The first "Mathematics Learning Difficulties Clinic" opened, should I go to register for an account?

Text | Chen Tianyong (Associate Researcher, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences)

On October 8, the "Spatial and Mathematical Learning Difficulties Clinic" of Shanghai Children's Medical Center affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine was opened. As soon as the news was released, it was widely spread on the Internet, and the special outpatient clinic number sources in all time periods showed a status of "full".

Math learning difficulties are a common type of learning difficulties, and although domestic learning difficulties clinics are not new, math learning difficulties clinics are the first. In September 2020, the Department of Psychology of the Children's Hospital of Fudan University opened the "Learning Difficulties Clinic". In February 2021, Nanjing Children's Hospital opened the "Learning Difficulties Clinic". In May 2022, the Children's Hospital Affiliated to the Capital Institute of Pediatrics set up a "Learning Difficulties Clinic".

Many students have the feeling that mathematics is difficult to learn, is mathematics learning difficulty really a disease? Are learning disabilities the same concept as learning difficulties?

Conceptual analysis and diagnostic criteria

Mathematics learning disability is indeed a disease, which mainly refers to the deficit of one or more cognitive processing abilities related to mathematical ability (number sense, arithmetic ability, mathematical reasoning ability, etc.), resulting in backward mathematics learning performance. In the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) developed by the World Health Organization and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) published by the United States Psychiatric Association, it is classified as a neurodevelopmental disorder under learning disabilities, such as developmental dyslexia.

The meaning of students with learning difficulties in mathematics or difficulties in mathematics is more diverse. On the one hand, it can both be used as a substitute for learning disabilities; On the other hand, because mathematics is difficult to learn, the phenomenon of mathematics learning difficulties is widespread, so it can also refer to all students who are lagging behind in mathematics learning.

The diagnostic criteria for learning disabilities mainly focus on the following aspects: First, difficulty in learning and using study skills. Mathematics learning difficulties are mainly manifested in number sense (such as not being able to distinguish the size and relationship of numbers), memory of arithmetic facts (relying on fingers to add single digits, rather than recalling numbers as quickly as peers), accuracy and fluency in calculation, and poor accuracy of mathematical reasoning. Second, math skills are significantly lower than those of the same age, affecting academic performance or daily life. The third is that learning difficulties begin at school age but do not fully manifest themselves until the learning task requires more learning skills than the individual's impaired abilities. Fourth, it is necessary to eliminate difficulties in mathematics learning caused by intellectual disabilities, visual or hearing impairments, other mental or neurological disorders, insufficient educational resources, and poor teacher-student relationships.

How to intervene in math learning difficulties

Since the beginning of this century, there has been a significant increase in research on mathematics learning difficulties in China. Through literature search, it was found that the research on learning difficulties in mathematics mainly involved special education and psychology, while there were few studies on psychiatry and pediatrics. Articles are generally published in academic journals such as Special Education in China and Psychological Science, as well as non-academic journals such as Mathematics Learning and Research. The researchers are mainly from several major normal universities in China.

It is worth noting that the Mental Health Law implemented in 2013 clearly states that only medical institutions that meet the prescribed conditions are qualified to carry out the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. Although researchers in the field of psychology and educational measurement have developed various scales for the diagnosis of learning disabilities, and experts in the field of special education and developmental psychology are the main body of learning difficulties research, these researchers or experts are not qualified to diagnose and treat learning disabilities from the perspective of domestic laws and regulations. However, there are still few outpatient clinics for learning difficulties in domestic hospitals, and the scientific research ability is also weak, so it is necessary to strengthen the scientific research cooperation with the relevant professional teams of normal universities and research institutes to continuously improve the professional ability and scientific research level.

According to diagnostic criteria, the student with math difficulties has a deficit in one or more mathematical abilities. A meta-analysis study at East China Normal University, which analysed 30 intervention studies published between 2005 and 2020, found that the intervention studies on mathematical ability achieved a moderate level of intervention effect. Specifically, the use of visual teaching and specific operation materials such as building blocks and number lines can help students with learning difficulties to understand the relationship between numbers more intuitively and significantly improve their mathematical performance. The intervention of numeracy ability focuses on the fluency training of numeracy combinations, and follows the teaching sequence from concrete operations to mental representations to abstract comprehension, which helps students with learning difficulties to better grasp the rules of calculation.

