Diagnostics of Dyscalculia

This chapter aims at describing dyscalculia, based on definitions from the WHO and DSM, and how behavioral experts can examine whether a low-performing student in math has dyscalculia or not. Based on a protocol for dyscalculia, three criteria, which must be met in order to diagnose dyscalculia, will be described. Five steps of conducting process research will be described in terms of the learnability of students. Because prevention is more promising than remediation, early education will be highlighted as an important moment to start helping young children in mastering math prerequisites, so they can start grade 1 without any big delay

Working Memory and Mathematical Learning.

An increasing number of students show severe mathematical difficulties. Between 5% and 10% of children and adolescents experience a substantial learning deficit in at least one area of mathematics (Barbaresi, Katusic, Colligan, Weaver, & Jacobsen, 2005). The identification of these mathematical difficulties is fundamental if we consider the negative widespread drawbacks determined by math difficulties. Basic mathematical skills are regularly used in everyday life, and their deficiency affects both employment opportunities and socio-emotional well-being. In addition, results of recent studies show how mathematical abilities predict financial and educational success, particularly for women (Geary, Hoard, Nugent, & Bailey, 2013). Domain-general cognitive abilities such as memory, attention, or processing speed are important precursors of school learning. Of all these general cognitive skills, several studies demonstrated that working memory is a key predictor of mathematical competence. The term \u201cworking memory\u201d (WM) refers to a temporary memory system that plays an important role in supporting learning during the childhood years because its key feature is the capacity to both store and manipulate information. Various models of the structure and function of working memory exist, but in the present chapter we will refer to the relkation to the multicomponent model of working memory proposed by Baddeley and Hitch in 1974 and revised in succeeding years (Baddeley, 2000) and math abilities