Buone pratiche didattiche per prevenire falsi positivi nelle diagnosi di discalculia: il progetto PerContare

TL;DR

This paper discusses a 3-year project in Italy aimed at reducing false positives in dyscalculia diagnoses among third graders through specific teaching strategies grounded in kinesthetic, tactile, and visual-spatial approaches, supported by qualitative evidence.

Contribution

It introduces a set of didactical strategies designed to prevent misdiagnosis of dyscalculia, based on theoretical foundations and tested in nationwide primary schools.

Findings

Strategies grounded in kinesthetic-tactile and visual-spatial approaches are effective.

Activities help students internalize part-whole relations and understand multiplication.

Qualitative data supports the success of the teaching methods.

Abstract

To contrast the phenomenon of false positives in the diagnoses of dyscalculia in Italy, among 3rd grade children, a 3-year project (2011-2014), built upon a collaboration between psychologists and mathematics educators, was carried out. Within the project specific teaching strategies for preventing and addressing learning difficulties in arithmetic arising at the beginning of primary school were designed and tested in schools nation wide. This paper presents the project's background and the theoretical foundations of the didactical material designed, providing also some examples. In particular, prototypical examples will show how the activities, grounded within a kinesthetic-tactile and visual-spatial approach, are designed to lead to students' interiorization of part-whole relations, and to their thinking about multiplication through structured diagrams. Qualitative data confirming effectiveness of the proposed didactical strategies will also be discussed.