Does this sound like Dyscalculia?

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I was just doing some math in a work book for first grade level. I sat here staring at it for hours, not being able to figure it out whatsoever. It took more than a half an hour as my friends helped me with it until I finally got what it was asking. It's like this with a lot of the math problems, other than counting. But when it comes to anything higher than that, my brain just locks up and I can't seem to even figure out the simple problems. I mean even just trying to put numbers together in my head it just locks right up and I can't think of the answer at all... not even for really simple math other than counting. It always takes me a good amount of time just to figure it if my answer is right or not.

I was just wondering if this is just a simple learning disability or if it sounds like Dyscalculia?

Take a look at this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyscalculia

I have it, and that is exactly what happens to me when I try to figure out any type of math problem.

Well, I only wonder because I also have a learning disability that affects my memory and whatever. I know the symptoms of Dyscalculia too.

Hm... I guess its possible I could have Dyscalculia. I've always thought of it before because even my parents know math problems more than I do and I still struggle greatly.

"Having particular difficulty mentally estimating the measurement of an object or distance (e.g., whether something is 10 or 20 feet (3 or 6 metres) away).
Often unable to grasp and remember mathematical concepts, rules, formulae, and sequences
An inability to read a sequence of numbers, or transposing them when repeated, such as turning 56 into 65
Difficulty keeping score during games
Difficulty with games such as poker with more flexible rules for scoring
Difficulty in activities requiring sequential processing, from the physical (such as dance steps or sports) to the abstract (signaling things in the right order). May have trouble even with a calculator due to difficulties in the process of feeding in variables
Inability to concentrate on mentally intensive tasks
Low latent inhibition, i.e., over-sensitivity to noise, smell, light and the inability to tune out, filtering unwanted information or impressions. Might have a well-developed sense of imagination due to this (possibly as cognitive compensation to mathematical-numeric deficits)
Mistaken recollection of names. Poor name/face retrieval. May substitute names beginning with same letter
"

all those apply to me lol.

never heard this one before
low latent inhibition, i.e., over-sensitivity to noise, smell, light and the inability

I have all except the above one. Also i should note that i was always very good in math. especially when it was in reference to graphs like sin graphs and parabolas ect.

I would always use the right Technic and work down to simplify everything. From there, the last to lines like -3 + 2 i would mark down as 5 or something. But the way of deriving to the answer was always right.

Alot of people in the class would get stumped by the "exceptions" but because i really understood where the formula was derived from they never seemed like exceptions to me. -

Formulas were defiantly hard to remember but i understood how to recreate them.. It also depends on your teacher, when i was learning derivatives it was presented as all memory. It seemed random, there was no logic and math being used at that point. Maybe if i was explained the actual logic behind it it would of been better. needless to say i lost intrest as it was the equivilant to learning spelling at that point

Whoa! I read the Wikipedia article and that sounds way familiar!

Always been extremely bad at math, so bad that I actually failed first grade math. I guess I've been complaining about that quite a bit lately. In a bunch of posts actually.

There are things on that list that I never considered as being tied to math skills but really they are!

I don't do card games because it takes me longer to add or subtract (depending on the game) than the others who are playing. Not uno, not 21, not poker, not anything. I hate clocks with moving hands; always have. It's hard for me to read them...If I'm not paying close attention, I'm likely to say that it's 6:35 when it's really 7:30. I can never remember formulas. I never remember phone numbers (I've had my cell phone for a year and still can't give the number off the top of my head). I can never keep up with who's winning if I'm at any kind of ball game. I couldn't recite the multiplication tables off the top of my head if you payed me. In a math exam I have to literally go through each one to figure out the answer I need (ex: 2x5=10, 2x6=12, 2x7=14.....). It takes me forever to do math that involves negative numbers. I'm so glad that my math tutor (and good friend) has a ton a patience.

I don't remember birthdays. I have to be at least 20 minutes early for everything or else I'll be late. I'm probably the worst sociology major in the world because I can't read graphs well or remember statistical information. And I never thought about it before, but I have no friggin' clue which way is north or which way is west or whatever. Anytime I've ever tried to read a compass has been an epic fail. If you move the thing or you move then it changes and I never know which way is which! And I've never been able to balance my checkbook correctly even once.

times a billion!! !! !

"Low latent inhibition, i.e., over-sensitivity to noise, smell, light and the inability to tune out, filtering unwanted information or impressions."

THISSSSSSSS!! !! ! OMG!! !! ! I especially wish I could turn this off at night. I pretty much know everything that goes on around me at night when I'm trying to go to sleep. Clocks ticking, the A/C kicking on and off, the neighbor's car headlights in my window when he gets home from work at 1 am, the dogs barking down the street, the buzzing noise the fan in my sisters room makes, EVERYTHING!! !! I just can't ignore any of it at all. As a result I'm usually awake until I pass out around 5 am, then I end up sleeping until noon. And I don't want to take any kind of sleeping pills. I hate having to take any medications at all!

