Dyscalculia in rough translation from Greek means bad counting. In medical terms it stands for the condition when a person experiences difficulties with mathematics. Which means that a person fails to understand the very concept of numbers, their abstract notion of comparative quantities; such a person has no idea of so-called ‘number sense’.

The condition does not mean that only people with low IQ have it. Not in the least. Different people suffer from this illness that is also called ‘Arithmetic Difficulties’ or ‘AD’. The condition also accompanied by troubles with time measurement and spatial reasoning.

The condition is easily noticed in young age and it is frequently diagnosed according to the following symptoms:

• a person does not understand what plus, minus, multiplication and division symbols mean and what is the sense of these operations;
• a patient has difficulty differentiating between two integers and saying which one is larger;
• a person confuses 5 and S  and does not see the difference between 0 (zero) and O;
• reading analog clocks represents a problem;
• everything that includes mental arithmetic is extremely difficult (change, checkbooks, budgeting, etc.);
• defining time and its passing also represents a problem;
• it is hard for such a person to define ‘left’ and ‘right’ and cardinal directions; maps also represent a trouble;
• a person with dyscalculia is prone to rotate numbers (i.e. 36-63);
• he or she can’t keep up with the score during games with scores;
• finally, such a person will be learning dancing and aerobics movements much longer and with a lot more problems than an ordinary person.

There have been a lot of researches on the subject of what causes this condition and the answers are still uncertain. No actual cause was found; therefore there are suspicions that the lesions somewhere in the temporal and parietal lobes junction have something to do with the condition. Other theories suppose that it may be a congenital or a hereditary disease.

Nevertheless it can be helped; it is definitely something that a person can learn to deal with. The major thing required is a special, appropriate way of teaching for the people with such a condition.