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Hello and welcome to What in the World is Dyscalculia, the podcast that is all

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about the math related specific learning disorder. I'm Dr. Honora Wall and I'm the

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host of our podcast which is sponsored by Educalc Learning and you can find more

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about Dyscalculia at educalclearning.com and the different services that

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we provide for people of all ages with Dyscalculia. You can also visit

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www.thedtri.org that is a nonprofit dedicated to raising awareness,

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understanding, and changing the lived experiences of people with Dyscalculia.

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Making them better, more confident in their math abilities and removing the

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barriers to math success. And in today's podcast I want to talk about one

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potential barrier that is popping up in a lot of states right now due to the

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movement many states are going with for offering vouchers for students to attend

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private schools. Depending on your state this may not apply to you, it may apply

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very much in the state where you live. But in general there are some things about

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vouchers that I want you to know because they do relate to students with

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learning disabilities especially Dyscalculia. Now there are many reasons why

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a family might want to use a voucher or want to send their child to a private

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school whether it's a religious school or just an independent school, a small

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private school in their area, etc. And those are family choices and they're

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valid choices and having a voucher option can make it more affordable for

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families to do so. Before you jump in and leave a public school and use a voucher

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to go into a private school I just want you to be aware of a key difference. And

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that difference is that private schools are not held to the same legality as

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public schools. Now I know more than most of you are having a very hard time

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getting the appropriate services from your public schools so just going to a

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public school does not mean you're getting the right kind of instruction

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which should be explicit, the right kind of assessments which means they are

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directly aligned to the teaching material. They're not heavily weighed

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outside assessments made by a district or a company that doesn't always relate

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to the classroom. And you may not be getting the right accommodations which

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include using notes and references during assessments as memory triggers to help

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guide the parietal lobe which loses math information over time and using things

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like a multiplication list or a calculator during assessments. I know that's a

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struggle but going into a private school can make it more of a struggle partly

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because like I said private schools have different regulations, different things

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that they have to follow, and things they don't have to follow, and they have

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different capacities. A lot of times private schools tend to be smaller or

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have different staffing than a public school. Now I know more than most of you

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are having a hard time getting staffing for your students with learning

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disabilities so again we don't have a perfect solution anywhere right now but

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a private school tends to have less in the way of resources, staffing, and

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ability and it might not be part of their mission. So they might just not be

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aware of or interested in giving the kind of accommodations that students

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with learning differences need. If you're thinking about going into a private

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school for any reason I just want you to have a conversation with them upfront in

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the beginning before you sign paperwork and before you transfer your student and

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especially before you get excited about using a voucher. You need to know what

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your options are at the school that you're thinking up and the only way to

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know that is to have an honest conversation. Are they aware of

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dyscalculia? Have they had training in it? What accommodations do they offer and

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what do they offer on paper as far as an IEP or 504 is concerned and is that

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backed up in the classroom? And this is not an indictment on all private

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schools. I have some students at private schools that bend over backwards for

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their students and the students are thriving and doing very very well in

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their upper-level math and science courses because the school is open to

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accommodating their differences in their learning understanding and memory

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when it comes to math. I have some students in public schools that are

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doing a great job at accommodating and those students are succeeding. I also

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know of most students who are not. They don't have the right services. They have

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some services but they're not appropriate for dyscalculia or they have

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limited services for a variety of reasons and the family thought they were

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getting into a better situation and it's just become worse. So since vouchers

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are expanding in many states and since a movement into private schools is

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expanding in many states I want you to know what kind of questions to ask

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before you decide on what is the best education option for your student. If

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you're talking to a school and they haven't heard of dyscalculia or they're

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interested in it and they want to help your child succeed you can send them to

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the DTRI.org website. You can send them to the LDA Learning Disabilities

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Association of America website or the one for your specific state. You can send

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them to understood.org. You can check with a local psychologist and see if they

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have some recommendations and just trying to get those specifics worked out. We

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want explicit instruction. We want worked examples and notes during assessments. We

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want to be able to use those external support tools depending on grade level.

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That could be a one to one hundreds chart multiplication list or calculator and

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know that students are going to need some extra support understanding how to use

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those tools. It's not intuitive which really is what dyscalculia is all about.

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Learning math is not intuitive in the same way that it is for neurotypical

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students. So these are some of the conversations I want you to have and

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there are resources. There's a growing body of research. No it's not as much as

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dyslexia but we're out here. We're talking about it and your school can find

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the right resources. They can email me directly and I'm happy to just have a

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conversation and send them some research articles and there are a few other

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experts in the US who will happily do the same thing. We want students to have

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the right support. We don't care where you get it from or how you implement it as

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long as you're doing it according to the research and best practices around

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dyscalculia. So everything I've been mentioning in this and other podcasts

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comes from published research both qualitative and quantitative in the

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fields of education psychology and neurology. So that's another thing that

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a school or an interested teacher can do. You don't have to take my word for

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anything. Go to Google Scholar look up these research articles yourself. We'll

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be adding more links to research articles on the DTRI.org website in the

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coming year so that it's easier to find some of the published research and it's

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more accessible but it's still easy to find it. I found plenty for my

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dissertation when I was doing my literature review. It was a very hefty

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literature review so I know the research is out there and I know you can find it

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on Google Scholar. You could probably also find it if you email some

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researchers directly. Most researchers are happy to have you read their

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research and discuss their findings. So a lot of times they'll email you their

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articles directly or have a discussion with you about their study and what

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they found. So you have lots of different avenues to find different

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information, lots of resources to share with your teacher, your school, your

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district, getting the awareness out there and keep in mind when you move to any

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new school. Maybe you want to use a voucher. Maybe you're looking at a private

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school in your area. Maybe you're moving to a new town or a new state or you're

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transitioning from elementary to middle or middle to high school. All of those

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situations can put you in contact with someone who's never heard of

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dyscalculia or they just don't know enough about it. They've heard the word

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but they don't really know what it means or what to do. All right let's get the

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awareness out there. Share some of the things I've talked about in this podcast.

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Use those links that I've shared with you, those different websites and let's

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get that conversation going. Just make sure you know what kind of

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accommodations your student needs and make sure that a school is willing to

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give them to your child and that the teacher understands and is going to back

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that up. When we have the right accommodations in place, students with

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dyscalculia do a fantastic job of succeeding at grade level math. I've

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seen this literally with hundreds of students over many many many years of

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working directly with people who have dyscalculia of all ages. So having this

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particular type of neurodivergence does not have to hold a person back from

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succeeding in math. I know for most of you it has and that is very unfortunate

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and something I hope to help you change. But that was more about the system you

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were in, not about your abilities or your capabilities. Okay so be very careful

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when you're changing schools. Be ready to have those awareness discussions. If

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you are in a state that is really pushing for more vouchers, be aware that

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private schools are not typically set up to accommodate and offer services in the

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same way as a public school is. They might be so ask make sure you're getting

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those questions in and getting some answers and writing before you make any

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choices. I'm Dr. Honora Wall. I appreciate you listening to the What in the

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World is Dyscalculia podcast. If you have any questions or comments please

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reach out to me Honora H-O-N-O-R-A at educalcallearning dot com or reach

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me at the nonprofit at the d-t-r-i dot org. And thanks for listening. We will have

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another podcast episode soon. Have a great day!