Logico-Mathematical Speech Therapy Assessment: understanding and treating difficulties with calculation and reasoning
Mathematics is often seen as a matter of talent or effort. Yet for some children, difficulty with calculation is neither a lack of effort nor a lack of intelligence — it is a specific neurodevelopmental disorder: dyscalculia. Just as common as dyslexia (around 5% of the population), it remains far less diagnosed, due to insufficient awareness and limited access to specialist assessment.
The logico-mathematical speech therapy assessment is the reference evaluation for identifying dyscalculia and its forms, precisely measuring the deficient skills, and guiding towards suitable therapy. On ORA-VISIO, it is carried out by video call by specialist speech therapists, with a report recognised for PAP requests, MDPH applications and exam accommodations.
What is dyscalculia? What the assessment evaluates
Dyscalculia is not “being bad at maths”. It is a specific, lasting disorder of number processing and mathematical reasoning, which persists despite adapted teaching and normal intelligence. As the ORA-VISIO blog article Childhood disorders: dyscalculia points out, dyscalculia is often associated with other DYS disorders — dyslexia, dysphasia, dyspraxia — but can exist on its own.
The logico-mathematical speech therapy assessment explores four major areas:
Number sense and numeracy. Understanding of quantity, number comparison, mental number line, counting, subitising (instant recognition of small quantities). These skills are the foundation of all mathematical learning.
Calculation and arithmetic procedures. Memorisation of addition, subtraction and multiplication tables. Setting out and solving written operations (carrying, borrowing, division). Mental arithmetic. The speech therapist distinguishes memory retrieval errors (the 7 times table can’t be recalled) from procedural errors (the subtraction algorithm is applied incorrectly).
Mathematical language and logical concepts. Understanding mathematical terms (greater than, half, double, quotient…), properties of geometric shapes, and the logic of classification and seriation. Dysphasia can directly interfere with mathematical learning here, via language.
Problem solving. The ability to extract relevant data from a word problem, plan a solving procedure and carry out the calculations. This is often the area most affected in real school situations, even when isolated calculations are mastered.
Forms of dyscalculia
Dyscalculia is not a single, uniform condition. The assessment helps identify which form affects the child, which directly shapes the therapy strategies used.
Verbal dyscalculia. Difficulty naming numbers, counting out loud, memorising times tables orally. Often associated with dysphasia or verbal memory difficulties.
Procedural dyscalculia. Concepts are understood, but calculation procedures (operation algorithms) are poorly automated, inconsistent, and regularly reinvented. The child “starts from scratch” each time, as if discovering the procedure anew.
Spatial dyscalculia. Inability to set out an operation within the space of the page (aligning digits, managing columns, direction of writing numbers). Often associated with dyspraxia — as explained in the ORA-VISIO blog’s article on dyspraxia, which lists spatial dyscalculia among the logico-mathematical manifestations of this disorder.
Semantic dyscalculia. A disorder of number sense: the child cannot mentally represent quantity, cannot place a number on a number line, and does not understand that 7 is greater than 4.
Warning signs by school level
In pre-school (final year): cannot reliably count to 10, doesn’t recognise small quantities without counting, confuses the concepts of more and less, big and small.
In Years 1-2 (CP-CE1): doesn’t recognise digits, confuses 6 and 9 or 2 and 5 in writing, doesn’t memorise number bonds to 10, still counts on fingers for simple additions.
In Years 3-5 (CE2-CM2): multiplication tables not memorised, written operations always set out incorrectly or inconsistently, failure to solve word problems even with simple data.
In secondary and upper secondary school: mental arithmetic impossible, dependence on a calculator for basic operations, geometry or algebra out of reach, very uneven results across subjects (good at French, major difficulty in maths).
At any age: unable to read the time on an analogue watch, regularly confusing banknotes and coins, difficulty estimating distances, managing a budget, or reading a data table.
The logico-mathematical assessment can be carried out at any stage of schooling. The earlier it is conducted, the more the therapy can prevent secondary difficulties — maths anxiety, dropping out, avoidance-driven career choices.
Dyscalculia and comorbidities: a common reality
Dyscalculia is rarely an isolated condition. As highlighted in the article Childhood disorders: dyscalculia, a child with dyscalculia often also has dyslexia, dysphasia or dysorthographia — which is why the written language assessment and the logico-mathematical assessment are often conducted in parallel.
Dyspraxia frequently interferes with mathematics through its spatial dimension. The article Dyspraxia — Developmental Coordination Disorder details how logico-mathematical difficulties (classification, seriation, transcoding, setting out operations) are part of the clinical picture of dyspraxia.
ADHD systematically complicates the memorisation of times tables and problem solving, even in the absence of pure dyscalculia. A neuropsychological assessment helps disentangle the attentional component from the dyscalculic component in mathematical difficulties.
Lastly, the psychological impact of dyscalculia is often underestimated: maths anxiety, self-devaluation and avoidance can complicate the picture well before adolescence. The article The impact of mental health on children with DYS explores these links.
After the assessment: complementary support
Logico-mathematical speech therapy → online speech therapy: systematic work on number sense, calculation procedures, mathematical language and problem solving, with concrete tools and compensation strategies.
Associated spatial dyspraxia → online occupational therapy for organisation within the space of the page, the use of compensatory tools (calculation grids, adapted calculators) and adjustments to the school environment.
Associated ADHD → online ADHD coaching to work on the organisational and attention strategies that underpin memorising times tables and handling longer exercises.
Academic support → remote academic support with teachers trained in DYS profiles, to help with maths homework without reinforcing the blocks.
Tailored learning methods → online psychopedagogy to build maths learning strategies that work around the deficits and draw on the child’s cognitive strengths.
Maths anxiety or dropping out → online psychology or parental guidance to defuse the emotional blocks often built up after years of misunderstood difficulties.
School guidance → online school and career guidance: dyscalculia should not be the sole factor driving a choice of academic path. A specialist advisor helps build a plan that highlights the student’s strengths.
Frequently asked questions
Does “being bad at maths” necessarily mean dyscalculia? No. Many children struggle with maths without having dyscalculia: gaps in prerequisites, unsuitable teaching methods, maths anxiety, ADHD, or simply not enough practice. Dyscalculia is distinguished by being specific, lasting, resistant to ordinary teaching, and measurable through standardised tests. Only the assessment can determine this for certain.
My child does well orally but struggles hugely with maths. Is this consistent with dyscalculia? Absolutely. Dyscalculia is a specific disorder that can coexist with a perfectly normal or even high verbal and intellectual level. This profile — good orally, major difficulty with calculation — is actually characteristic of semantic or procedural dyscalculia.
Is the logico-mathematical assessment the same as the written language assessment? No. These are two separate assessments exploring different skills, even though they are carried out by the same professional (the speech therapist). They can be conducted in separate sessions or in two stages over the same period.
Can dyscalculia be cured? Dyscalculia, like other DYS disorders, is lasting. It doesn’t go away. But early, well-conducted speech therapy can considerably reduce its impact on school and daily life, and establish effective compensation strategies — as highlighted in the article Childhood disorders: dyscalculia.
Does the report help obtain permission to use a calculator for the brevet or baccalauréat? Yes. A report concluding a diagnosis of dyscalculia, written by a state-qualified speech therapist, is one of the documents used to request permission to use a calculator in exams, even in tests where it is not normally allowed. Other accommodations can also be requested: extra time, provided formulas, adapted presentation of exam papers.
