voice we whisper the first number then say the second number out loud, so it sounds like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14…

You can also write numbers 1 through 20 on pavers with chalk and practice skipping across the numbers landing on the multiples of 2 and saying the numbers as you land on them. 

3x tables

It’s a bit harder to think in multiples of 3. They are less common. One activity that can work is making ants or other insects with three body parts. You can use sticker circles or just draw them – 1 ant = 3 circles, 2 ants = 6 circles etc. Make all ants and write the related facts up to 30. 

4x tables

Doubling is useful when students are learning 4x tables. To work out 4x any number you can double then double again. 

6x tables

Once you know your 3s, you can use that to work out sixes by doubling. To work out 4×6 you can work out 4×3 then double your answer. Some students may find it easier to work out 5×4 and then add four to their answer instead. There are several strategies for working out each type of x table, and working out which is easiest for your student is really important. Students who play Australian Rules football might enjoy practicing with problems that involve working out football scores as each goal is worth 6 points. You can also use the ant/insect activity from the 3x tables but count legs instead of body segments.

8x tables

Again, to work out 8 x any number we can use the doubling strategy, but this time we need to double three times. So, to find 8×3 we double 3 to get 6, double again to get 12 and double one more time for 24.

9x tables

There are a few different tricks for 9 x tables. One is the “finger trick”. To work out 4×9, you count along your hand from the left and fold down the fourth finger. The fingers to the left of the folded finger will tell you the number of tens (3) and the fingers to the right of the folded finger tell you the number of ones (6) so 4×9=36.

Another strategy is to write the numbers from 0-9 vertically down the page, then write the numbers backwards from 9-0 next to them like this.

09

18

27

36

45

54

63

72

81

90.

You do need to make sure you start from zero for this to work, but it can be helpful when students are facing a page with lots of multiplication by 9 to have a quick trick to help them through it.

Students that are confident with subtraction may find it easier to work out 10x the number then subtract 1x the number. For example, 4×9 = 40-4 = 36.

Using Tools (1 page)

Sometimes with dyscalculia, its important to use tools to help students tackle harder maths. If maths facts aren’t automatic yet, it can be helpful to make up a times tables chart or addition chart (or use the one on the back of a lot of exercise books). Once students know how to work out their multiplication facts, they can write them down and use what they have written as a reference, so they don’t have to work out the same facts over and over again. Knowing how to use maths tools effectively can help students keep up with class topics while they are developing fluency. Many students can tackle more difficult topics than they would otherwise be ready for by using these tools. It can reduce the load on working memory if some part of the problem is made easier, allowing the students to grapple with the new concepts in the problem.