5 types of dyscalculia in children: symptoms, examples and what to do
Why you need to know the type of dyscalculia
When a child is bad at counting, the first impulse is to drill counting. But if the problem is that they don't understand the word “subtract,” drilling counting won't help. If they don't see spatial relationships, entirely different work is needed. The type of dyscalculia determines the direction of help.
Type 1. Verbal dyscalculia
In essence: difficulty expressing math concepts in words.
How it shows up: the child may understand quantity at the level of objects but gets confused when they need to say a number in words, understand a spoken instruction, or read a word problem. Doesn't understand “add,” “between,” “difference.”
What to do: work on math vocabulary, link each word to a hands-on action, practice antonyms and spatial prepositions.
Atlas cards: S-34, S-35, S-20, S-21, S-23, S-29.
Type 2. Practognostic dyscalculia
In essence: impaired mathematization of actions with objects.
How it shows up: can't count objects without mistakes, confuses left and right, can't see which group has more without counting. Can't line objects up by size.
What to do: finger counting while saying it out loud, ordering objects (stacking ring toys, nesting dolls), spatial orientation — first on one's own body, then in the surroundings.
Atlas cards: S-01, S-24, S-25, S-30, S-31, S-32, S-33.
Type 3. Graphical dyscalculia
In essence: difficulty writing math symbols.
How it shows up: writes digits mirrored (6 instead of 9). Confuses similar digits (3 and 8). At the same time, the child may count correctly out loud — the problem is specifically with the graphic image.
What to do: mold digits out of modeling clay, draw them in sand, analyze the parts of a digit (“which way is the tail pointing?”), compare similar digits.
Atlas cards: S-06, S-30.
Type 4. Operational dyscalculia
In essence: impaired performance of arithmetic operations.
How it shows up: constant mistakes when calculating, can't memorize the multiplication table, loses the intermediate result, counts on fingers even for simple problems.
What to do: work on number bonds through objects and structured cards, build an image of number as “parts and a whole,” use number frames to anchor it visually.
Atlas cards: S-05, S-08, S-13, S-16.
Type 5. Dyslexic dyscalculia
In essence: difficulty reading math symbols. Often goes along with dyslexia.
How it shows up: confuses the signs + and ×, < and >. Misreads multi-digit numbers (reads 304 as “thirty-four”). May understand math by ear but “goes blind” when working with written notation.
What to do: link each sign to a specific action (+ means we put things together, − means we take away). Build the visual image through hands-on activity with objects, not through rote memorization.
Atlas cards: S-06, S-29, S-35.
Important: the types often occur together
Most children with dyscalculia show signs of several types at once. A specialist — a speech therapist or a neuropsychologist — can identify the leading type and build an intervention program. But it's useful for a parent to know this map: it explains why some exercises work and others don't.
In the atlas on dyscalculia-help.com, every card is tagged with a type of dyscalculia — this helps you choose exercises that work on exactly the right mechanism.