Living with dyscalculia
I was talking to a friend yesterday about dyscalculia, and how there are very few personal accounts of the problem available on the internet. They asked me whether I had written about it on my blog, and I realised I hadn’t.As a quick intro, dyscalculia is a learning difficulty that affects mathematical ability. I’m no expert, so that might be slightly wrong, but I do know what it’s like to live with it.
In every other way I am a quick learner. I have good reading and writing ability, I am artistic and very creative. I’m a great problem solver, and don’t easily let thinks hold me back. But very early on in my life a contrast emerged. While I found other areas of learning quite easy, I had profound number blindness.
I have a total inability to mentally calculate. I have difficulty remembering numbers and, strangely, telling the time. Anyone who knows me will be familiar of my own particular brand of time telling (which I’ll elaborate on in a future post)!
I had just put it down to being bad at maths, but as I got older I started to wonder why it was that I couldn’t improve my mathematical ability. I’m the kind of person that loves self improvement. If I think I have a weakness I like to challenge it, but with numbers there’s a brick wall. Why was I the only person I knew that couldn’t remember a single telephone number?
Then, in a psychology seminar at university a lecturer mentioned dyscalculia. I immediately recognised the symptoms and contacted dyscalculia.org. I was very surprised to find out that I had an almost perfect case of the disorder.
Zero ability to mentally manipulate numbers (I can’t add 4 and 7 without fingers :)
Difficulty with time and schedules
Inability to retain abstract mathematical concepts
Poor name/face retrieval
Switching numbers
Like suffers of all learning difficulties I’ve learnt coping strategies. I always carry a calculator, have mastered the use of excel, and have a wonderful system for telling the time. I’m just lucky that I haven’t attached shame to the condition, like so many people do.
If you’re looking for more on the condition, start with http://www.dyscalculia.org/. I’ll also be posting some more links as I find them, as well as going into some more detail about my daily confrontations with the problem.
Tag: dyscalculia
posted by Paul Fisher @ 2:08 pm
2 Comments:
I'm 17, I have dyscalculia. I got tested & diagnosed in 6th grade, im now a senior. it's hard & nobody really understands that unless they have it. i struggle in school so much because i cant do math like the other kids. i used to get made fun of because i got put in a certain class aka special ed. But with help from my parents & teachers math isnt so bad anymore
Hi.
Thank you sharing.
Do you find dyscalculia a big issue for being an entrepreneur?
And good for you for being able to master Excel, for some reason I feel myself struggling with excel quite similarly to math. I feel I cannot get hold to the way Excel language of formula operates. For this situation, do you have any recommendation?
Thank you!
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