Dyscalculia and me

And so finally, I have the answer to the years of hell in maths class.
On April 2nd 2009 I was offially diagnosed with a learning disability called Dyscalculia.
I can't tell you how much of a relief it has been to finally know I'm not just stupid. I perform well in most everything else but maths always eluded me.
The educational psychologist who came into uni and conducted the assesment concluded that in terms of maths ability I am in the bottom 2% of my age group and in terms of linguistic/literacy ability I am in the top 2%. Such a massive difference points to a specfic processing problem, in this case Dyscalculia.




(The following has been taken from http://www.dyscalculiaforum.com)

The Basic Facts
Dyscalculia is a specific learning disability in mathematics. Dyscalculia is a word you use to describe when people have significant problems with numbers - but still have a normal or above normal IQ.
It seems that no dyscalculic has problems with math alone, but also struggle with problems being able to learn to tell time, left/right orientation, rules in games and much more.

Symptoms
Normal or accelerated language acquisition: verbal, reading, writing. Poetic ability. Good visual memory for the printed word. Good in the areas of science (until a level requiring higher math skills is reached), geometry (figures with logic not formulas), and creative arts.

Mistaken recollection of names. Poor name/face retrieval. Substitute names beginning with same letter.

Difficulty with the abstract concepts of time and direction. Inability to recall schedules, and sequences of past or future events. Unable to keep track of time. May be chronically late.

Inconsistent results in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Poor mental math ability. Poor with money and credit. Cannot do financial planning or budgeting. Checkbooks not balanced. Short term, not long term financial thinking. Fails to see big financial picture. May have fear of money and cash transactions. May be unable to mentally figure change due back, the amounts to pay for tips, taxes, etc.

When writing, reading and recalling numbers, these common mistakes are made: number additions, substitutions, transpositions, omissions, and reversals.

Inability to grasp and remember math concepts, rules, formulas, sequence (order of operations), and basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts. Poor long term memory (retention & retrieval) of concept mastery- may be able to perform math operations one day, but draw a blank the next! May be able to do book work but fails all tests and quizzes.

May be unable to comprehend or "picture" mechanical processes. Lack "big picture/ whole picture" thinking. Poor ability to "visualize or picture" the location of the numbers on the face of a clock, the geographical locations of states, countries, oceans, streets, etc.

Poor memory for the "layout" of things. Gets lost or disoriented easily. May have a poor sense of direction, loose things often, and seem absent minded. (Remember the absent minded professor?)

May have difficulty grasping concepts of formal music education. Difficulty sight-reading music, learning fingering to play an instrument, etc.

May have poor athletic coordination, difficulty keeping up with rapidly changing physical directions like in aerobic, dance, and exercise classes. Difficulty remembering dance step sequences, rules for playing sports.

Difficulty keeping score during games, or difficulty remembering how to keep score in games, like bowling, etc. Often looses track of whose turn it is during games, like cards and board games. Limited strategic planning ability for games, like chess.

Is Dyscalculia Real?
Dyscalculics say it is. Teachers say it is. WHO and DSM say it is.

How Common Is Dyscalculia?
According to UK studies done by Gross-Tsur, Manor and Shalev in 1996, 6.5% are dyscalculic. According to studies done by Lewis, Hitch and Walker in 1994, 1.3% are dyscalculic while 2.3% are dyscalculic AND dyslexic - that means that according to this study 3.6% of the World's population are dyscalculic.

That gives a total of between 3.6 and 6.5% of the World's population. And again: That means, according to these two studies, that between 216.000.000 (two hundred and sixteen million) and 390.000.000 (three hundred and ninety million) people are dyscalculic - if we say that there are 600.000.000.000 (six billion) people in the world. No international study has been done on how common it is.

What Is The Male/Female Prevalence?
Although dyslexia seems to have a take on the male population (30% female versus 70% male), when it comes to dyscalculia studies show that the representation is equal - 50% female, 50% male.

Are There Types Of Dyscalculia?
Yes. Just like dyslexia, there are many versions of dyscalculia. Researchers have yet to come to a final decision, and they are not working together, which means that at least over 50 types have been given a name. We have guts here at the forum, so we have decided to stick with 4 types that make sense according to the forum users. These names are from a study done by Geary in 2004. You can read about the 4 types in the forums - there are subforums for each type, where we try to figure out all we can about the types.

Semantic retrieval dyscalculia
Procedural dyscalculia
Visuospatial dyscalculia
Number fact dyscalculia

Dys...Cal...Culia?
To pronounce it you say "dis-cal-cew-lee-ah". When a person has dyscalculia, you say that they are "dyscalculic" - "dis-cal-cew-leek".

The word dyscalculia comes from Greek and Latin and means "counting badly". The word "dys" comes from Greek and means "badly". "Calculie" comes from the Latin "calculare", which means "to count". The word "calculare" again comes from "calculus", which means "pebble" or one of the counters on an abacus. No one seems to know when the word "dyscalculia" to life - the earliest we have come across is this advertisement in The New York Times from May 1968. We do however know that researchers have used other words for what they found to be some sort of disability in maths (which they already found in the 1800s); arithmetic disability, arithmetic deficit, mathematical disability and so on. The media has been using words like digit dyslexia, number blindness and the obvious maths dyslexia.

Lots of variations of the word exist - Dyscalculi, discalculi, discalculia and so on. This seems to be spelling mistakes caused by general lack of knowledge about the disability, and the fact that no government has officially named the disability "dyscalculia", but instead goes by the WHO (specific disorder of arithmetical skills) and DSM (mathematics disorder) terms. Dyslexia is not officially named dyslexia either. In other words, dyslexia and dyscalculia are nicknames. It would be hard to say "specific disorder of arithmetical skills" every time you would mention this disability, wouldn't it?

"You Can Do It If You Want To!"
Probably followed by "and if you try hard enough". This is a typical remark from teachers and parents to motivate the student - and although it can be meant in the BEST way possible, it is not true when it comes to dyscalculic students. The thing a dyscalculic wants most in this world is to be able to understand those numbers. Dyscalculics need different learning methods, in every aspect of the assignment. Dyscalculics are able to learn how to calculate something one day, only to discover that the information has been forgotten the next day. In other words programs like Kumon, where repetition is a major part of the teaching methods seem to have no result for dyscalculic students - they forget. Through different learning methods aimed specifically at the student and his/her version of dyscalculia can have great results.

DISCLAIMER: Kumon helps a lot of non-dyscalculic children around the world, and it is possible that some dyscalculic students are learning by Kumon - we have just never heard of any dyscalculic who benifited from these learning methods. Please let us know if YOU did.