Dyscalculia
Students face a range of developmental challenges that affect their wellbeing. In addition, such conditions can also affect the academic performance of the students. Therefore, educators need to carefully assess the students and determine how they can be assisted to develop normally and achieve their academic potential. One of the conditions that affect students is dyscalculia. Dyscalculia refers to a wide range of difficulties related to mathematics performance ( Kaufmann & von Aster, 2012 ). Those who suffer from the disorder develop a wide range of complication such as challenges in the understanding of meaning off numbers, difficulty in examining and applying mathematics principle and problems in solving problems. Some of the problems that are categorized under the dyscalculia range include not knowing differences in numbers, lack of counting skills, problems in identifying numbers, and inability to add simple numbers. The actual cause of the disorders is not well understood ( Kaufmann & von Aster, 2012 ). However, it is thought that the disorder may have a neurological basis and can adversely affect the performance of the students. In other cases, it has been reported that dyscalculia is thought to be caused by differences in brain functions. The differences result from the activation patterns that occur in various parts of the brain. Other researchers have argued that dyscalculia may be a genetic disease. The argument is based on the realization that children who suffer from the disease are also likely to come from a lineage where the disorder was a problem. It is also important to state that most people who have dyscalculia are also likely to experience other comorbid disease like attention deficit disorder and dyslexia. In such cases, managing the condition can be a major challenge. Moreover, such individuals may require support and assistance from a wide range of experts to be able to live a normal life.
It is undeniable that may students struggle to master mathematics. The trend may be attributed to a wide range of factors such as lack of interest in the subject or conditions like dyscalculia. For those who have dyscalculia, the poor performance and difficulty in mastering the subject may be portrayed in different ways. The symptoms should be identified early and used as the basis for diagnosing the disease ( Kaufmann & von Aster, 2012 ). The symptoms of the disease may differ from one student to the other. Some of the common signs of the disease include slow to perform calculations, difficulties in remembering basic mathematical facts, challenges in counting backwards and mathematics anxiety. In other cases, the disease by be linked to weak mental arithmetic skills and capabilities, poor sense of estimation and numbers, challenges in understanding place values, and inability to grasp basic mathematics principles. The severity of the symptoms shown by students who suffer from dyscalculia may differ from one case to the other. In addition, the signs may increase in severity based on the extent to which the students are assisted to overcome the condition. Those who receive quality care and support may be able to overcome the symptoms of the disorder. In addition, such students can improve their mastery of mathematics in the long run. Therefore, educators need to carefully assess their students and identify those who may be suffering from dyscalculia. Moreover, the students need to be assisted to over the adverse signs of the disease so that they can achieve their full potential and live a normal life.
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Case Studies
The first case under consideration in this paper involves a young student aged six years. The young learner appears to be struggling with mathematics. In school, Samuel has been toping the class in English assessments and activities. In addition, the young boy is able to communicate effectively and interact with those around him. While growing up, Samuel has always been a respectful student who loves peace and enjoys making friends. Samuel usually avoids being friends with those who engage in disruptive behaviors. Instead, he chooses to live a peaceful life. Recently, the teachers realized that Samuel is having problems with mathematics. In particular, he struggles to understand and apply mathematics concepts. In addition, he cannot count downwards from ten to zero. The teachers also realized that Samuel becomes anxious during the mathematics classes but is comfortable in other subjects. Upon assessment, the teachers noted that Samuel’s WISC-IV assessment pointed to the fact that he may be suffering from dyscalculia. The teacher informed Samuel’s parents about the issue so that they could get a lasting solution to the problem. Initially, Samuel’s parents argued that their child was normal and that he could perform better when taken to another school. After the teacher explained the situation to them, they accepted the fact that the child might be having Dyscalculia. The parents requested that Samuel should attend remedial classes to be able to succeed in mathematics
The second case study involves a 12 year old girl that is continuously topping her history, French, and English classes. Sally is considered to be one of the top performers in the class and strives to assist her colleagues with their assignment. When it comes to mathematics, however, Sally has been performing dismally and has been in the bottom of the class. Sally struggles to grasp mathematics concepts and is always seeking assistance from students when they are given assignments. In addition, Sally always finds mathematics statements to be complex. To her, some of the calculations that are arrived at do not make sense at all. For example, Sally cannot determine whether 37 is nearer to 30 or 40. In addition, she spends a lot of time trying to add or subtract numbers. As a result, the student does not enjoy mathematics classes. Furthermore, she becomes anxious when the mathematics teacher comes to class. Finally, Sally prefers attending other lessons rather than math. She believes that mathematics is a stressful subject and that she cannot grasp the complex principles linked to it. The symptoms tend to show that the student may also be suffering of dyscalculia and may require support and assistance from the teacher and her parents.
