PRELIMINARY IDENTIFICATION OF LEARNERS WITH DYSCALCULIA IN MALAYSIAN MAINSTREAM PRIMARY SCHOOL AS INITIAL ANALYSIS FOR EARLY INTERVENTION

Abstract

The rapid growth in technological impresses even the most visionary ones. Computer related
products are available on our fingertip, it is impossible to imagine a world without it. The new terms
that have hardly recognized a few decades of history like Internet and Virtual Reality (VR) are now
parts of our lives. However, our hunger for evolution is not satisfied, we are still exploring for better
ways to benefit from new technologies. The born of Augmented Reality (AR) is a promising area to
insert computer assets into our lives. The basic idea of AR is to superimpose sense enhancements over
a real-world environment. It is a perfect solution as it combines the advantages of both virtuality and
reality. AR is mostly used in adding computer generated visual enhancements into real life
applications. It is clear that AR will be in our lives more and in the near future, it will be
indispensable from our daily life. In the most recent years, AR had inspired into the evolution of
children with learning disabilities. Thus, the motive of this study conducted to identify learners who
are suffering from dyscalculia through screening instrument as the based of early intervention. The
methodology used in this study was based on two screening instrument, Mathematics Learning Ability
(MLA) and Mathematics Learning Performances (MLP) conducted on students. Findings also showed
that the students had difficulties on memory, abstraction, sequencing processing, motor and visual
perception. Findings on the plausible assistive digital technology, found the visual-based fusion
technology such as Augmented Reality (AR), would enable dyscalculia learners to undergo an
experiential learning approach that would make learning mathematics meaningful. The aim of this
study is to emphasize importance of AR in the life of learning disabilities children. Further, our study
not only extends the capabilities of the current situation, but also presents a need of AR application
through visual based fusion in a user friendly environment for dyscalculia learners to increase
engagement in learning of mathematics.