There are many bright and innovative individuals who grapple with numbers and mathematics. Yet astonishingly, in a world where numbers are so important, their difficulties have a remarkably low profile. In the educational world overall, there is very little discussion of how mathematically challenged individuals naturally think and learn. By comparison with dyslexia and literacy difficulties, the debilitating effects of dyscalculia and poor number sense — their implications for adult life, career prospects and household management — are too often ignored.

When someone struggles with maths, it is often assumed they are just “not a numbers person”. In reality, however, numbers and mathematics have not been presented in a way that matches how the individual thinks and learns. When this is done, mathematical ability can take off very quickly, and what was assumed to be a lifelong learning difficulty can become a thing of the past.

In this book, former Special Educational Needs Coordinator and Davis Methods specialist Richard Whitehead explores how dyscalculic individuals typically think and learn, and why traditional approaches to mathematics instruction so often fail to reach these individuals. He reveals the core principles of the Davis Maths Mastery Programme in which he has specialised for the past two decades, and he provides a number of scripted procedures which he uses to help mathematically challenged individuals achieve new and unexpected success.