19 May My Child Struggles With Maths and Writing
When a parent writes to us with this kind of summary, the words tend to be measured and careful.
He struggles in general but especially with math and writing. His confidence and if there are any underlying conditions we are not addressing. We are just concerned about how to help him at home.
That last sentence is the one we hear most often. Parents come to Global Education Testing because they want to help. They are not looking for blame or labels. They are looking for understanding and a plan they can actually use at home.
In this article we want to address three things. What it usually means when a child struggles in both maths and writing. Why confidence becomes part of the picture. And what parents can realistically do at home to support a child while they work out what is going on.
What does it mean when a child struggles in general, especially with math and writing?
The combination matters. Maths and writing look like very different subjects on the surface. One involves numbers and the other involves words. Underneath, they share a set of cognitive demands.
Both require working memory. A child solving a multi-step maths problem has to hold the numbers, the operations, and the running total in mind at the same time. A child writing a sentence has to hold the idea, the spelling of each word, and the structure of the sentence in mind at the same time. If working memory is weak, both subjects become harder than they should be.
Both require processing speed. A child who processes information slowly will take longer to complete a maths page and longer to produce a written paragraph. The teacher sees a child who has not finished. The child sees a page full of work everyone else has completed.
Both require executive function. Planning a piece of writing and planning the steps of a maths problem use the same underlying skills. Sequencing, self-monitoring, holding a goal in mind, switching between sub-tasks.
So when a parent describes a child who struggles in maths and writing at the same time, this is rarely two separate problems. It is usually one underlying cognitive pattern showing up in two different places.
The specific underlying patterns we look for include weaknesses in working memory, processing speed, language processing, visual-spatial reasoning, and attention regulation. We also look for the specific learning difficulties most associated with this presentation, including dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, and developmental coordination disorder. These often co-occur. A child with dyslexia is more likely than the average child to also have dyscalculia. A child with dysgraphia is more likely than the average child to also have attention difficulties.
The point is that the combination tells us something. It does not yet tell us what. That is what a proper assessment is for.
What does a Global Education Testing assessment look at?
Our assessments are conducted by HCPC-registered educational psychologists. Registration means our psychologists are held to enforceable professional standards. Our reports are recognised internationally and accepted by the major examination boards including the IB, Cambridge, Edexcel, and College Board.
For a child presenting with maths and writing difficulties alongside confidence concerns, the battery typically includes the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fifth Edition (WISC-V) for the cognitive profile, the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test, Third Edition (WIAT-3) for academic attainment in reading, writing, spelling, and mathematics, the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (CTOPP) for the phonological skills that underpin reading and spelling, the Detailed Assessment of Speed of Handwriting (DASH) for writing fluency, and the Revised Children’s Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS) for the emotional picture, including any signs of anxiety related to school performance.
We add measures for attention, including the Conners and SNAP, and measures for visual memory and visual-spatial processing where the clinical picture indicates.
The result is a report that identifies what is going on, what is working well, what needs targeted support, and what the school and the family can do about it. Where exam access arrangements are appropriate, the report supports those applications.
Could there be underlying conditions we are not addressing?
The parent’s question is direct.
“His confidence and if there are any underlying conditions we are not addressing.”
The honest answer is that this is exactly the question that needs to be asked, and it is exactly the question a psychoeducational assessment is designed to answer.
The most common conditions we identify in children who present this way include the following.
Specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia. These are neurodevelopmental differences in how the brain processes written language, written output, and numerical information. They are not connected to general intelligence. A highly intelligent child can have a significant specific learning difficulty. This is one of the most misunderstood points in mainstream education.
Attention difficulties, including the inattentive presentation of ADHD. This is often missed in children who are not disruptive. Quiet inattention does not draw teacher attention in the way that hyperactivity does. A bright, well-behaved child who quietly drifts is often described as a daydreamer rather than recognised as struggling with attention regulation.
