PLENK2010 ds106 dyscalculia

Just as there are some people who have trouble processing written words, there are some people who have trouble processing numbers.  Although most of us have no difficulty with the symbols with which we write, about 3-8% of the population do.  If taught in the tactile way that they need with plenty of practice, their brain centres can be encouraged to grow in more "normal" arrangements.  Some people have either dyslexia or dyscalculia, but some have both.

This is the wonderful good news of Mediated Learning and of neural plasticity.

Check this out from Radio Australia's series All in the Mind.
 

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/allinthemind/stories/2011/3117234.htm#transcript

Here is a critical quote:

  Brian Butterworth: There's a circular problem with recognition. In order to get it recognised by education authorities including government you need to be able to have a way of reliably identifying it and I think we've got that. You also need to have a way of reliably helping the kids who have that problem, and I think we're on the way to that. But until we've got those two elements in place, parents are not going to say I want my child to be identified as having this particular problem and to get this kind of help for that problem. And without the parents getting active about it governments aren't going to get active about it. And if you look at the history of dyslexia it's because the parents of dyslexic individuals were very vocal that governments recognised it..