Dyscalculic

[High_Order1]

WOW

Thanks to a2jc4life , I learned a term today. Dyscalculic. I have always just thought I was math stupid. Turns out there's a whole thing.

Here's a fascinating article, that practically describes me to a tee:   http://www.dyscalculia.org/college-dyscalculia


I always knew about dyslexia, and other issues, but never considered myself *lexic, I just thought I was stupid in quantitative reasoning past about 3rd grade topics.

Which has always been an INCREDIBLE pain in my behind, because everything is math, whether we realize it or not. I have always risen to the occasion via cheat notes, charts, checklists, online calculators, what have you. I am used to going over my so-called calculations multiple times and accepting the value that resulted most often. Measuring gives me headaches.

Now I know it may be because my brain is malformed: "from cortical abnormalities in regional neural organization in the left angular gyrus, particularly a reduction in grey matter in the left intraparietal sulcus;"

I like that explanation a *lot* better than having to tell people constantly I am too stupid to add and subtract. (shrugs)

Go ahead and poke fun; I know what causes my problem now  

[teacher2]

Don't feel bad about it Higher Order! I once taught a student both Geometry and Algebra 2 who had both dyslexia and dyscalculic! It was quite a challenge, but thankfully I had some understanding kids who would voluntarily help peer tutor the student as well. With that particular student, visuals and colorful organizers were a must!!!

[dfrecore]

My daughter has (in my opinion based on years of working with her) dyscalculia and mild dyslexia, and you can learn certain tricks to help. But, what really helps for her is that her school has the option of taking math in a math lab, rather than in a regular classroom. She sits at a computer, and watches videos, and works out her math problems, and does unit exams - all on her own (although there is a teacher in the room who can help if needed). She hasn't had to deal with any of the issues other people who aren't good at math have to do, like raise her hand in a room full of kids to ask questions, be questioned by a teacher in front of others, or take timed tests. She gets to go at her own pace. It has been a tremendous thing for her.

In 9th grade, she managed to get through 2 semesters of Pre-Algebra, and 1 semester of Algebra I, and now in 10th she got through the 2nd semester of Algebra I, the 1st semester of Geometry, and will finish the 2nd semester of Geometry - all earning A's or B's. She has even decided that she's going to take Algebra II next year, even though it's not required.

Schools having the ability to teach differently to students who don't learn the "normal" way is hopefully the wave of the future for everyone.

BTW - she actually enjoys Geometry ("hey, I finally found math that I'm good at!"), whereas she struggles through Algebra. Obviously her brain just works that way.

[Ideas]

I have always risen to the occasion via cheat notes, charts, checklists, online calculators, what have you. I am used to going over my so-called calculations multiple times and accepting the value that resulted most often.

That's great you learned how to work around the problems.

It's great of you to share too, by making this post. Great points. 

I wish that more people knew about dyscalculia and problems like it, because it's sad if they feel stupid. There needs to be more awareness too, so others don't put someone down. As you say, if the person knows they have it, it changes everything. They can inform the others and they can all probably laugh about it a little, but it would be just mild teasing and not making the other feel inferior.

[Merlin]

WOW

Thanks to a2jc4life , I learned a term today. Dyscalculic. I have always just thought I was math stupid. Turns out there's a whole thing.

Here's a fascinating article, that practically describes me to a tee:   http://www.dyscalculia.org/college-dyscalculia


I always knew about dyslexia, and other issues, but never considered myself *lexic, I just thought I was stupid in quantitative reasoning past about 3rd grade topics.

Which has always been an INCREDIBLE pain in my behind, because everything is math, whether we realize it or not. I have always risen to the occasion via cheat notes, charts, checklists, online calculators, what have you. I am used to going over my so-called calculations multiple times and accepting the value that resulted most often. Measuring gives me headaches.

Now I know it may be because my brain is malformed: "from cortical abnormalities in regional neural organization in the left angular gyrus, particularly a reduction in grey matter in the left intraparietal sulcus;"

I like that explanation a *lot* better than having to tell people constantly I am too stupid to add and subtract. (shrugs)

Go ahead and poke fun; I know what causes my problem now  

I also suffer from Dyscalculia... as a child I was unable to memorize multiplication tables (in fact I still haven't been able to do so completely -- which I find interesting since I'm generally pretty great at learning new things and memorizing stuff) so I had to teach myself mental tricks to derive the same results in other ways. In fact, I created my own system for solving math problems to work around multiplication tables which looks a lot like what they teach in common core math now. This allowed me to get around a lot of my math issues, though not all. As a side effect, it means I can do a lot of math in my head since I am good at keeping the moving parts in my mind.

