When New York state and city education leaders announced an effort with the Hunt Institute’s Path Forward program to train teachers on science-based literacy instruction, relief seemed to set in across the five boroughs over another plan to solve low-reading levels and help students overcome the reading disability dyslexia.
However, the news left some learning disability experts wondering when the same will be done for the math learning disability known as dyscalculia.
“To the best of my knowledge, there are no formal dyscalculia programs in the NYC public schools,” said Elena W. Ostroy, a Brooklyn-based neuropsychologist who works with various ages regarding ADHD, learning disabilities and developmental delays. “The [Department of Education] has only recently begun to pilot a program to provide screening and targeted support for dyslexic students. Dyscalculia prevalence estimates vary somewhat, but it is roughly similar to dyslexia. It is … much less researched, less known by the general public, and receives less attention in the school setting in general, not just in New York.”
According to Understood, a nonprofit dedicated to those who “learn and think differently,” dyscalculia is “a condition that…
