National curricula in many countries increasingly stress mathematical reasoning and problem solving skills from early age in primary school, an international trend seen for several decades. For children with special educational needs and at risk for learning difficulties, this may constitute a barrier in mathematical learning, since demands on underlying neurocognitive abilities related to mathematical learning increase. In his presentation Petri will share some insights from his research in this area. He will particularly address therole of metacognition and executive functions,and how school systems in most countries tax different neurocognitive abilities in learning, by the way curriculum is constructed,and learning environments and instructional approaches are formed. This development calls for a needs-based assessment practice where teachers, school and educational psychologists and other professionals increase their understanding of how underlying neurocognitive abilities interact with learning in school. Petri will present some emergent themes from research on how these types of neurocognitive abilities in general, and metacognitive awareness and executive functions in particular, are related to academic achievement. Consequently, he will also describe a framework for metacognitive strategy training as a way of coaching in school, a promising area for intervention.