It's not always as easy as 1-2-3

Kids with dyscalculia have trouble deciphering numbers, in the same way dyslexics have trouble with letters, researchers say.

It may look like arts and crafts, but when Nicolas Lafreniere plays with balls of clay, he's actually learning the basics of math.

As the Vancouver child moves a clay rope up and down a grid of balls under the watchful eye of his tutor, he's adding sets of the same number in order to understand multiplication tables. It's a remedial method that is working for a number of children like Nicolas, 9, who have trouble reading numbers.