Untangling the Equation of Math Struggles

Kids who struggle with math need early, effective help to keep their education on track, according to Stanford Medicine neuroscientist Vinod Menon, PhD.

Math learning disabilities can cause protracted academic difficulties that make kids less interested in the subject and increase their anxiety about trying to do math. “It’s a cascading set of problems,” Menon said. “It becomes a bottleneck to further learning.”

That’s why a new study by Menon’s team is so important. The researchers found that children with math learning disability were about as good as their peers at a simple math task, but behind the scenes, their brains were working differently, with less effective focus and error monitoring. The findings offer new insights into how to help address the disability.

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