Many learners have difficulties with maths and these can be explained in different ways:

·        Gaps in maths education, inappropriate teaching methods, or social and personal factors, such as motivation and anxiety, can have a significant impact on maths learning. 

·        Difficulties in the cognitive skills associated with dyslexia can also impact maths learning. These are language skills, attentional skills, visual-spatial skills, motor-coordination, and/or slow processing speeds. Working memory (the capacity to remember spoken and written information for a brief period and then use it to carry out a task), also affects maths learning.

Many learners with dyslexia also have difficulties with maths. 

Some learners experience dyscalculia which is a Specific Learning Difficulty (SpLD), such as dyslexia. Dyscalculia is a severe and persistent difficulty with understanding numbers, or number sense.

Number sense includes:

Subitising - being able to rapidly and accurately recognise the number of objects in a small group without having to count them

Non-symbolic magnitude - knowing when amounts of objects are larger or smaller

Symbolic magnitude - being able to compare symbols (numbers/digits) and knowing whether one is greater or less than another

Ordering - knowing how many items are in a set, and how to position a number in a series or order.

It is important to know that dyscalculia can occur on its own or can co-occur with other SpLD, such as dyslexia.

As difficulties with maths often co-occur with dyslexia, we recommend that your child has a dyslexia assessment first, before having a Top-Up Maths Difficulties and Dyscalculia assessment.

A dyslexia assessment will investigate all aspects of their learning, including reading, writing, and spelling skills, and maths computation. It also explores the processing skills which may be affecting your child’s learning.  A dyslexia assessment will take approximately 3 hours to complete and costs £699.

Both dyslexia and maths assessments can be requested for the same day, but please think carefully about whether your child will manage such a long and complex assessment.

If your child has already been assessed for dyslexia or other SpLDs by an appropriately qualified assessor, and the report is available, you can request a Top-Up Dyscalculia assessment. The previous assessment does not need to have been done by the same assessor. The information from the dyslexia assessment will be used to support a deeper exploration of your child’s maths difficulties.

A Dyscalculia Top-Up Maths assessment will explore:

·       number sense

·       estimation

·       Maths facts retrieval

·       sequences and procedures

·       mathematical reasoning and problem solving

·       mathematical language

·       Maths anxiety

A Top-Up assessment for Maths Difficulties and Dyscalculia will take approximately 2½ hours to complete. They take place in a quiet room, free of distractions. Parents can wait on site if they wish. There is a short break when your child can have a drink and a snack. 

All assessments allow time after the assessment for discussion. A detailed report will be provided within three weeks of the assessment.  The report will include:

As a result of the Maths Difficulties and Dyscalculia assessment:

·       Dyscalculia will only be identified if your child is experiencing a severe and persistent difficulty in number sense.

·        Maths difficulties will be identified when maths attainment is being impacted by inefficiencies in the cognitive processing skills associated with dyslexia and/or other SpLDs.

·       Current difficulties with maths might be explained by other educational, personal or social factors.

A Maths Difficulties and Dyscalculia Top Up Assessment costs £350. We usually ask that this is paid in full before the assessment. However, if you need to pay this in instalments instead, please let us know. 

A proportion of the fee that you pay helps us to provide subsidised assessments to lower-income families. This prevents people from being excluded from getting the help they need. Thank you very much for your help and support.  Please note that when making an enquiry, there is the option for anyone to request bursary support.

Our Specialist Assessors are required to hold a current Assessment Practising Certificate (APC) approved by the SpLD Assessment Standards Committee (SASC). Therefore, all our reports can be used for Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) purposes in the future. Each of our Specialist Assessors holds a current Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

The Top-up Maths Difficulties and Dyscalculia assessments are carried out by assessors who have had specific training and hold an additional qualification to assess and teach learners with Dyscalculia and Maths difficulties.

Our Specialist Assessors cannot diagnose Autism or ADHD, as these are medical conditions and require assessment by the appropriate health professionals.

If you do make an enquiry for this kind of assessment, we will ask you to complete a Family Questionnaire and we need your child's school to complete a School Questionnaire. We will give you clear instructions on how to ask your school to do this.

A child needs to have lived in an English-speaking country and have been speaking English for several years before they can be assessed for dyslexia and dyscalculia. They will also need to be learning to read, write and spell in English. The tests we use to assess for dyslexia and dyscalculia rely on having well-developed English-speaking skills and understanding of an English-speaking culture. If they have not lived in an English-speaking country and have not spoken English regularly for several years before the assessment, the assessment will not be valid.