Private Dyscalculia Assessment London
Adults and Children

Understanding Dyscalculia as a Specific Learning Difference

Dyscalculia is a specific learning difference affecting numerical processing, mathematical reasoning, and the ability to understand and work with numbers — despite adequate intelligence, educational exposure, and effort. It is estimated to affect between 3% and 7% of the population, yet it remains the least understood and most under-recognised of the specific learning differences. Whilst dyslexia has gained considerable public awareness in recent decades, dyscalculia is frequently missed by teachers, parents, and professionals — often attributed instead to maths anxiety, poor teaching, or a simple dislike of the subject.

At London Trusted Therapy Harley Street, we offer comprehensive private dyscalculia assessments for children, young people, and adults, conducted by HCPC registered and BPS accredited educational psychologists. Our assessments are thorough, neurodiversity-affirming, and produce SASC-compliant written reports that are accepted by universities, employers, and Access to Work.

Signs of Dyscalculia Across the Lifespan

Dyscalculia involves specific difficulties with the core cognitive processes that underpin numerical understanding — including number sense, subitising (the ability to instantly recognise small quantities), understanding of numerical magnitude, retrieval of arithmetic facts, and the sequencing of calculation procedures. These difficulties are distinct from, and additional to, any general learning difficulties that may be present.

In children

dyscalculia may manifest as persistent difficulty learning number facts such as times tables, significant struggle with mental arithmetic, difficulty understanding place value and numerical concepts, challenges with telling the time, managing money, or understanding fractions, and marked inconsistency between mathematical performance and ability in other subjects. Children with dyscalculia frequently develop significant maths anxiety — a secondary emotional response to repeated failure and confusion in numerical contexts — which can make assessment and support more complex.

In adults

In adults, dyscalculia may present as ongoing difficulty with financial management, budgeting, estimating quantities, reading timetables, calculating percentages, or performing mental arithmetic under pressure. Many adults with dyscalculia have chosen educational and career pathways specifically to avoid numerical demands, without ever understanding why numbers have always been so disproportionately difficult. In professional settings, dyscalculia can create specific challenges in roles that require numerical or data literacy — and a formal assessment provides the evidence needed to access appropriate support and adjustments.

What Our Dyscalculia Assessment Covers

Our Practitioners Who Work with Dyscalculia

Why Choose London Trusted Therapy for a Private Dyscalculia Assessment?

Dyscalculia and maths anxiety — understanding the relationship

One of the most important aspects of dyscalculia assessment and support is disentangling dyscalculia from maths anxiety — and understanding how the two interact. Maths anxiety is an extremely common secondary response to dyscalculia, developing over years of numerical difficulty and frequent experience of failure, shame, and confusion in mathematical contexts. It can become so pervasive that it significantly impairs performance even when the underlying numerical processing difficulties are addressed — and it can mask the nature and extent of the underlying SpLD. Our educational psychologists are experienced in assessing both dyscalculia and co-occurring anxiety, and our reports address the psychological dimension of numerical difficulty alongside the cognitive profile. Where maths anxiety and related emotional difficulties would benefit from therapeutic support, our practice can provide this alongside or following the assessment.

Support and onward pathways following assessment

Following your dyscalculia assessment, our team provides clear, practical recommendations tailored to your specific numerical learning profile — for educational institutions, employers, or your own personal planning. For children, recommendations typically address classroom accommodations, specialist teaching approaches, and strategies for managing maths anxiety alongside the numerical difficulties. For adults, recommendations address workplace adjustments, assistive technology, and practical strategies for managing numerical demands in daily and professional life. No GP referral is needed and appointments are typically available within one to two weeks.

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Frequently Asked Questions — Dyscalculia Assessment and Support

Dyscalculia is a neurodevelopmentally distinct specific learning difference with a well-established evidence base. It involves specific impairments in the cognitive processes that underpin numerical understanding — particularly number sense and magnitude processing — that are neurological in origin and not explained by intelligence, educational opportunity, or effort. The common belief that dyscalculia is simply “being bad at maths” reflects the same misunderstanding that once led dyslexia to be dismissed as poor reading ability. A formal assessment by an HCPC registered educational psychologist can distinguish dyscalculia clearly from maths anxiety, poor teaching, or general learning difficulties.
Yes. Adults can receive a formal dyscalculia diagnosis at any age. Many adults seek assessment when numerical difficulties are affecting their professional performance, when they are entering higher education and require DSA support, or when they simply want clarity after a lifetime of disproportionate struggle with numbers and related tasks. Our SASC-compliant reports are accepted by universities, employers, and Access to Work.

Yes — co-occurrence is common. Dyscalculia frequently presents alongside dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADHD, and autism, and the combination of these profiles creates a complex and highly individual pattern of strengths and difficulties. Our educational psychologists are experienced in assessing complex, co-occurring neurodevelopmental presentations and will identify all significant specific learning differences within a single comprehensive assessment.

Adults with a formal dyscalculia diagnosis are entitled to request reasonable adjustments from their employer under the Equality Act 2010. These might include extended time for tasks involving numerical processing, use of calculators and assistive software, adapted presentation of numerical data, and access to Access to Work funding for specialist coaching and practical tools. Our assessment reports are written with the specific requirements of employers and HR professionals clearly in mind, providing actionable recommendations alongside the diagnostic findings.

95% of our clients report positive treatment outcomes and would recommend us to family and friends

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Should you feel that your first session did not meet your expectations or that your therapist wasn’t a good fit, we will provide another session completely free of charge with a different practitioner.

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