The Trouble with Maths: A practical guide to helping learners with numeracy difficulties

Now in its fourth edition, with updates to reflect developments in our understanding of learning difficulties in maths, this award-winning text provides vital, pragmatic insights into the often-confusing world of numeracy. By looking at learning difficulties in maths and dyscalculia from several perspectives, for example, the vocabulary and language of maths, cognitive style and the demands of individual procedures, this book provides a complete overview of the most frequently occurring problems associated with maths teaching and learning. Drawing on tried-and-tested methods based on research and Steve Chinn’s decades of classroom experience, it provides an authoritative yet accessible one-stop classroom resource.

Combining advice, guidance and practical activities, this user-friendly guide will help you to:

• develop flexible cognitive styles
• use alternative strategies to replace an over-reliance on rote-learning for pupils trying to access basic facts
• understand the implications of underlying skills, such as working memory, on learning
• implement effective pre-emptive measures before demotivation sets in
• recognise the manifestations of maths anxiety and tackle affective domain problems
• find approaches to solve word problems
• select appropriate materials and visual images to enhance understanding.

With useful features such as checklists for the evaluation of books and an overview of resources, this book will equip you with essential skills to help you tackle your pupils’ maths difficulties and improve standards for all learners.

This book will be useful for all teachers, classroom assistants, learning support assistants and parents.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations

1. Introduction: Mathematics Learning Difficulties and dyscalculia
2. Factors that affect learning
3. What the curriculum asks pupils to do and where difficulties may occur
4. Cognitive style in mathematics
5. Developmental perspectives. A pragmatic approach
6. The vocabulary and language of mathematics
7. Anxiety, attributions and communication
8. The inconsistencies of mathematics
9. Manipulatives, materials and visual images: multisensory learning
10. The nasties. Long division and fractions

Appendix 1 Further reading

Appendix 2 Checklists

Appendix 3 Resources

References and notes Index

"[This book] focuses on the individual student and shows how to equip them with both an understanding of the problem and appropriate strategies to deal with the difficulties experienced. It draws on practical experience and evidence-based methods as well as current research […] This will be seen as an essential resource."
- Dr. Gavin Reid, Psychologist and author of Dyslexia and Inclusion

"Steve’s Chinn's book The Trouble with Maths has long been an essential part of any special needs teacher’s toolkit."
- Patricia Babtie and Jane Emerson, authors of The Dyscalculia Assessment and The Dyscalculia Solution

"Steve’s books are very well respected and well known and are generally the first port of call for someone looking for information on dyscalculia and maths difficulties."
- Judy Hornigold, International Lecturer in Dyscalculia.