While in London, I had the honor of meeting Brian Butterworth, professor of Cognitive Neuropsychology and dyscalculia researcher at the University College London. It was wonderful to meet someone I deeply respect and whose writings I have been pouring over for years now.

I am grateful for Butterworth’s research on dyscalculic for several reasons:

• Butterworth is transparent about the research, even when it's complicated to decode. I am often frustrated by researchers who either work with very little samples, use questionable data collection practices, or make obscure interpretations of the data. But with Butterworth, I find his work to honest and forthright in his data collection and interpretation. 

• Pulling from research studies from all over the world, Butterworth is a great source of information on dyscalculia and related research. Too many US research professors limit their studies to the limited research conducted in the US, while a wider range of knowledge exists in dyscalculia studies conducted around the world. 

• Butterworth's stance that dyscalculia is a specific difference in how the brain processes numerosity makes sense with my observed experiences. Many other researchers don’t look far enough back to the core of the math struggles. They assume it's caused by poor education or lack of resources, or something that develops over time. While not all struggles are because of dyscalculia, we need to be able to separate out the particular struggle of dyscalculics from generally lumping together everyone who struggles in math and labeling them dyscalculic. Without a real understanding of the particular challenge, we cannot move forward in our advocacy.

• Butterworth’s hypothesis that dyscalculia involves a lack of understanding numbers as sets, matches and explains about every challenge I have observed in my dyscalculic daughter, and the many dyscalculic individuals I have come to know. Much of the math struggles which seem confusing to teachers and parents are less confusing when seen through this lens and explanation. 

• Finally, I appreciate that Brian is keenly interested in making the research accessible and comprehensible to those outside of university academia - for teachers, parents, dyscalculic adults. It's then possible for it to lead to tangible positive changes in our political systems, societal viewpoints, and educational resources when it comes to dyscalculia advocacy.

Butterworth is working on the 2nd edition of his book, Dyscalculia: from Science to Education (2018), updating it with the latest research. If you haven’t already, I recommend adding this book next to your must-read reading list.