Please or to access all these features

SEN

Here you'll find advice from parents and teachers on special needs education.

Can someone help me regarding maths SEN?

5 replies

Melonjuice · 15/10/2025 21:14

My daughter has a terrible problem with maths. She is 10 and in year six. She has been on the SEN register for maths since Y1
she did her SAT mocks and passed everything almost 100% except for maths which she failed - only getting 4 questions correct
I’ve tried absolutely everything tutors online learning I was paying £100 a month to explore learning in Sainsbury’s, which were absolutely rubbish , unfortunately, I have discalculia myself and feel absolutely helpless to help her with her maths. Starting to think I’ve passed it on to her. I’m very upset because there are some very good selective schools near to me which we probably won’t get into.
does anybody have any idea of what I can do to help my child solve her math problem?
we have applied to some non-selective schools who all want her to attend a banding test, if she does well and everything except for maths, would you be placed in an average or lower band? This is important to me because most of the places are given to the average intake . An educational psychologist assessed her and said that she had a work in memory problem something I also don’t understand very much. She also just suggested I get an assessment for ADHD but I don’t feel my daughter has that as she’s quiet , rather than hyperactive, now I’m starting to second-guess myself and I feel awful about this whole thing
she has extra classes at primary school, but these have not been helping and I can’t blame it on her missing two years from Covid because most of the other children in her class get along with maths just fine. I’m hoping someone can offer any other suggestion. I really don’t know any more.

OP posts:
flawlessflipper · 15/10/2025 21:43

If an EP suggested an ADHD assessment, I would listen. Not all with ADHD are overtly hyperactive.

Did the EP not make recommendations for support DD requires? They should have. If you don’t understand the EP’s report, did you ask them to explain? If not, and it’s recent, go back to them.

What support is the school providing?

Banding tests put DC into bands depending on their overall performance compared to others. Lots of banding tests don’t use maths like the maths found in KS2 SATS.

Sal820 · 15/10/2025 21:48

Dyscalculia is a type of neurodiversity and ND conditions tend to run in families, I'd definitely assume she has it. It's possible to have more than one ND condition so she may have ADHD as well - just the inattentive kind rather than the hyperactive.
Google working memory, it's trouble with things like remembering a telephone number while someone else is talking. Also look up strategies for improving dyscalculia, I'm sure there will be info out there.

Melonjuice · 16/10/2025 17:58

Thank you xxx

OP posts:
Howszaboutthat · 19/10/2025 08:07

Hope it’s not too late but I would hold back on assuming your daughter has inherited some kind of dyscalculia.

The thing about maths is that it builds up in layers, and if you’re missing a basic layer (like number bonds or times tables) then everything is much more difficult and overwhelming. A simple example is when a child gets muddled up with adding large numbers because they’re still using their fingers to count. It is likely she is missing some basic maths knowledge and over the years this has prevented her understanding more complex lessons. That’s why she only got 4 correct on her maths test.

I partially agree with the ed psych. It is to do with ‘working memory’ but your daughter is not at fault. Everyone has a ‘small’ working memory because we can only think of so much at once. Your daughter actually lacks basic maths knowledge in her long term memory.

The fact that she did well on her reading test proves she can learn. Schools are much better at teaching children to read nowadays (dyslexia is virtually unheard of now). If the maths ‘layers’ are missing from year one, then she likely internalised ‘maths is hard’ and in every lesson she avoided effort, perhaps copied her friends. The adults may have been focusing on the other children with SEN, while this ‘good girl’ who can read so well went under the radar. The adults may have told her ‘you’re so wonderful and creative with your reading and writing - this is what you should do in the future’ and then in pursuit of praise and status she invested more in her English lessons.

I suspect this is a deficiency in teaching and learning. What help at school did she get to catch up from year 1? Did anyone talk with you about simple things that could’ve been done at home? Why are you finding out now that she got only 4 questions correct? I feel for your daughter. How galling to do a year 6 test and feel so confused throughout.

She needs catch up, not a diagnosis.

The non-selective school, provided they are in catchment, cannot refuse your daughter a place. Most secondary school will run a suite of tests and then place pupils in sets. She’d be in a higher set for English, and a lower set for maths. She may finally get the help in maths that she needs. However, the downside is that a lower set may have more high-needs pupils in it and if the school isn’t calm and organised, then behaviour may prevent learning.

The good news is there is plenty of time for catch up and given her intelligence and ability to learn, this could indeed be a success story. You also need to choose a secondary school wisely.

flawlessflipper · 19/10/2025 09:30

dyslexia is virtually unheard of now

No it’s not. The British Dyslexia Association gives a figure of 10% having dyslexia.

The non-selective school, provided they are in catchment, cannot refuse your daughter a place.

It isn’t as simple as this. Even if a school has a formal pre-defined catchment as part of their oversubscription criteria, and some do not, they can still be oversubscribed and reach PAN before all children in catchment have been allocated a place. What they must do is follow their oversubscription criteria, but it is possible for schools to do that and not have enough spaces for Dc who live within the pre-defined catchment area.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page