Anxiety Attack: Conquering the Fear of Math

Last year we met a 7-year-old girl we’ll call Zoey. A shy second grader who excelled at reading, Zoey’s parents and teachers were concerned about Zoey’s poor performance in math and her reluctance to do her math homework. What intrigued us was a passing comment mom made during the intake interview: Zoey frequently complained of stomachaches during school, landing her in the nurse’s office almost daily. The nurse could never find a reason for Zoey’s pains, and after a quick check-up would send a happy Zoey back to class.

What the teachers and nurse missed was that Zoey’s pains were getting her out of math class; nobody at the school considered Zoey might be experiencing math anxiety.

Common wisdom is that math anxiety doesn’t affect children before sixth grade. On the contrary, our research demonstrates that children as young as first grade report math anxiety symptoms. Worse, this math anxiety affects their ability to learn math. Sadly, Zoey’s story isn’t unique.



Where are we going wrong?





