GCSE Maths for Neurodivergent Learners: Build Your Confidence in Number, Proportion and Algebra

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As a specialist dyscalculia teacher who isn't a secondary maths teacher, I'm really excited about using this book and can already see that my older pupils are going to benefit so much from it. In a class of 30 children, there will be 30 individual profiles and personalities, all with their own strengths, weaknesses and interests. It explains and explores a range of specific learning differences and encourages the children to develop their metacognitive awareness. Students will be able to put their newly acquired knowledge to the test with the book’s plenty of practise problems.

We can all learn maths, we just need the right environment, the right support, and the right mindset. I am a specialist dyscalculia teacher (ADT) and although I am originally a trained primary teacher, I often help older pupils with maths difficulties.The focus on readers learning how and why a method works and the positive 'can do' attitude that permeates the whole text make the book an absolute boon to anyone who feels that maths is not for them. The study guide covers fundamental topics in a straightforward, easy to follow way with useful visual images and practical examples to aid understanding. Their self-esteem improves, their motivation improves and their mindset changes from a fixed ‘I can’t do maths’ mindset to a ‘I can’t do it yet, but soon I will be able to. With everything tailored to suit young people who think and learn differently, this GCSE maths study guide has all you need to improve your maths skills. In my early days as a teacher, I very naively thought that every child saw maths in the same way that I did.

Sadly, the book didn’t go that far, and after some worked examples and plenty of practice questions (answers in the back of the book), we moved onto Chapter 2; place value and decimals.It provides valuable insight (for the learner and those working with them) into the challenges being neurodiverse can have on the acquisition of maths, but then offers essential tips on overcoming these challenges to achieve success.

This is the first GCSE maths study guide (covering number, proportion and algebra) that uses engaging multisensory methods of learning for students with specific learning differences. I would say that for parents, some time would need to be spent reading through and preparing resources, etc before starting to work through. With everything tailored to suit young people who think and learn differently, this GCSE maths study guide has all you need to improve your maths skills…and maybe even learn to love maths!

I actually enjoy teaching and using Napier’s bones with Key Stages 2 and 3, so I was delighted to see them used here…the problem is, sitting in a GCSE exam, it isn’t one of the allowable items of equipment you can put in your clear plastic pencil case. When she was Senior Lecturer in Inclusion at Edgehill University, she was responsible for developing a PGCE in Dyscalculia and she wrote the British Dyslexia Association's courses on Dyscalculia. Further chapters of the book focus on factors and primes, directed numbers, indices, ratio and proportion, algebra, equations and inequalities, and even quadratics. We need to find out what makes them tick, what their fears are, what their motivators are, and to help them to understand how they as individuals learn best. We really need to kick that notion into the long grass and have these simple manipulatives available for all children, all the time.