It is heartening to see that Singapore has received many overseas accolades for our national mathematics curriculum (S'pore maths inspires UK educators; April 4).

But while we rejoice at our successes, we should not forget the students in our midst who are struggling with maths in school.

A child may struggle with maths if he has a learning difficulty, such as dyslexia.

It is also important to know that being diagnosed with dyslexia does not mean that a child has low intelligence. It simply means that the child learns differently and needs a different kind of support.

Our national maths curriculum is well-designed and built on the foundations of key educational theories.

However, students with dyslexia require a pedagogical approach that directly addresses the characteristics of their condition.

They will benefit from having structured frameworks and step-by-step strategies to help them through the process of problem-solving.

In addition, they will also need people who can identify their strengths and weaknesses in maths, to present abstract concepts using different modes.

Dyslexic students also benefit from a language-approach to teaching maths, where maths concepts and vocabulary are explained linguistically.

We need to acknowledge the learning needs of students with learning differences to be able to provide greater equity within our education system for these unique minds.

Rebecca Yeo (Ms)

Senior Educational Therapist

Dyslexia Association of Singapore