Between Difficulties and Disorders

the Underreporting of Dyscalculia and the Challenge of Inclusive Mathematics Education

Abstract

This qualitative and documentary study aimed to identify the presence of students with Dyscalculia enrolled in the final years of elementary school at a state public institution in northwestern Paraná. Data collection took place between 2023 and 2024 and comprised the documentary analysis of 76 enrollment records linked to the Multifunctional Resource Room (MRR), in addition to reports and Individual Educational Plans. The theoretical framework was based on Brazilian inclusive education regulations and specific studies on dyscalculia. The results revealed the absence of formal diagnoses of dyscalculia at the institution and highlight a gap in the identification of these cases. The analysis of the records revealed that the term Learning Difficulty (LD) has been used in these reports as an umbrella category, without specifying the subtype of the disorder (such as dyslexia, dysorthography, or dyscalculia). By not specifying the particular nature of the disorder, the medical report ends up making Dyscalculia (a mathematical disorder) invisible, causing students who might have this specific disorder to not receive the interventions focused on numerical processing that the literature recommends, leaving them at the mercy of a generalist perspective. However, the analysis allowed the identification of other specificities of the students served at the MRR, such as Dyslexia, Intellectual Disability, ADHD, Noonan Syndrome, DiGeorge Syndrome, and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The study highlights the urgency of further research on Dyscalculia in the educational context.