Dyscalculia or ‘number blindness’ is more common than dyslexia or ‘word blindness’, a Cuban study has found. Dyscalculia (which literally mean “bad counting”) is an innate condition that makes understanding numbers and arithmetic unusually difficult if not impossible. A study of over 1,500 students in Cuba found that between 3 and 6 percent had dyscalculia, while between 2.5 and 4.3 percent had dyslexia.
According to Brian Butterworth, professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College, London, the disability prevents children from having a proper “sense of numbers”. He says the condition is inbuilt in the individual and ordinary teaching methods are not effective.
Professor Butterworth developed the screening tool used in the Cuban study, because he believes that the key to overcoming dyscalculia is early detection. Once dyscalculia-affected children are identified, they and their families can be educated about the condition. Children can also be given extra tutoring which helps by taking them step-by-step through the problem, using multisensory learning aids.
