<< Background >>Mathematics is one of the academic areas that have an important implication in everyday functioning. Without some mathematical knowledge, one would not know how to pay when grocery shopping or manage the monthly budget. However, mathematical skills are not skills an individual is born with but are rather skills that need to be learned. Calculation, like reading, is a culturally derived, specifically taught, slowly learned skill (Rapin, 2016). Due to the fact that math needs to be learned and the individual has to put some effort in order to acquire mathematical skills, many students have an aversion towards mathematics as a science. According to research, one of the general reasons for this aversion lies in the anxiety towards mathematics.But besides the mathematical deficits from an emotional origin, there is a group of children and adults who have cognitive difficulties with mathematics (Mammarella et al., 2015). This condition is called dyscalculia. Dyscalculia is a specific learning difficulty, which is manifested by problems in mathematics and the understanding of mathematical concepts. According to the British Dyslexia Association (2019), dyscalculia is a specific and persistent difficulty in understanding numbers which can lead to a diverse range of difficulties with mathematics. It is unexpected in relation to age, level of education, and experience and occurs across all ages and abilities. Students who face dyscalculia often struggle with understanding the concepts of bigger vs. smaller and mastering even the most basic mathematical operations.The prevalence of dyscalculia in the school population ranges from 3 – 6% (Shalev et al., 2000). But unlike the other specific learning difficulties, such as dyslexia, dysgraphia and, ADHD, there has been very little research on dyscalculia. That is why the worldwide awareness is still very low and that causes parents and teachers not to be able to identify children with dyscalculia and to determine the exact difference between students experiencing dyscalculia and those who have math anxiety. Parents are often unfamiliar with the condition and think that their child’s math difficulties occur due to laziness.In-depth research in this area has shown that there is an evident lack of courses for parents for students with dyscalculia. Courses are usually oriented towards building skills in teachers predominantly for evaluation or working strategies with children with dyscalculia. Parents are usually uninformed, and do not have the skills to advice their children when needed. The initial target group are the parents of children with math difficulties. This platform and successive course will tender to their needs, knowledge and skills regarding this issues. The research done in the first part of the project (project result no. 1) will guide us in the process of creation of the content for the platform and it will also be a guide for all the policies related to the educational process of children with dyscalculia. The secondary group that will mostly benefit are the children with dyscalculia. These children will get double instruction - a regular instruction from teachers in schools and home-based instruction from their parents. Their educational needs will be met through an online course which will be self-paced and the parents can go through the course in their own time and place. The instructions placed on the platform and in the course will be created by experienced practitioners and experts in the field, and most importantly they will be available at all times.The development and use of the platform will improve the digital skills of all, aligned with the challenges set in the new century. In this way the project will meet the needs of the partnership as well.<< Objectives >>Due to all of the above, the main objective of the CALCULATE project is the creation of online courses intended for parents of children experiencing math difficulties. The need to educate parents about dyscalculia is evident and by creating the online courses their competencies will be improved with appropriate techniques and tools on how to help their children’s mathematical difficulties. Another project objective is a development of an interactive online platform where the course curriculum will be available. This way, besides being able to equip themselves with basic dyscalculia strategies, parents can learn other parents’ dyscalculia experiences and also share their own, as the platform will also give possibilities for blog following, blended learning and, forums. The platform will provide the exchange of best practices and experience of the project partners countries’ that currently exist.Other project objectives include:•Development of a platform for parents who have children with dyscalculia for online courses. •Creation of a handbook for identifying and teaching strategies for children with dyscalculia.•Development of dyscalculia policies for the educational institutions (policy paper).•Research conduction in order to be obtained the percentage representation of dyscalculia children in elementary schools (in order to make long-term strategies.Promoting and strengthening knowledge and acceptance of diversity in society.The project target group are the parents of children with dyscalculia, but the project results can be useful to all professionals in the field of education since all of the platform materials (tools) will be available all over Europe and shared on the Internet platforms for didactic materials (EPALE, School gateway, e-twinning, etc.)<< Implementation >>Three transnational meetings will be held including persons from the project management teams/administration and experts/researchers involved in the production of the project results. 1st kick-off meeting. The purpose and main objective of this meeting is an introduction of all partners, introduction of the GANTT chart for all upcoming project activities, explanation of the budget allocation, financial procedures and responsibilities. 2nd transnational meeting will be held in Italy in February 2023. This meeting will be held at the middle of the project activities and it will be closely related to the development of the online course and the successive platform. This meeting will also be related to discussions in the area of visibility of the project and further sustainability of the platform. 3rd meeting for sustainability and dissemination of project results. This meeting will be organized towards the end of the project activities, in Belgium, in December 2023. The three upcoming dissemination events will be discussed, as they are crucial for larger visibility of the project and of course for sharing all the knowledge and skills gained through this transnational collaboration. Three project results are planned within the framework of this project:1.Research: Dyscalculia or math anxiety;2.Online course-content for parents: Overcoming dyscalculia;3.Interactive platform with online courses for parents of children with dyscalculia.Three multiplier events are planned towards the end of the project:ME1 - Dyscalculia and math learning difficulties;ME2 - Overcoming dyscalculia;ME3 - Evidence based strategies for children with dyscalculia.Two LTTAs are necessary for the participants to gain the needed skills for production of the project results:1st Training: Innovative STEAM pedagogical tools for parents to teach math to children;2nd Training: Training of trainers (ToT).<< Results >>Tangible results: - Creation of curriculum for online courses for parents of children with dyscalculia; - Creation of interactive platform (e-learning) about dyscalculia approaches and working strategies; – Improvement of parents’ skills and capabilities for appropriate support of their children with dyscalculia; – Creation of handbook for dyscalculia identification and teaching strategies; – Drafting of dyscalculia education policies (policy paper); – Increased access to dyscalculia tools and materials; – Development of new dyscalculia approaches and methods; – Gain of valuable data about dyscalculia prevalence on elementary school level through research.Intangible results: - A more profound understanding of differences in mathematical skills acquisition and learning; - Raising awareness about dyscalculia and specific learning difficulties in general; - Increased motivation for learning in adults; - Increased interest in supporting other students with disabilities; - Increased support of parents with dyscalculic children.

