Children with maths difficulties

People we consider ‘numerate’ understand all the number concepts at a reasonably high level.

We usually begin learning about these concepts as toddlers, and then gradually learn more and more about them as we progress through school.

But sometimes this nice, tidy progression in learning goes wrong.

Children learn really well when the maths they’re taught is just a small jump beyond their current point of understanding. They learn best when 95% of any learning experience involves practice in something they truly understand, and 5% involves some sort of challenge.

It’s easy to see that children with maths difficulties continually face challenges that are way more than 5%. They cannot possibly learn at the level they’re being presented with. Somehow, they have missed out on one or more earlier building blocks in understanding number concepts and this has not been dealt with.

They will continue struggling to understand until someone finds out exactly what point they’re stuck at in their thinking and teaches them the very next step after that point.

Often a child is actually at a far lower level than anyone expects and isn’t tested appropriately. There may be teaching and learning adjustments as a result of testing, but the challenges they’re presented with may still be too high. The outcome is usually the same as if they’re higher, ie continued difficulty in understanding the concepts.

Children can be checked for early sticking points in maths number concepts from the age of 6. Then if there’s something that needs to be worked on, it can be addressed sooner rather than later, and future difficulties avoided.

9-11 year olds who’ve experienced ongoing difficulty with maths should be checked at the same level to make sure their earliest gaps in understanding are identified.

See Maths Test for 6-8 year olds to improve maths.

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