Dyscalculia - has anyone’s DC been tested?

[LinaLaaamont]

My DD who’s 11 is really not grasping maths. She has always had trouble and has always been well behind the others - even with the basics. But she excels in other areas. Her reading age has been tested as 16.3.
On a recent assessment, she got the majority of wrong answers because she had written down numbers in the incorrect order. She will know something which we have concentrated on, then weeks later has no clue where to start.
She also struggles with organisation, concentration and messiness.
I don’t know at what point a lack of natural ability becomes an issue.
I’m hoping a Mumsnetter has advice or experience they can share.

She has dyscalculia. Get a proper test done but I bet she has it.

Two things which people with dyscalculia commonly struggle with are reading an analogue clock face (fine with digital) and recalling times tables. Does she struggle with either of those?

There's also some good evidence of a link between dyscalculia and difficulties in subitising - the ability to know how many dots there are in a pattern with out counting. So if you play a board game, does she know that 5 is 5 because there's a dot in each corner and one in the middle, or does she need to count them every time.

There's even more evidence that people who struggle with maths are working far, far harder than those who find it easy, who then get lots of positive feedback because they get things right. Maths is all about connections, and instinctive mathematicians spot and use the connections whereas those who find it hard don't notice how maths is interconnected and work out each part of a question from scratch, rather than using what they already know to make their life easier. Would that appy to your DD?

Finally, how much time has she spent working with concrete apparatus and pictures/images to support her maths? Unfortunately, too many lessons move to the abstract far too fast, so children can follow a procedure but don't really understand why they are doing it. That's why they can appear to understand something really well at the time, but not have a clue next time it comes up. If she's really struggling she'll need lots of practice and over-learning, alongside plenty of opportunities to do things in a practical and pictorial way so she can link it to the abstract written notation.

I know a child with this issue. Can anyone recommend support resources?

Place marking. My dd is the same :-(

https://www.mathsexplained.co.uk

My husband has it, he has failed GCSE maths several times yet runs a highly successful business and uses practical applications of maths and number processing on a daily basis. He’s also dyslexic. He makes me very proud because he works hard and does well.

No practical help but just to let you know it’s not a barrier to success.

The link to the maths app is great. Can anyone recommend anything else? Poor DC must have a hard time with this at school

A calculator that has a series of rising "tones" for each button pressed. I had one as a kid.

Eg
number 2 has a low tone
Number 6 is medium tone, etc

Invaluable for school - the ears can "tell" if a number is entered in wrongly, even if the eyes are deceived.

Also:

A dyslexic/dyscalculic mind is like a snowstorm on a windy day. Teach your child to do spider diagrams from an early age ... it helps to have somewhere to "hang" facts so they can keep similar ones together and stop them from whirling round.

I speak from personal experience !!

My soon was tested by an ed psych at his school in year 5. Came up negative, despite all the signs that toomuchicecream mentioned above.
We are trying to get him extra time in his year 6 SATs.
The worst part of it for me is that it makes him feel like a failure.

I'm just about to start work, but will look at the link above later , thanks norest.