Students with math difficulties often also have deficits in working memory and executive function, which adversely affects their math learning. Studies have shown that the training of working memory and executive function can effectively improve the number sense, visuospatial and reasoning abilities of students with learning difficulties, thereby improving their mathematical performance. In addition, pictorial teaching and other methods can effectively reduce the load of working memory and help students with learning difficulties to learn mathematics better. However, although these interventions have shown positive effects in improving working memory, the long-term effects on math performance need to be further studied and validated.

Mathematics is difficult to teach and difficult to learn, how to crack it

According to the diagnostic criteria for learning disabilities, the brain and mathematics learning research team of Beijing Normal University conducted a special survey on learning difficulties among children aged 6 to 17 across the country. The results showed that the overall incidence of learning difficulties in school-age children in China was about 15.3%, of which the incidence of mathematics learning difficulties was only 4.8%. However, due to the widespread problem of difficult teaching and learning of mathematics in all countries in the world, there are a large number of students with academic difficulties who lag behind in mathematics learning, especially in township schools with relatively weak educational resources. According to the results of the China Education Panel Survey (CEPS) conducted by the China Survey and Data Center of Chinese Minmin University, 36.6% and 11.3% of students in urban schools felt "a little difficult" and "particularly difficult" in mathematics learning, while the proportions of students in rural schools were 40.7% and 18.6%, respectively, which were significantly higher than those in urban schools.

In the face of such a large group of students with difficulties in mathematics, the teaching methods and learning methods of mathematics in primary and secondary schools in mainland China need to be innovated urgently. Zhang Yarui, a doctoral student at the Institute of Psychology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, analyzed the data from the western region of CEPS and found that too much use of teachers' teaching methods could not improve students' mathematics performance, and even increased the percentage of students in township middle schools who felt struggling to learn mathematics. Increasing the teaching methods with students as the main body, such as group discussion and teacher-student interaction, is only beneficial to the improvement of students' mathematics performance in urban middle schools, suggesting that township middle schools should not copy the teaching methods of urban middle schools, and should further explore teaching methods suitable for township mathematics classrooms based on the students' foundation and teachers.

The example walkthrough learning method is an adaptive learning method that is student-centered and open to all students. The method was proposed by Zhu Xinming, a professor at the Institute of Psychology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Herbert Simon, a Nobel Prize and Turing Award winner and United States cognitive psychologist, in collaboration with Herbert ·Simon. In layman's terms, example drill learning is "learning by example, learning by doing", and its idea is derived from artificial intelligence; Through the compilation form of "example questions + exercises + summary", the sample exercise guide book allows students to master mathematical knowledge and skills in the process of example problem demonstration and exercise exercise. A series of empirical studies conducted in China and United States have shown that this method can greatly reduce the burden on teachers and students, and the learning time used in the experimental class is shorter, but the results are significantly higher than that of the control class.

In the face of children with math learning difficulties, most parents may be defeated by frustration when tutoring their children's learning, and there is a phenomenon of "not tutoring homework mothers and children, and dogs jumping when tutoring homework". How to deal with it correctly?

First of all, it is necessary to understand the main reasons for the difficulty in learning mathematics. Whether the child is unwilling to learn, or the learning method is wrong, or it is really unable to mechanic, and what aspect of the ability is deficient, etc., parents need to take the initiative to seek professional help. Our research shows that children's interest in subject learning is greatly influenced by the teacher-student relationship, and if they do not like the math teacher, they will also lag behind in math learning.

Secondly, families, schools, communities, and hospitals should work together to actively explore effective solutions. Parents should take the initiative to communicate with teachers to understand their children's learning situation, and cooperate with teachers to design and implement personalized education plans for their children; Seek the help of professional social workers and professional service organizations widely distributed in the community, and use the role of these professional resources in students' academic and psychological counseling, cognitive training, and parental guidance to jointly solve the developmental difficulties of children with learning difficulties.