Category Archives: Dyscalculia Overview

Free chapter from book on Dyscalculia

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Dyscalculia exists in a number of different varieties, each involving a specific difficulty in solving mathematical tasks. It corresponds with mathematical performance to dyslexia in the area of reading. The majority of children and adults who are subject to dyscalculia have the ability to read and the ability to understand what is read unimpaired, although about 20–30 % of those who are subject todyscalculia are characterized by having difficulties  readingand with mathematics. They often require extensive mental strain to carry out even simple arithmetic tasks. They countusing their fingers as a visual aid far into the upper grades. Difficulties of this sort are categorized as automatisation difficulties.

Children and adults subject to dyscalculianever-theless tend  to be of normal intelligence, but often present an uneven picture in their results on intelligence tests. Their problems reflect not emotional issues but difficulties in mentally connecting with specific types of thought processes.

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Difficulty or Dyscalculia?

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Burgeoning research into students’ difficulties with mathematics is starting to tease out cognitive differences between students who sometimes struggle with math and those who have dyscalculia, a severe, persistent learning disability in math.

A new, decade-long longitudinal study by researchers at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, published Friday in the journal Child Development, finds that 9th-graders considered dyscalculic—those who performed in the bottom 10 percent of math ability on multiple tests—had substantially lower ability to grasp and compare basic number quantities than average students or even other struggling math students.

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Are Math Skills Built In To The Human Brain?

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Psychologist Véronique Izard discusses a study that suggests Amazonian villagers with no math schooling are just as equipped to solve basic geometry problems as math-trained adults, and cognitive neuropsychologist Brian Butterworth talks about the arithmetic cousin of dyslexia, dyscalculia.

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How old am I? Gimme a second, I KNOW this…

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So while helping the students I tutor with their LD final notes today, the topic of dyscalculia came up. After we discussed it at length, it occurs me to how little people know about it. As someone with dyscalculia, here are my finer points:

  • I cannot compute numbers in my head aside from what we memorize: 2+2=4 etc,. When I try, it’s literally like hitting a mental roadblock. I got nothing. Have to write it down or get a calculator. Formulas and mental calculations are OUT, unless you want me to get that glazed look and start getting shifty.
  • Time is dicey. I cannot mentally determine how much time it’s going to take to get somewhere, do something, or how much time has passed. I’m either late or early – RARELY on time. This is also why when someone asks my age, I typically can’t remember. I’m usually off by a year. I also have a hard time determining when something happened, e.g, “was that four years ago or five?” I estimate everything. Also, I can read a regular watch, but it takes me a few minutes to figure it out. I wear a watch, so when someone asks me the time, I usually just show it to them. Evasive measures.
  • Distance is also tricky. I could not tell you if something is [this many] yards, feet, or miles.  Continue reading →