28 Nov 2017, 7:29 am
28 Nov 2017, 11:20 am
28 Nov 2017, 3:46 pm
elbowgrease wrote:
I do, I'm pretty sure anyway. Another thing I didn't have a name for until recently, dyscalculia.
I'm pretty much stuck at multiplication and division. Easy things I can divide, or at least get close. Better with multiplication, but not much. If I can write it on paper I can usually get the right answer multiplying. I can't even remember how to divide on paper.
I also have problems with clocks, I can read them but it takes a minute. Estimating distance is just impossible for me. Have a really difficult time trying to grasp music notation, too. I know what pitch is designated, but trying to translate it into time makes my head hurt. I have to figure out timing by ear.
It has always driven me crazy when people insist that music is math, and that being good at one means I must be able to do the other.
I'm pretty much stuck at multiplication and division. Easy things I can divide, or at least get close. Better with multiplication, but not much. If I can write it on paper I can usually get the right answer multiplying. I can't even remember how to divide on paper.
I also have problems with clocks, I can read them but it takes a minute. Estimating distance is just impossible for me. Have a really difficult time trying to grasp music notation, too. I know what pitch is designated, but trying to translate it into time makes my head hurt. I have to figure out timing by ear.
It has always driven me crazy when people insist that music is math, and that being good at one means I must be able to do the other.
I've always had issues with reading music, when I used to learn piano I could never seem to learn the notes, and on top of that I couldn't remember where certain notes were on the piano in relation to one another, and it frustrated me to the point where I actually stormed out and quit...
There was so much homework in that class, labelling sheets of notes wasn't fun. In year 9 we had a music exam, originally I had been put on keyboard playing duty, but as the exam edged closer it was clear that wasn't a good choice, so instead I ended up taking on a singing role.
Our music room had a chart which labelled all of the music notes, and we were given sheet music for the keyboard parts. The teachers left it up to us to refer to the chart, only problem was...I found it hard to read the chart. It was hard for me to tell which line certain dots fell on, my visual processing is incredibly poor (at 14, nearly 15, I scored in the 1st percentile on visual processing tests, whereas in comparison my auditory memory and processing was estimated to be around the 70 to 75th percentile). So yeah...it's clear to see where some of my strengths and weaknesses lie...
I was tested on my rapid naming/ visual processing again at 16, and I scored about the same.
28 Nov 2017, 5:50 pm
03 Dec 2017, 11:11 am
04 Dec 2017, 12:52 am
04 Dec 2017, 1:06 am
04 Dec 2017, 6:06 pm
04 Dec 2017, 9:23 pm
Goldenhawk wrote:
You can, with the appropriate help, actually go on to study higher maths, and actually succeed at it. There was an interview with Dr Emma King who has a degree in Cosmology from the University of Nottingham on Radio 4 that I listened to a while ago. She's also got dyscalculia - there is a video interview with her here: http://www.vega.org.uk/video/programme/301
At 5:58 is where she starts talking about her diagnosis and how dyscalculia affects her. My dyscalculia is more severe than hers but if you actually look at the higher level maths equations, it's just strings of letters and symbols. Those are much easier to work with than actual numbers.
If you are genuinely interested in it, go for it. It's never to late to study a subject on your own. Grab a few books and try it. You might be surprised at how well you get on with it!
At 5:58 is where she starts talking about her diagnosis and how dyscalculia affects her. My dyscalculia is more severe than hers but if you actually look at the higher level maths equations, it's just strings of letters and symbols. Those are much easier to work with than actual numbers.
If you are genuinely interested in it, go for it. It's never to late to study a subject on your own. Grab a few books and try it. You might be surprised at how well you get on with it!
That's the kicker isn't it - appropriate help. I well remember what it was like people trying to teach me math all those years. It was horrible, I was SO frustrated and felt like an idiot. They inevitably got frustrated with my inabilities and started getting aggressive with me, eventually getting angry and giving up completely.
That interview is great though - I too would be more severe than that, as she could actually do those sums, just had difficulty, whereas I would not be able to do them - but it's interesting how she differentiates between "arithmetic" and "math." Because it's true - people think of math as all numbers, and you have to start by mastering the "basics" and if you can't do that, there's no way to do the higher forms because it is a cumulative discipline, and must be "built on" (which is what I always always told anyway). If you can't do the start, there's nothing to "build" on.
I find it all SO interesting though. I find all facets of natural sciences interesting (doesn't help that I love everything by Brian Cox
) and would like to learn the higher math. Can you even teach yourself these things, or do you need a teacher? Do you really need to master basic arithmetic to get there?I do wish there was the support with numbers as there is with words for adult learning disabilities.
10 Dec 2017, 3:32 pm
Lost_dragon wrote:
"Right answer, wrong question", was a common phrase I'd hear in my maths class.
Although my answers were technically correct, I would copy the question down incorrectly, and often accidentally create my own. If the question was say, 5*9 on a worksheet, then sometimes my brain would take numerical information from across the sheet, say 2+3, and combine the two, 5+3.
It's also common for my brain to read plus signs as minus, or times as plus (or vice versa).
My teachers were never concerned though, they just found it funny. One teacher I had would mock me, sometimes I would even get in trouble for it. Which I thought was unfair because it wasn't like I was purposefully trying to write the question down wrong.
She told me that I needed to focus on the board more, due to this I would often recheck my work before she came over to make sure I hadn't gotten any of the questions wrong, because if I did then she would grab the paper and complain at me whilst the rest of the class fell into silence. I hated it.
My issues were always in plain sight, but the people around me just either assumed I was an idiot, that I didn't try, or both.
I mainly struggle with arithmetic, and when I found out that a lot of what I was dealing with fell under dyscalculia symptoms, suddenly it made sense.
School was frustrating to me, because sometimes I would get good at a particular method in maths, and the next day I would just forget it as if I had my memory wiped. It left many of my maths teachers puzzled. "But, you were really good at this last lesson, how have you forgotten?". So to remind myself, I would usually read over the notes from last lesson, and try to practice, but often to no avail.
Mental maths felt impossible, and I'll admit that I often secretly wrote notes on my hand trying to work out equations during mental maths tests.
Mainly because I often lost where I was whilst trying to visualise equations, to the point where I get midway through working out a question, and have to start at the beginning because I couldn't remember where I was with working it out.
Sometimes I would cry in frustration whilst doing maths homework. I hated how I was trying so hard, yet my teachers sometimes accused me of not trying hard enough.
Holy mackerel. Every single point (and I mean it, quite literally) you raised there is something I've experienced. Especially mixing up +/- signs... that still happens all the time (the same happens with letters too, but more rarely). Well, as a famous YouTuber once said, there are three kinds of people in the world, those that can count, and those that can't! (Bonus if you know who said that)
28 Dec 2017, 5:29 am
28 Dec 2017, 10:03 am
01 Jan 2018, 8:27 pm
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03 Jan 2018, 2:47 am
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