Unfortunately, I'm still horrible at memorizing formulas and such, which in my case means having to work harder to reinforce them, and having to go back over old material periodically since it fades quickly. This is particularly true with stuff at the college algebra level and beyond since I don't really have a need to use that level of math on a day-to-day basis. Which is why I'm loathing the statistics course requirement a bit since I don't know how much math I'll need to be able to understand to get through it.

I find it interesting that dfrecore mentioned her daughter found Geometry complementary. That is the only math course I ended up taking 3 times, failing the first two times and barely passing the third with a D. If I recall, that was due to the proofs more than anything... but that was more than 30 years ago so I don't remember much about it at this point other than being terribly frustrated by it but refusing to give up.

In any case, like you said, there is no way to avoid math. Luckily, being Dyscalculic isn't so bad as an adult learner since you can find self-paced courses which allow you to move at a rate that is comfortable. While Aleks no longer is worth college credit, 6 years ago I was able to use Aleks to redo all my early math and work my way back up through college algebra and earn my credits that way. I also tried to take statistics with Aleks, but it just wasn't happening for me. I started using Khan Academy videos (since that is all they had back then, and just math stuff) to supplement Aleks, which helped a bit, but then my life got complicated and I had to stop working on college stuff until now.

So, I get where you're coming from.

[acamp]

My daughter has (in my opinion based on years of working with her) dyscalculia and mild dyslexia, and you can learn certain tricks to help. But, what really helps for her is that her school has the option of taking math in a math lab, rather than in a regular classroom. She sits at a computer, and watches videos, and works out her math problems, and does unit exams - all on her own (although there is a teacher in the room who can help if needed). She hasn't had to deal with any of the issues other people who aren't good at math have to do, like raise her hand in a room full of kids to ask questions, be questioned by a teacher in front of others, or take timed tests. She gets to go at her own pace. It has been a tremendous thing for her.

In 9th grade, she managed to get through 2 semesters of Pre-Algebra, and 1 semester of Algebra I, and now in 10th she got through the 2nd semester of Algebra I, the 1st semester of Geometry, and will finish the 2nd semester of Geometry - all earning A's or B's. She has even decided that she's going to take Algebra II next year, even though it's not required.

Schools having the ability to teach differently to students who don't learn the "normal" way is hopefully the wave of the future for everyone.

BTW - she actually enjoys Geometry ("hey, I finally found math that I'm good at!"), whereas she struggles through Algebra. Obviously her brain just works that way.

Wow if that is how she understands and learns math via the videos at her own pace, she can rack up a bunch of math credits on study.com when she is ready for the college credits based on that learning style =)

[dfrecore]

My daughter has (in my opinion based on years of working with her) dyscalculia and mild dyslexia, and you can learn certain tricks to help.  But, what really helps for her is that her school has the option of taking math in a math lab, rather than in a regular classroom.  She sits at a computer, and watches videos, and works out her math problems, and does unit exams - all on her own (although there is a teacher in the room who can help if needed).  She hasn't had to deal with any of the issues other people who aren't good at math have to do, like raise her hand in a room full of kids to ask questions, be questioned by a teacher in front of others, or take timed tests.  She gets to go at her own pace.  It has been a tremendous thing for her.

In 9th grade, she managed to get through 2 semesters of Pre-Algebra, and 1 semester of Algebra I, and now in 10th she got through the 2nd semester of Algebra I, the 1st semester of Geometry, and will finish the 2nd semester of Geometry - all earning A's or B's.  She has even decided that she's going to take Algebra II next year, even though it's not required.

Schools having the ability to teach differently to students who don't learn the "normal" way is hopefully the wave of the future for everyone.

BTW - she actually enjoys Geometry ("hey, I finally found math that I'm good at!"), whereas she struggles through Algebra.  Obviously her brain just works that way.

Wow if that is how she understands and learns math via the videos at her own pace, she can rack up a bunch of math credits on study.com when she is ready for the college credits based on that learning style  =)

Yeah, I'm not sure what we're going to do when it comes to college, but unfortunately our local schools don't take ACE/NCCRS credits, so we'll see what happens when the time comes.  It certainly couldn't hurt for her to do the courses in preparation for whatever she has to take for college though.  And, possibly do well enough that she could CLEP College Math or College Algebra (our local CC's and State schools WILL take CLEP).  I think for her, the thought of NOT having to take an actual college math class would be a welcome relief.

Worse comes to worst, she takes Study.com, does a bunch of schoolwork here at the local schools, and finishes up at one of the Big 3.

[burbuja0512]

Great article. I think I have something like that, but it relates to following instructions. I actually have an easier time trying to figure out a recipie on my own versus reading the list of instructions.

Don't even get me started on things like Ikea furniture. It's not like I can't read the instructions. I just don't see them. Then, I read again and again and eventually see the entire list.

Not sure if this even makes sense, but it's made having a great "second in command" or assistant manager extremely important in my different jobs.