Discalculia is the learning disability I suffer from
@Jackalyn (7559)
Oxford, England
May 4, 2017 3:47am CST
I am in a shop. I try in vain to add the price of three things and get it wrong. Then I struggle to work out the change.
Sometimes I can do it. Other days I cannot.
Then later I need to take 54 from 88. I have to think.
Oh ...that was this week by the way.
I just missed getting a first on my first degree, but never got past MA diploma because I could never manage a thesis involving statistics and you had to do research using them.
I gave a mathematics qualification because I could do a project involving designing a shape sorter for children, but I am sure the paper asking how long so and so got to get wherever at however many miles snd stuff like that let me down.
As a child I read adult books by the age of 8 but could not manage my times table. My mum and I fell out over my maths homework when I was at grammar school and I was in the top set for everything but Maths. There I coukd not go lower and got Grade 4 CSE. The lowest was 5.
I got my maths qualification with the help of a personal tutor in my forties.
Mathematical dyslexia is as real as any other kind but does not get the same press.
But it is very real for the kids and adults who suffer
Here is a link.
Dyscalculia is usually perceived of as a specific learning difficulty for mathematics, or, more appropriately, arithmetic.
16 people like this
15 responses
@JudyEv (325648)
• Rockingham, Australia
4 May 17
I found this really interesting. Thanks so much for sharing this part of your story. I'm sure many people tend to think folks who have trouble with calculations should have spent more time learning their tables. I admire your courage in telling us this. 
2 people like this
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
4 May 17
Have heard this only from you, it must be why it's so difficult for some to learn maths
2 people like this
@arthurchappell (45002)
• Preston, England
4 May 17
I have always struggled with all but the most basic arithmatic - had no idea there was a numerical version of dyslexia. It makes sense though
1 person likes this
@arthurchappell (45002)
• Preston, England
4 May 17
@Jackalyn hopefully there will be a few free ones
1 person likes this
@Fleura (29120)
• United Kingdom
4 May 17
I have heard of it but again, like dyslexia (or the way dyslexia used to be perceived) people think it's just an excuse by people (or parents) so they or their children are not considered stupid. It's much posher and more trendy to say 'Oh my son has dyscalculia' than to have to admit he's just a bit dim. And of course many people struggle with basic sums and have to think about them to different degrees so it's hard to tell where 'not very good at maths' ends and dyscalculia begins.
1 person likes this
@Poppylicious (11133)
•
5 May 17
I always thought I suffered from dyscalculia because I'm so rubbish at maths. However, I did a test and I'm not, apparently. I can do basic mental arithmetic, but I can't actually do anything else. I don't know if I have a form of it, or if I'm just a bit thick, but maths panics me when it doesn't involve simple addition or subtraction.
1 person likes this
@Poppylicious (11133)
•
6 May 17
@Jackalyn True, and some people are just ridiculously bad spellers and slow readers. I probably fall into the mathematical equivalent of that!!
@KrauseHome (36448)
• United States
5 May 17
Well, this is something that the rest of the world never understand. They always seem to think no one should have any disabilities or you are lazy, and even make fun of you because of it.
@GardenGerty (157546)
• United States
4 May 17
The problem is real. There are many ways our brain fools us and gets us twisted. I would say with dyscalculia one could not even benefit from using a calculator, due to reading and inputting the numbers wrong. We need to be aware of how we are all uniquely different.
1 person likes this
@Jackalyn (7559)
• Oxford, England
4 May 17
I can get things wrong using a calculator. I have to use one and even then may spend time puzzling things out.
@DWDavis (25812)
• Pikeville, North Carolina
4 May 17
I have taught students with both dyslexia and dyscalculia and have been able to modify assignments and make accommodations such that they succeeded in my class. The fist time I heard of dyscalculia was my Business Law professor when I was studying accounting. His dyscalculia kept him from becoming a CPA so he became a lawyer instead.
1 person likes this
@Jessicalynnt (50525)
• Centralia, Missouri
6 May 17
I never thought about this being a thing, I just assumed that dyslexia was for anything printed! Wow. What a thing to struggle with.
@garymarsh6 (23393)
• United Kingdom
4 May 17
Thank the lord for that. I too am the same. I can work things out coming up with the correct answer but no one can understand how I have worked it out as the figures do not correlate to anything known to man!
Numbers bring me out in a cold sweat!
1 person likes this
@andriaperry (116860)
• Anniston, Alabama
4 May 17
Thank you for sharing this, I had no idea. This explains all the people I know that cannot break down money and just hands people one bigger bill to pay for things.
1 person likes this
@Jackalyn (7559)
• Oxford, England
4 May 17
Probably not. But some of them will do this. I can break down the bill. I just have trouble adding the breakdown up to find the total amount.
@fishtiger58 (29823)
• Momence, Illinois
5 May 17
You are right I have never heard of that. Very interesting, my son got a Master Degree in Astro Physics with a minor in Applied Mathematics, I don't even know what that is.
@allknowing (130066)
• India
5 May 17
Maths was my favourite subject and could solve any problems but when it came to adding a long list of numbers I was at sea. I still am.