Why is there no emoticon for :ripping my hair out and running around in circles screaming: ????

On the other hand I'm an excellent amazing awesome writer (or so I think )! So much so that I've considered majoring in english and making sociology my minor. That is if I don't get kicked out for not being able to pass remedial math. Thank gods there isn't a limit on the number of times you can fail a class.

So getting to the point at long last: thanks for posting about this!

yah i think out of all the learning disabilities this is the easyest to deal with. when some one asks me when did you do something i always say a few years back... a few means different things to differnt people to me it means 1-7 years lol

the low latent inhibition in don't quit get. if theres noise you hear it . if theres light you see it. its normal. but i will say that alot of my time my focus is more on my surroudings so if there is a situation i am usually ready for it while the other person has no clue and is chattering away,

but as far as the light and noise bothering me ? nah

its also the one thing im wondering about Aspergers. I do have a better sense of my surroundings (dangers) (physics) (architecture) and may hear sounds faster then others cause i usually not focuing on them, but it never bothered me.

when people with aspergers say that they have sensory issues, do they just mean they are more aware of their surrounds or is it like something that bothers them ?

For me it's being too aware of my surroundings. And it bothers me. So it's both.

Hearing is my biggest issue. It's like I hear EVERYTHING sometimes. And while I hear everything that a person with normal hearing hears, I hear more too. Like the high pitched buzzing sounds that some electronics and fluorescent lights make; I hear that too.

And it's hard to pick one noise and go with it. Like focusing on a conversation with one person. While I'm trying to listen to them, I also hear the TV in the background, the people talking across the room, the dog barking outside, the whirring of the ceiling fan, the A/C turning on, and the lawn mower down the street. At the same time I also see the dog outside the window, I notice the TV screen flashing, and I'm trying to not watch the ceiling fan blades (I like to do that).

The worst thing of it is not being able to stop the noise. There is never silence. Even in the quietest place ever there's still this odd echo of noise in my ears; same thing if I try to wear earplugs. The quieter the room the more I notice the smaller sounds. Just falling asleep is difficult. Or reading a book in a library. Or taking an exam in a classroom. Anything.

Also: What most people consider to be dim lighting is sometimes too bright; even my laptop screen on it's dimmest setting gives me a headache after awhile. Being in a room that I don't think is cold enough is uncomfortable and I don't like some clothes or bedsheets because they itch too much.

Sensory issues is a bunch of stuff. For me noise is the worst. I do like being able to hear though I love music and windchimes and the sound of a cat purring. It's not all bad I guess!

it sounds like its very hard to judge if it is an issue or not. cause, you don't really have anything to compare with. I hear these things too. But like you said everyone does they Just can drain it out. I don't know if i drain it out or not. But i do know that certain things i don,t like. by I don,t like i mean id just prefer if they were quieter. Like the noise in a car. the motor or the airerodynamics. The main thing that i consider in a high end car is it to be quiet.

i do remember a few times in my life i would hear the drops of a tap while i sleep if i do stay up. Then i would have to get up and shut it off so i can sleep. I have never worn things that make me feel itchy. Though once or twice i ripped the tag off my clothes. but these are isolated things that im sure every one has done once in a while..

There are 2 things that do stand out. The cold. I hate the cold. Because i am so sensative to the cold, i can usually feel a draft when no one else can. I say did some one open a door or window" and every one says no. Then later on i find out someone in a bedroom opened a window. Air conditioners drive me nuts the ones that are in the window. i dont like the cold plus there just so loud. i installed one in my house a while ago, i left it out side and used duct tape to attach ventilation pipes to it and just had the pipes come in.
I cant watch tv or be able to have a conversation when near an AC

Also if i go to a loud place with loud music, i cant understand any one they are all talking i dont know how they understand each other, i think they read lips or something, but yah i dont understand anyone at all.

but i can sit back and enjoy the loud music, it doesnt bother me except that i cnat hear people.

I think this is close to normal, maybe the ac and loud music differ a bit, but they dont drive me crazy and i can stay in the room. In the case of the ac going outside does bring some peace.

Every one has something that bothers them. I like the heat, when people come over they complain about how hot it is. In this sence it could be said that they have a sensory issue.

I also read in a post about going to the dentist and putting on the heavy x-ray apron and i find comfort in it.

