Diagnosis of weaknesses in numeracy

How is the calculation of weakness diagnosed?

A distinction must be made between the Diagnosiswhich recognizes the arithmetic weakness as a partial weakness in the sense of the ICD 10 and distinguishes it from the other problems in the mathematical area, such as combined disorders of school skills or arithmetic difficulties that can be attributed to inadequate teaching.
Just like that Dyslexia According to the classification in ICD 10 (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th revision), dyscalculia is one of the so-called circumscribed developmental disorders.
The problem of dyscalculia lies rather in the fact that the problem cannot be explained by a lack of intelligence or by inadequate teaching is.

Thus, the difficulty arises to distinguish the appearance from the general problems in learning to calculate.

According to ICD 10, the following forms of arithmetic problems are to be distinguished from dyscalculia:

1. Poor numeracy as a result of inadequate teaching or as a result of deprivation (= lack of physical and emotional attention).
2. Loss of arithmetic skills already acquired through cerebral damage (= "acquired" arithmetic weakness)
3. Poor numeracy due to insufficient intelligence (IQ <70)
4. As a result of organic illnesses, mental disorders or disabilities (e.g .: sensory disabilities) arithmetic weaknesses (= “secondary” arithmetic weaknesses).

On the one hand, there are diagnostics standardized test procedures available, which, however, like classwork, only differentiate between right and wrong and do not analyze errors as such. Not everyone can carry out standardized test procedures.
However, since one does not want to label a child as “weak math” or “not weak math”, but rather wants to work specifically on the problems, a meaningful analysis must be carried out. This can only be done by a qualitative failure analysis and a qualitative assessment of the computational techniques happen. In principle, this requires the student to think out loud when solving the tasks, i.e. to provide information about his calculation methods. This is the only way to determine subjective (= wrong, cumbersome) algorithms and analyze wrong solutions.
Subjective algorithms can also be determined particularly impressively when the test person is asked to solve the problem with the help of materials (learning materials). When acting, it can be recognized, for example, whether arithmetic or counting, etc.
In addition, however, further diagnosis must be carried out continuously even during therapy. It is important to analyze the mistakes and to question the child's thought structures. One speaks of a so-called Follow-up diagnostics, which makes it possible to set the right priorities for the therapy and to build them on each other - step by step.

As a rule, the student is not solely responsible for the development of a learning difficulty. For this reason, as part of a diagnosis should always be Questions about home and school be asked. Both school and home have the opportunity to observe the children, which means that indications of difficulties can be observed and addressed at an early stage.
Early detection plays a major role in all problems. The earlier problems are recognized and analyzed, the faster assistance in terms of meaningful therapy can be approached