Research Articles
The first article that was considered in this study was “An open trial assessment of "The Number Race", an adaptive computer game for remediation of dyscalculia” by ilson, Revkin, and Cohen (2006). The authors conducted the quantitative study to examine how dyscalculia affects the performance of students. The sample population in the study consisted of children aged between seven and nine years. The children were asked to complete an adaptive training involving numerical comparison of days and weeks. The students were tested prior to the intervention to determine how well they were performing in numerical tests. The numerical tasks that the students were expected to complete including base 1o comprehension, transcoding, and counting. In addition, the students were expected to carry out enumeration procedures, subtractions, addition, and comparing numbers both symbolically and non-symbolically. The primary objective was to determine how the students were performing in the numerical tasks. In addition, the researchers intended to gather data that could be used to identify the participants who were experiencing mathematical difficulties.
The quantitative data that was collected during the study showed that the training intervention resulted in increase in performance in various mathematical test. For example, there was a dramatic increase in the speed at which students were making numerical compassion. Furthermore, the study revealed that the software training led to improved subtraction speed and accuracy. The increase in subtraction speed was quantified as 25 percent. Finally, the researchers noted that the intervention in question did not affect addition and based 10 comprehension skills among the students. ilson, Revkin, and Cohen (2006) concluded that mathematics difficulty is one of the challenge that students face in the course of the learning process. However, the problem can be addressed through the use of software based training methods. In particular, the authors stated that their open trail testing showed that the software based training model could lead to improved mathematical abilities within a short time. However, there is a need for larger follow up studies to assess whether the improvements could be sustained for a long time.
The second study that was analyzed in this paper was Debroy, Ingole, and Mudey (2019). The authors of the article conducted the study to assess teacher’s perception on student evaluation of teaching. The authors stated that student’s evaluation of teaching is one of the critical and affordable tools for achieving professional development. In addition, it helps in gathering information that can be used to improve the teaching process. In their study, the researchers wanted to determine how they could improve the quality of education through student feedback tools. Furthermore, the authors wanted to determine how the teachers perceived the evaluation tools that were being used to assess the ability and performance of students. Since the study was an educational research, the author carried out a project involving teachers who were randomly selected from a single institution. The students were asked to rate their teachers on a scale of 1 to five depending on how they believed that the educators were effective in fulfilling their roles. The teachers, on the other hand, fill questionnaires with 15 different items related to student assessment. The data was analyzed to determine the views of the two category of participants.
The results of the study showed that most students believed that the teachers were qualified to teach their core subjects. In addition, the students believed that the teachers were using the right methods to assist them to grasp complex concepts. When it comes to the teachers, the researchers noted that most of them believed that the assessment methods were not appropriate. In addition, majority of the teachers agreed that the students should always be involved in the evaluation of the teachers. Furthermore, they argued that the feedback that the students provide can help in instituting changes in the faculty and creating effective methods for quality assurance. Many teachers were also of the opinion that when students are involved in assessing the teachers, they can make suggestions that can help in improving the teaching process. In particular, the students can highlight areas in which the teachers need to improve to ensure that learning goals are realized. Based on the data that was collected in the course of the study, the authors concluded that student feedback was a critical method that could be used to evaluate the performance of teachers. In addition, the approach was important since it could be used to generate data need for enhancing quality assurance methods. Therefore, there is a need for schools to create mechanism through which students can provide insights on the performance of their teachers. In such cases, the students who struggle to grasp concepts may provide information that the teachers can use as the basis for creating programs and interventions that will lead to improved performance. In addition, the data will enable the teachers to know the areas that they should focus on to assist their students to perform at optimal levels and achieve their full academic potential.
When dealing with students with special needs, the first important thing is to understand that they are different from the rest of the students. With this understanding, the teacher should then make sure that they give personalized teaching to these students. This can be done in small groups. This teaching method will ensure that the students learn at their pace which increases their understanding.
References
Debroy, A., Ingole, A., & Mudey, A. (2019). Teachers' perceptions on student evaluation of teaching as a tool for faculty development and quality assurance in medical education. Journal of Education and Health Promotion , 8 , 218. https://doi.org/10.4103/jehp.jehp_47_19
ilson, A.J., Revkin, S.K., & Cohen, D. (2006) . An open trial assessment of "The Number Race", an adaptive computer game for remediation of dyscalculia. Behav Brain Funct 2, 20. https://doi.org/10.1186/1744-9081-2-20
Kaufmann, L., & von Aster, M. (2012). The diagnosis and management of dyscalculia. Deutsches Arzteblatt International , 109 (45), 767–778. https://doi.org/10.3238/arztebl.2012.0767
