Suspicion of dyscalculia

Post Reply New Topic

Ok, here's the thing: i'm very, very bad with numbers.
I suck so much at math it's not even funny. And not only when it comes to math, but with numbers in general.
As much as my parents and teachers blame me the contrary and express that I'm simply lazy, unmotivated, distracted, etc., I know that the underlying problem is another. And I have my reasons:

- Sometimes I read the wrong time or just forget it immediately after looking at the clock. So I'm frequently surprised by how early or late it is.

- I tend to forget people's birthdays wildly. So I make sure to mark everyone's birthday in every calendar and to set few thousand alarms on my phone to remind me in time. Although sometimes this method doesn't even work.

- I can't estimate numbers for the life. For example, I don't know how to value an exact distance or time.

School has been very overwhelming and frustrating for me, cuz sometimes I become good at a particular method of math, and the next day I just forget it as if my memory has been erased. This fact has left my math teachers mystified. I even start practicing the notes and formulas from the previous lesson, but I often do it in vain.

On tests I usually get lost at the point where I'm trying to visualize some equation, until the moment I'm halfway to solving the question, and then having to start from scratch because I can't remember where and what I'm solving.

I also want to clarify the fact that my psychiatrist suspects that I have ADHD. Apparently I inherited it from my mom, since she has a professional diagnosis of ADHD. So I have a lot of trouble regulating my attention. But this event is still inconclusive.

This fact bothers me a lot hahaha. And even more so when people around me constantly scold me.

I think I may have dyscalculia as well. When I was a kid math was my worst subject. It took longer for me than most kids to learn how to tell time or left from right, and I was afraid I'd never be able to take on adult responsibilities such as shopping for essential items or paying bills or rent money. I also have a bad time with distances. I always think cars are much closer than they are, especially when they are coming straight at me without bothering to slow down.

But I was also hyperlexic. I wonder if hyperlexia and dyscalculia are somehow connected?

Third assent, here. But my brothers are hyperlexic and great at numbers (the one just 1 yr younger is actually a genius in mathematics which he should have pursued instead of history)

C MINUS, D, F+, those are my math grades in every year of high school.. no B or A

Leverage your strengths against your weaknesses.

In the first three or four years of life, humans learn to work with symbols.

We start with the letters of the alphabet and then learn to construct words, sentences, paragraphs and books.
We learn the numbers and learn to develop numerical formulas.
We learn the music notes and then put notes together to form music.
We learn the name of colors and blend them into artistic compositions.

All of these are symbols.

Some Aspies excel at some of these constructs. They become brilliant mathematicians and scientist, others become great writers and still others become great song writers and musicians.

Learn to leverage you strengths to overcome your weaknesses.

Yup.

I'm also in the same boat. My parents have suspected dyscalculia since I was eight years old. I have difficulty with understanding distances, and I take longer than usual to read clocks to point where I get embarrassed about it. When reading analogue clocks I have to have the numbers there, otherwise I struggle even more. I hate clocks that don't have numbers on them or have roman numerals instead. Sometimes I read my phone during situations where someone asks for the time despite a wall clock being in my line of sight because I find digital clocks easier to understand.

Unfortunately, if I'm not careful I find myself counting backwards without meaning to and I am absolutely terrible at estimating. I struggled with maths in school quite a lot. Still don't have a passing grade, the highest I have is a D-. I've taken GCSE maths three times. Yet I'm good at English. I was often assumed to just be lazy but I tried quite hard to learn maths. To the point where I broke down in tears sometimes during maths homework because I was frustrated.

Before my exams I took a series of tests issued by an education officer to determine if I was entitled to extra time. One of the tests showed that I had way below average visual processing. This was later confirmed again when I took these tests a few years later and still showed issues in that area. My examiner chalked this up to maths anxiety and added that if I truly had the issues I described then I would have problems with words too. However, I think my problems go beyond maths anxiety and I know for a fact that I've seen numbers switch around in front of me.

One time I had a maths teacher who called me out in front of the class because I'd written the questions wrong. She thought that I was so lazy that I was just making up my own questions instead of completing hers. This was completely unintentional, I'd read the questions wrong and I really thought that's what they said. I tried to explain this to her but she didn't want to hear my excuses.

You females say that math was not your subject.I was ok but English and spelling never did good but a lot of females were great at it my wife is so good at spelling.I have to consult her when doing posts.

No problems at all with reading and writing but maths...

When I was in Year 6 we were all meant to learn long division. I don't know how, but I got away with never learning it. I still don't know how to do it. Yay for calculators.

I suspect I also have dyscalculia. It took me longer than my peers to distinguish right and left (before I was 10 years old, I used to think right was left and left was right and even now, I'll still occasionally confuse them), plus I struggle with learning and doing math (I'm currently at a 4th grade level in math despite being in the 11th grade). I am so terrible at math to the point where I absolutely hate it. I also still have to count on my fingers even though none of my peers do. No matter how many times new math concepts are explained to me, they just don't seem to stick and I usually forget how to solve those problems by the very next day.

I've cheated my way through algebra 1 and geometry and am currently cheating my way through algebra 2 by simply looking up the answers to everything or copying from my classmates as I type this as a result of my difficulties with math. I'm only taking that course since it's unfortunately a graduation requirement at my school. If it weren't, I wouldn't even be taking it.

Interestingly though, I seem to be hyperlexic as I can read and write at a university level with a 1605 lexile score.

I have a very visual mind but when it comes to math I have to count on my fingers.

I don't understand how people can write out their working of a complicated sum. Like at school when a math test question instructed you to show your working. What was I actually supposed to put?

I remember when I worked on the till at a volunteer job I used to do, and although it was a modern till that worked out the change for you, I still had to work hard at trying to get the change right. Some customers got impatient. I suppose I looked stupid.

I'm good at spelling but not math. I even get confused at how to read or write out numbers if they're too long and have a decimal point or comma.

Numbers often jump around too. But I can't be dyslexic, because letters or words don't jump around and I'm a pro at spelling.

This is something I am experiencing right now and it is very frustrating for me. I struggled with math in school but I was also a lazy student who constantly forgot about homework. In adulthood I found a new love of math and wanted to go to school for computer science or engineering, and started teaching myself trigonometry and calculus (got through through derivative, stopped at integral) and I may have another opportunity to finally get my CS in BS. Right now I'm studying for my CCNA, a certification for network engineers, which requires you to do subnetting, basically IP address math with binary and hexadecimal, and I understand the concepts and I'm able to do it BUT... when just doing basic arithmetic, with decimal numbers, I keep mixing up the numbers! I keep swapping 255 with 252 or 225, 47 becomes 17, etc. I'll also do some basic arithmetic, get the complete wrong answer, try again, get it right, and have no clue how I got the original wrong answer in the first place, but I'll notice if I have to add or subtract a series of numbers I'll duplicate things, like I'll add 32 twice when I only needed to do it once, because I forgot I already added the 32? Or I just get lost and forget what number I was working on. Easier when on pen and paper, hopeless in my head. Unfortunately this exam I want to take gives you roughly a minute per question with no calculator and no pen and paper as far as I'm aware.

I almost definitely have dyscalculia. I struggled immensely with math in school, even basic math, and was behind multiple grades because of it.