LS024: Dyscalculia - number sense and magnitude intervention pathway

Implementation steps

1. Identify number-sense gaps: magnitude, place value, comparison, part-whole, and estimation.
2. Plan frequent short sessions with small steps and immediate feedback.
3. Teach with concrete and pictorial representations using explicit linking language.
4. Practise translate and explain between number line, digits, words, and visuals.
5. Revisit at one and three weeks and track retention.

Classroom routines

• Run daily which-is-bigger-and-why checks with number lines and place value charts.
• Use partition and recombine routines with spoken explanation.
• Use estimation anchors such as 0, 10, 100, and 1000 with placement reasoning.
• Use bar models and part-whole diagrams to show relationships.
• Use short retrieval drills with immediate correction and reattempt.

Adaptation guidance

• Keep manipulatives longer and fade only when understanding is secure.
• Reduce language complexity and increase visual explanation.
• Avoid early speed emphasis; prioritise accuracy and explanation.
• For working memory barriers, keep one concept focus per session.
• Adapt representation and sequencing, not curriculum ambition.

Staff language prompts

• Show me on the number line where it sits and why.
• Partition it. What does each digit represent?
• Is your answer sensible? What is a reasonable estimate?
• Explain the relationship using part-whole language.
• Show the quantity another way and tell me what stays the same.

Impact checks

• Improved comparison accuracy and place-value explanations.
• Reduced random answering and stronger estimation reasoning.
• Improved transfer into curriculum calculations.
• Greater consistency in selecting suitable representations.
• Track magnitude and place-value errors separately so next steps match the barrier.