Writing and reading are not birth given skills and therefore teaching must be explicit. Dyslexia is a type of learning difficulty that influences one’s ability to read. According to the International Dyslexia Association (2002), dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty, with a neurobiological origin characterized with difficulties that occur in the accurate and fluent recognition of words, which are manifested by spelling problems and problems with the abilities for decoding. Also, dyslexia is the most common learning disability (Rief&Stern, p. 3). According to this, teachers all around the world face students with such problems in their classrooms every day. Having in mind that reading and writing are extremely important for success in and out of school, dyslexic students face the risk of academic failure, and a lower reading efficiency and self-correction (Burden, 2008), as well as a lower self-esteem (Alexander-Passe, 2006).5-10% of all school children have dyslexia (Roongpraiwan et al., 2002; Brown et al., 2001).In North Macedonia there are no precise statistics regarding this issue, but according to the analysis of the Association for dyslexia Einstein, there are approximately 12.6% dyslexic high school students. Anyhow, due to the lack of information and proper training, persons with dyslexia are not recognized by the environment, ie by parents, teachers, professors, employers etc. It is not uncommon for teachers to label such students as lazy or immature. Even when recognized, teachers are unable to help them without proper evidence based teaching strategies or methods. It is evident that there is a need for active education and upgrading of professional knowledge of teachers regarding dyslexia. This is the reason why we need to utilize all the available technology and create tools which are accessible to all. Also, in order for the first principle of the European Pillar of social rights to be met, regarding everyone’s right to quality and inclusive education, teachers need to gain the expertize for dealing with dyslexic students and facilitate their schooling so that they would be able to fully participate in the society one day. In that direction, the main objective of the DYSCOURSE project is creation of an on-line platform that will contain courses and various dyslexia working strategies and methods. These instruments will be developed within this project in the form of intellectual outputs by young adults (students in the field of Special Education and Rehabilitation). The content from the platform will be the basis on which an app will be created. Through this app, parents, caregivers, pedagogues, special educators as well as other students (within the dyslexia course practicum) can monitor the development of reading and subsequently writing of each child. These changes in practice will eminently lead to a change in theory. Hence this project predicts upgrade of the university curricula in the area of Specific Learning Difficulties (Dyslexia).Other objectives of the project include:•Development of OER for teachers for online training course for teaching students with dyslexia.•Creation of a mobile app for easy platform access.•Enabling access to the platform and app to parents, caregivers and professionals in the area of disability.•Improving the level of key competences and skills in professionals in the disability area.•Foster quality improvements and excellence in innovation and exchange of good practices at the inclusive educational institution level through enhanced transnational cooperation between education and training providers and other stakeholders.•Promote and strengthen knowledge and acceptance of diversity in society.Project target group are teachers in inclusive schools. These are the adults that are directly involved in the education of dyslexic children and need most support and dyslexia training. Anyway, the platform would be of use to any adults that get in touch with the child who has dyslexia (parents, special educators etc.).Due to the fact that 5-10% of all school children are dyslexic, the platform and the app can provide easy and quick access to methods and strategies to teachers from many different countries. First of all, the DYSCOURSE Project will enable exchange of the best practices currently existent in the project partners’ countries so that the most relevant one will find there place on the dyslexia platform. After the exchange between the partners, all of the platform materials (tools) will be available all over Europe and shared on the Internet platforms for didactic materials (EPALE, School gateway, e-twinning etc.).