Change Your Perspective: It's Just Dyscalculia

As Neurodiversity Celebration Week shines a light on neurological differences, runner Adelle Tracey is sharing her personal experience with dyscalculia. Set to compete for Jamaica at the Paris Olympics, Tracey opened up about the challenges of living with dyscalculia— a condition that affects understanding numbers, which can be tough in a sport reliant on times and distances.

She explains how managing numbers in her training and daily life requires extra focus, but her neurodiversity also fuels her passion for sport. By speaking out, Tracey hopes to raise awareness about dyscalculia and inspire others to embrace their unique strengths.

#justdyscalculia #changeyourperspective #erasmusplusproject

The LTTA3 took place from the 9th to the 13th of September in Panevezys, Lithuania, at the premises of Panevezio „Zemynos“ progimnazija.

As part of the Erasmus+ project Dyscalculia, LTTA3 focused on creating a podcast series in Work Package 4 (WP4). These podcasts cover key topics about dyscalculia, offering flexible, accessible learning for students, educators, and parents.

By choosing podcasts as a medium, this initiative promotes modern teaching practices that can be easily accessed anytime, anywhere, especially benefiting learners with dyscalculia or other learning challenges.

We are excited to announce that the third Learning Teaching Training Activity (LTTA 3) for the Dyscalculia Podcast Preparation will be taking place soon! This event will be led by Panevezio „Zemynos“ progimnazija in Lithuania and is an integral part of our ongoing efforts under Work Package 4.

The Dyscalculia Podcast Preparation LTTA is designed to ensure the successful creation and publication of valuable podcasts that will serve as an essential resource for teachers, prospective educators, and academics interested in dyscalculia. These podcasts will be accessible anytime and anywhere, providing crucial insights and knowledge on this important topic.

We look forward to the productive collaboration and innovative outcomes that will arise from LTTA 3. Stay tuned for more updates as we work together to make these valuable educational resources available to a wider audience! 🙌

Creating an inclusive and enriching classroom experience for all students, especially those with dyscalculia, is essential for improving overall education quality. To achieve this, we need to focus on fostering a supportive social environment and implementing inclusive practices in our lesson plans. Collaboration among teachers, support staff, and parents plays a crucial role in this process. By working together, we can ensure that every student feels supported and integrated, paving the way for a more inclusive educational journey.

Teachers, who work with dyscalculic students, should use multisensory teaching techniques, which can be highly effective, because they involve using multiple senses (sight, hearing, touch, and movement) to help students learn and remember information.

To help children with dyscalculia in terms of information processing or information processing speed in understanding a new skill quickly, teachers need to always give enough time or ‚wait time‘. It will help children with dyscalculia to process information effectively, especially a newly learned mathematical concept.

One of the main problem areas for children with dyscalculia is the recognition of numbers, mathematical signs or number symbols. The strength of children with dyscalculia is excellent visual thinking, so creative methods should be used in the teaching and learning process.

Understanding how to diagnose dyscalculia in mainstream educational settings is crucial for effective support. Typically, this involves a multidisciplinary approach with input from educators, psychologists, and sometimes medical professionals. Teachers often play a key role in observing early signs of mathematical difficulties, which are then confirmed through formal assessments and psychological evaluations. Once diagnosed, personalized intervention plans are developed to help dyscalculic students succeed academically.

This topic is faced within Module 2 of the Dyscalculia Curriculum and Course Material.
So stay tuned 🔜

The partners of Dyscalculia have created a short video about Dyscalculia in Europe!

Check it out ⬇️

Teachers should adapt their lessons not only to the learning content but above all to the individual needs of the learners. The learners‘ needs are very individual and different, as each learner brings different prior knowledge, learning requirements, motivation, daily form, etc. to the classroom. Learners also bring learning disorders with them, such as dyscalculia. Teachers need knowledge, appropriate awareness and essential skills to effectively treat children with dyscalculia in school to provide them with high-quality teaching. The key competences of a teacher for dyscalculic learners are crucial for learning success in maths lessons.

Key competences: facilitation, responsibility, reflection, support, feedback

From the 11th to the 15th of March, the partners of the Eramsus+ project “Change Your Perspective: It´s Just Dyscalculia” had an LTTA2 at the partners of Paderborn University in Paderborn, Germany.

The meeting focussed on e-learning and videos as part of e-learning in school. The
partners are familiar with e-learning and the creation of learning videos. They created
videos of the Dyscalculia project, its meaning in Europe and in every partner country.

The project partners worked on the second work package and discussed further tasks
within the project. The next meeting, which will be the third LTTA, will be held in Lithuania.
Overall, it was a successful week and the partners are excited for the next phase!

The partners are looking forward to the upcoming Learning Teaching Training Activity at University Paderborn in Paderborn, Germany.

In this activity, the partners are going to focus on e-learning and videos as part of e-learning in classroom environments in secondary schools. They are going to find great solutions of e-learning and video elements to support students with learning disabilities such as dyscalculia. Stay tuned 🚀