6 yr old possible Dyscalculia ? I’m devastated

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Hi,

so my 6yr old possible has Dyscalculia, we are in the process now of testing.

I have read into it online and I’m devastated I’m so upset that he’s going to struggle so hard forever and there is a lot of negative comments online saying there’s not much I can do to help him, and that you can’t really teach them math.

any other parents here that can give me positive feedback and any good tips or advice.

I know it’s far from the worst thing that could be happening, I’m just feeling so sad about it.

thanks

Agreed, op he will be fine and you need to get a grip. My son was born with Childhood apraxia of speech, his speech at 8 is still close to a 3 year olds. He does speak but because of the condition his words sound jumbled and incredibly unclear. He will have this condition for life, even if speech therapy ends up discharging him as a teenager. Everytime he speaks, he will need to process things and speak so slowly because he's got to get it right. I'm terrified for his future but I have faith that he's a fighter and so am I, so it's gonna be fine. I'm saying this as 1 SEN mum to another, it's ok to be scared but you will be fine I promise. These things are hard and scary at first but your son is still at a good age to hopefully get early intervention. Don't read too much online, I did and regretted it ( seeing the potential life outcomes speech wise and academically for apraxia). Instead, find people with the condition who are adults and thriving. I found mikeys wish on Instagram who has my son's condition, and seeing him as an adult being able to speak so clearly (still slowly but clear) gave me so much hope. You'll get there with him.

My dd has dyslexia and dyscalculia and has just finished a Masters degree. It is not the end of the world.

For those with no experience of dyscalculia, please don’t make such ill informed comments. People with dyscalculia may struggle to make change, tell the time, read or understand timetables, understand the concept of time (it’ll take five minutes…) or do things like double or triple quantities. It’s not about a bit of tutoring to pass GCSE or using a calculator.

Your son will need strategies and you will need to fight hard for appropriate support; dyscalculia is not just evident in maths lessons.

All is not lost and devastated is a big feeling, but you are right to be worried. Take a breath, educate yourself to the hilt (Steve Chinn is your man) and be ready to advocate. Good luck.

This is one of the most offensive things I’ve ever read on Mumsnet. Your ignorance is staggering and you really ought to be ashamed of yourself.

Gosh that’s very young to be going through diagnosis for dyscalculia. I am very surprised your child can be assessed effectively at only 6, OP. I would personally wait a couple of years. School should be supporting your child based on need, not diagnosis anyway

You don’t assess children for SpLDs at 6 years of age. Are you abroad? That is not done in the UK.

I think my dd has this. Her primary were entirely dismissive and said there's nothing you can do anyway, just over learn things. So we got a private tutor and dd is now in y7 and had done a huge amount of catching up.

My sister has it. She did very well in school (though not in maths), went to university and now has a brilliant, well paid public sector job (not in UK). We grew up in the 90s when there was no awareness so she had no additional support. It hasn’t held her back, there’s no need to be devastated.

I’ve got it - I can’t add or subtract simple numbers in my head, don’t really know my times tables, can’t retain basic numbers in my head and can’t work out change at the till. It’s quite embarrassing sometimes but you get by. You don’t need to be devastated about it.

I’m not sure if it’s any different, but I raised with my sons school when he was 7 that I believed he was Dyslexic, they said when he was 8 they would the do a screener in school and refer me to my local dyslexia service to pay for a diagnosis and report.

He has just had this done… and they confirmed yes dyslexia, my now 7 year old daughters teacher has just mentioned she potentially could also be dyslexic but the same thing applies, they are not doing anything until she turns 8 years old.

I don’t believe it’s the end of the world if either of them are dyslexic, everyone is different and they will have mine and others support to help them through this!

I don’t believe it’s going to ruin their life or hinder then changes in the future.

I agree with the other 2 people that have highlighted your post@Mafsing. Your comment is incredibly offensive and hurtful.

I only realised I am dyscalculic and dyslexic in my mid 40’s because 2 of my children have been diagnosed. When I read the literature I was given by their school and recognised myself, it was a revelation.

I agree with another poster that the deficits in understanding and processing are far reaching. For example I’m hopeless at reading timetables and my time management is appalling.

I really struggled with maths, physics and chemistry at school, despite really wanting to do sciences.

I passed maths GCSE on the 4th attempt despite a lot of private tutoring. Hence starting my nursing degree at 20 not 18 years old.

I’ve had to rely on the support of colleagues and the pharmacists during my career in order to be sure of giving correct doses of medication and reading medication charts. And this was well before I’d identified the reason why I struggled with certain things.

Sat nav’s meant I could work in the community after working on wards for many years.

Regarding the dyslexia, I was very well read as a child (very middle class background) but was always getting lost. I could get lost in my own backyard now 😂😂😂

I was adopted and incredibly ‘othered’ by my parents who were both “very bright” and knew it and shoved it down my throat until they died.

I was incredibly ‘othered’ during my time in primary school because I was slow, found writing tricky and struggled to process information. So a piece of work whether maths or English took me way longer to do than my peers. I was always very behind and trying to catch up. I was constantly shouted at by teachers because they were aghast at me, so I felt a pervading sense of guilt and anxiety all the time.

I was lucky enough to go to a secondary school which was very supportive and non judgemental of my level of intellect. However because of how I presented (slower, easily muddled and anxious) I experienced a lot of bullying.

Throughout my life I’ve had to be resourceful and resilient because of these deficits and I’ve naturally played to my strengths. One of these is the ability to empathise, which has served me well in my chosen career.

I really hope you are a troll and not a teacher @Mafsing Because a child “being shit at maths” should be supported irrespective of class.

Are they sure it's not just dyslexia? My DD had terrible trouble with numbers but it was really because she couldn't tell a six from a nine or a five from an 's' and other weird things like that, anything upside down or back to front was the same to her. When she got a handle on the dyslexia (which caused huge problems with reading and writing for a while) the maths problems pretty much resolved too. Got top grades in Maths and English GCSEs after all the early struggles.

I got through high school with no maths GCSE and ended up getting a job in the civil service with just English C grade. I did get a grade eventually, but like said above, spreadsheets and calculators will do the work for you.

I have it. It hasn't stopped me doing anything and earning a lot of money. I just get someone else to sort my taxes out.

I’m a very experienced Early Years and KS1 teacher and there are good reasons why local authorities won’t test before a certain age for certain things. It could at this stage be developmental. At this point I would be talking to the school about what your child is struggling with and what interventions school are putting in place to support him. As another poster has said I would be questioning why someone has agreed to assess a child so young. The cynical side of me would say because you are paying for it.
I know it is hard but at this point I’d say don’t worry. The progress from Y1 to the end of Y2 can be huge.