Developmental language disorders, where the underlying language system is not as strong as it should be. This affects comprehension, writing, and word problems in maths. It is sometimes the missing piece when a child reads accurately but cannot make sense of what they have read.
Slow processing speed as a standalone profile, where the child understands the material but cannot demonstrate that understanding within the time available. These children often look more capable in conversation than they do on paper.
Anxiety, including performance anxiety specifically related to school tasks. This can be both a cause and a consequence of academic struggle.
Each of these has specific evidence-based interventions. None of them can be addressed properly until they are identified. This is the core reason we encourage parents not to guess. A child whose actual difficulty is processing speed will not be helped by phonics intervention designed for dyslexia. A child whose actual difficulty is anxiety will not be helped by maths tutoring. The intervention has to match the profile.
Why is my child’s confidence affected by their learning struggles?
Confidence is rarely a separate issue. In children with unidentified learning difficulties, confidence is almost always a consequence.
A child forms their self-concept primarily through school. They spend six hours a day, five days a week, comparing themselves to thirty other children doing the same tasks. If a child consistently finds those tasks harder than the other children do, and nobody has explained why, the child reaches the only conclusion available. They conclude that they are not as clever as the others.
This conclusion then becomes self-reinforcing. The child starts to avoid tasks they predict they will fail. Avoidance reduces practice. Reduced practice increases the gap. The gap confirms the conclusion. The cycle deepens.
By the time a parent notices the confidence concern, the cycle is often well established. The child may say things like “I am stupid” or “I cannot do it” before even looking at the work. They may give up before starting. They may resist any task that resembles school, even at home.
The most reliable way to repair confidence in a child with an unidentified learning difficulty is not to repeat that they are clever. The child has already weighed the daily evidence and decided otherwise. The reliable way is to explain to the child, clearly and accurately, what is going on in their brain. To name it. To separate the difficulty from their identity. To show them that their brain works differently in some areas and brilliantly in others.
This is one of the most powerful effects of a proper assessment. The feedback session with the child often does more for confidence than months of reassurance.
How can we help him at home?
This is the question parents ask most often.
There are general principles that help any child who is struggling, regardless of the underlying cause. We can share these now.
Reduce the emotional stakes around homework. Homework done in tears is not learning. It is conditioning the child to associate academic tasks with distress. Better to do less, do it calmly, and stop when the regulatory reserve is empty.
Validate effort rather than outcome. “I can see you worked hard on that” lands differently from “well done, that is correct.” The first builds resilience. The second teaches the child that approval depends on getting the right answer.
Read to your child above their independent reading level. Comprehension and vocabulary develop through exposure to language that is slightly beyond what the child can decode alone. This works at any age, including with older children.
Find and protect the areas where your child shines. Every child has them. Sport, art, building, animals, conversation, humour. These are not distractions from school. They are the structural supports that hold confidence in place while the academic difficulties are being worked on.
Limit comparison. Siblings, classmates, cousins. Children with learning differences hear comparisons even when they are not made explicitly.
Now for the honest part. These general principles help, but they are general. They are not a substitute for knowing what you are actually dealing with. A child with dyscalculia needs different support from a child with a working memory weakness. A child with anxiety needs different support from a child with dysgraphia. The single most useful thing a parent can do at home, when the pattern looks like the one described in this article, is to get a proper assessment. After that, home support becomes targeted rather than guesswork.
What should I do next?
If the description in this article sounds like your child, the most useful next step is to find out what you are actually dealing with. The concern about confidence and the question about underlying conditions are not separate concerns. They are two parts of the same picture, and they are both addressed by the same assessment.
Our base fee is EUR 2,650, with local currency equivalents available for International School families Worldwide.
Reach out to Global Education Testing. We will respond personally, ask the right questions, and explain what an assessment for your child would involve. Once you know what is going on, helping them at home stops being guesswork and starts being a plan.
Alexander Bentley-Sutherland is the CEO of Global Education Testing, the leading provider of Learning Development Testing tailored specifically for the International and Private School community worldwide.