Discalculism: what is it and what are the methods of correcting the disorder

Discalculation is a violation expressed in the inability to study and understand arithmetic operations, as well as in the misunderstanding of the concept of "number", and inability to operate with numbers and numbers.

This syndrome is considered as a specific developmental disorder.

Often, pathology is detected in the preschool period, but it can be detected at school age.

Finding reasons

primary cause of dyscalculia is underdeveloped intraparietal sulcus parietal lobe. This area of ​​the brain is responsible for processing optical information. To teach mathematics, you must visually represent numbers and tasks.

To the defeat of the parietal lobe of the brain can lead to such factors:

• complications in the perinatal period( prematurity, toxicosis, asphyxia in childbirth);
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• hereditary factor, genetic diseases;
• power failure;
• brain injury at an early age;
• organic brain damage;
• of neuroinfections;
• neoplasm in the brain.

Also to the developmental reasons dyskalkulii include the general delay of mental development, and various psychotraumatic factors. When obtains negative experience in training account( coercion, punishment), the child develops fears, secrecy. The ability to score is reduced due to fear of mathematics and possible punishments.

The factors that cause the emergence of dyskulkulii also include being in a negative social environment, raising up in a dysfunctional family.

This can lead to violations of the child's psychological health.

With which disorders are combined

Discalculation is an independent disease, but it can often be combined with other disorders. The pathologies that can accompany it have a similar genesis and are caused by congenital pathologies of brain development, mental retardation, and psychological disorders. A child with discusculosis can also be observed:

• dyslexia - impaired ability to read and write;
• attention deficit disorder - impaired concentration, uncontrolled impulsiveness, hyperactivity;
• is 's inability to master the writing skill.

Varieties and Forms of

There are several different violations classifications. Depending on the conceptual approach, the congenital and acquired, primary and secondary dyskinesia are isolated.

A widespread classification in psychology and pedagogy has received a classification in which seven types of dyscalculia are distinguished:

• graphic - the inability to correctly record the number heard, define a mathematical term, represent a geometric figure;
• verbal - impossibility to correctly name the number, symbol, denote the number of items;
• lexical - lack of understanding of mathematical operations, inability to perform tasks due to lack of understanding of the essence of operations, violation in spatial-visual processes;
• operational - inability to perform mathematical operations;
• praktognosticheskaya - the lack of ability to abstract the account of objects, the distribution of objects, depending on such characteristics as quantity, shape, etc.;
• arithmetic - inability to learn computation;
• pseudo-calculus - reduced mathematical ability due to unwillingness to learn, lagging behind the curriculum, illiterate constructed learning process.

Difference from acalcium

Discalculia and acalculia are similar disorders in which the ability to perform mathematical actions and the perception of numbers in children is impaired. In many sources, these terms are used as interchangeable synonyms, but there is a difference between them.

Acalculia is an acquired syndrome. It occurs in childhood and adulthood due to various effects on the cerebral cortex, or against the background of psychological and neurological diseases.

Discalculence is a congenital or acquired pathological condition in early childhood. Akalkuliya acts as a symptom of the existing disease, dyscalculia is an independent disease.

Symptomatology and features of the

clinic Discalculation is expressed in such symptoms:

• inability to recognize the number of objects visually( the patient needs to count objects one at a time);
• computational difficulties;
• problems with the abstract time count;
• impossibility to intuitively determine the distance traveled;
• traffic coordination disorders;
• difficulties with the perception of the concepts "more" and "less";
• misunderstanding of the essence of such mathematical operations as subtraction, addition, division, multiplication;
• difficulties in writing and naming numbers;
• misunderstanding the process of solving simple mathematical problems, without using visual material;
• misunderstanding of the concept of "number", digits;
• lack of ability to perform logical-abstract actions.

Diagnosis of

The first signs of dyscalculia manifest in preschool age, when there is a need for the product of elementary calculations.

In case of revealing symptoms of pathology, it is necessary to contact the speech therapist or child psychologist for complex examination and differential diagnosis.

To determine the child's illness, it is proposed to perform such test tasks:

• account from 10 to 20( in children with this pathology, up to 10 can be violated);
• compare two numbers;
• arrange the numbers in ascending and descending order;
• perform simple arithmetic operations;
• voice the name, and distribute the geometric shapes according to the color and size.

Since dyscalculia is caused by changes in the brain, a diagnostic method such as magnetic resonance imaging can be used. However, because of the high cost and lack of research, this method is not widely used.

In addition to identifying violations associated with mathematical operations, specialists detect such accompanying signs as problems with the analysis of the human body scheme, the definition of the right and left side, the correlation of objects in space, the definition of time by analog clock.

Treatment and correction

Correction of dyscalculia is carried out by specialists speech therapists, neurologists, defectologists and psychologists in polyclinics, specialized institutions or in the office of the school speech therapist. Treatment involves training and speech therapy.

Initially, individual classes are held, then the child joins a group of children with similar problems.
Therapy is carried out with the help of developed sets of exercises that contribute to the formation of mathematical skills, general concepts( "more", "less"), oral account skill.

Training and therapy are conducted in a playful form. Children are taught to compare objects, and sort them according to various characteristics. When success is achieved in these operations, they move on to learning mathematical actions. It is important that the child has an understanding of the logic of operations.

Correction of dyscalculia should be combined with the development of literate speech in the child. There should be an expansion of the stock of words, including terms of mathematics. The child should be taught the correct name of figures, actions, geometric figures, characteristics, as well as the correct use of these names.

An important aspect of correction is also the training of written literacy, the ability to record numbers and mathematical operations.

Therapy should also be aimed at developing children's cognitive abilities, abstract, logical thinking, visual memory, orientation in space.

Patients may be recommended an auxiliary medication for normalization of cerebral circulation and activation of nervous activity. Patients with dyscalculia recommended the intake of B vitamins, Coguitum, Glycine, Cortexin.

Possible consequences of

In case of dyskulkulii person can not correctly determine the time, remember the dates, phone numbers. These factors lead to a decrease in the socialization of the individual in society.

The inability of a child to memorize numbers, formulas, perform mathematical actions leads to a decline in school performance, and the impossibility of obtaining higher education in many educational institutions, and as a result of the inability to acquire a decent profession.

The lack of specially developed methods of teaching children with dyscalculia leads to a multiple negative experience in school. The child develops low self-esteem, depression. Possible development of antisocial behavior.