This issues to me, are not worth mentioning to any one cause they are not really a problem (except the cold which i went to see an endocrinologist for and he said im ok)

The fact that i hear about sensory issues so much makes me think i don't have similar issues. now that i thought about them, I'm not sure.

I wonder if you are all talking about things you just notice that you are better at feeling then others or if it actually has a deeper impact on you.

is the severity, that is to say the impact felt of my issues at the same level of others or are your issues in a different class then mine

There is no way i would of considered myself to have a sensory issue, and i think to a certain degree if you ask me if i hate something if i think hard enough i will say yes.

but when i study on the net many times i put the tv on in the background even though i know i really wont watch it unless its some thing really interesting like the same thing im researching on. but the tv on doesn't bother me and may even help me.. im not sure why i even put it on

so its kinda like a placebo effect thing, and you cant really compare with other people as you dont know how other people hear.

knowing this all i will now be more aware of it and develop a sensatitvity to things.

I guess, to judge if it's an issue or not, you just have to look at how it's affecting you.

You mentioned this in an earlier post: Latent inhibition - Wikipedia

It doesn't seem like there is a fix for it. And it doesn't seem to be a bad thing really if you can deal with it. It's just something else that makes a person different.

It has a deeper impact on me. Not being able to get enough sleep at night causes all kinds of problems. As does not being able to pay attention to a conversation with someone or to a lecture in class.. And sometimes certain noises will get on my nerves so bad that I think I'm just going to freak the hell out. I've had the overwhelming urge to just start screaming before when a guy spent two hours kicking the leg of his desk during an exam. Some nights, when I stay with her, I'd love to go through my grandma's house and smash every clock she owns because she has one in almost every room and I can hear each one ticking individually. I've had panic attacks in crowds that been too loud for me to handle before (though that actually hasn't happened in a few years now, I don't know why not).

And for a long time I though everyone processed everything the same way I did. It wasn't until about 3 years ago that I finally realized that something was different about the way I hear things.

I cant stand clocks to especially multiple clocks. I did have to remove clocks from a room to sleep in it. But there is nothing that drives me "crazy" So im assuming that I dont have this issue. It sounds like a challenge, I vote we rid our selves of this and that this sensitivity be transfered to NT's we have enough to deal with.

hmm so it could be that I'm just slow? and this would give me the same problem with small talk that some one with aspergers has. but since it is not a mental disorder it may be a symptom or asperger's.

"There is at least some evidence to suggest that one can reduce one's latent inhibition, contributing to more distractibility and sensory overload, through the use of Cannabis"

I guess there is only one way to find out if I suffer from this!

Um... I don't want to be rude but... how does this apply to my OP? O.o I asked about myself... not others. >_____< I wanted to know if I had it. Like, second opinion, you know?

Out of curiousity, how do you go with money? Do you know if you get the right change? Do you understand the difference between dollars and cents? Do you know which bills to hand over when you are buying something?

I'm sorry didnt realize your original post was recent.

I think I have dyscalculia but am not sure so I may be wrong about a lot of things. You mentioned a math problem which is a symptom of dyscalculia. Without knowing any more details it is hard to say, The problem you have could probably be related to a number of problems. Simply haveing a problem with a math question is very vague.

For me I cant tell you what i was doing in 2004, or any date for that matter. I cant associate events in my life to years let alone months. So try to think of what you were doing in a given year and if you can figure it out then you dont have that symptom.

also if you are told to wait some where for 15 mins will you be able to know when 15 mins is up ? or near 15 mins? I cant tell the difference between 15 mins and an hour. I have to look at a street light to see how many times it changes to get an idea. a watch is always good lol

if someone asks me how tall some thing is i have no idea. i have to imagine a meter stick and kinda try to guess how many meter sticks would fit and still i am usually totally off.

basically, i have all the issues mentioned in the list on page one, just check off which ones you have and if you have most then you may have it,
I am very god in advanced math though in my last years of high school math began to take another form that uses different parts of the brain
it was no longer about memorizing multiplications. we were allowed to use a calculators, part marks would be given if you had the right Technic but just messed up a simple +3 -2 calculation. So if the stupid simple adding mistakes were not taken in to account i would of been the top of my class, I always had the right Technic.

I find it is more a problem with basic math and being able to understand the value of a number/ time/distance.

just a note the symptoms i dont have form the list would be :

"Might do exceptionally well in a writing related field" defiantly not me
"Low latent inhibition, i.e., over-sensitivity"

all the rest I have great problems with. So just go through the list.
another tell tale sign is that when you are asked to date some thing you kinda go blank, you are not sure about the date the month or the year!

Nope... this is something my dad has to manage for me because my money skills are that terrible. I mean I can count basic money but as everything else you asked, then no... I have no concept whatsoever over understanding how to use money.