Hello everyone. Is it possible to have mild dyslexia in just one area? For example...I have never had a problem with writing, spelling, or verbalizing. I've been writing poetry since age 11, I'm extremely talented with language and syntax, and I've been championed in the school spelling bees. I'm the complete opposite with numbers. I still count on my fingers and I can't make change without the cash register telling me how much to give. If I type in the wrong number (.50 instead of 5.00), it takes me a while to figure out that I need to type 4.50 to mean that the customer handed me five dollars. It makes me feel ungodly stupid. Today, my mother was talking to me about how I've got such a contrast in these areas-- how I can analyze and interpret and write a dissertation on a novel with no trouble, but I can study for hours, get help from numerous friends and teachers, and still not be able to calculate anything. She suggested that maybe I have a sort-of "number dyslexia". I don't feel quite happy about that. For a while, my mum thought I had ADD. I don't, but yeah...I'm just wondering if anyone who knows a little more about Dyslexia could shed some light on it. Thanks a ton, Jackk
I can't remember the term, but I'm sure I've heard of a numerical equivalent to dyslexia before. Aha, found it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyscalculia
It's called dyscalculia (I think that's the right spelling...). Just like dyslexia, you can combat it. It takes practice and training. I feel like I have it, and I'm a physics and math major. I get my numbers all mixed up, write the wrong numbers, and can't remember the order (if someone tells me their phone number, I'll remember the numbers, but not the right order). You general difficulty in math sounds more like you're struggling with the concepts than the numbers. I think if you'd practice not relying on a calculator or cash register you'd improve. Our brain needs practice. (For giving change, count up from the amount due until you get the the amount given to you. If it was $17.36 and they gave you a 20, you'd count out 4 pennis to get to 17.40, then a dime to get to 17.50, then 2 quarters to get to 18, then 2 ones to get to 20.) Sometimes perspective or a different strategy helps.
Thanks, I had no idea. You've provided me with some things worth researching (it is wiki, lol) My jaw almost dropped when I read this: "...or manipulate numbers or number facts (e.g., the multiplication tables). " When I was in sixth grade, I had to remember my multiplication tables. I couldn't. My teachers gave me extra work, my mum ran through flash cards with me every night, and I still didn't get it. That's why they thought I had ADD. And that's when my major problems started, because it was the year they did anything beyond addition/subtraction/multiplication/division.
epiphanies- I only use a calculator to do quick arithmetic. It doesn't help me with my high-level classes; I have to do all those calculations by hand (except for the addition/subtraction/multiplication/division) I'll try working on those by hand, in some free time, but I'm already behind in my class and I don't have any room to fuck up if I want to graduate, so it's really not the time for me to start doing arithmetic by hand in school.
I am bad about kicking numbers, which really sucks with as many math classes as I have taken. It could be Dyscalculia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyscalculia I my self have been diagnosed with Dysgraphia and have some of the symptoms of Dyscalculia. Good news is that I have figured ways to work around most of the problems I have ran into. A good example is the solution to the Algrebra problem I posted the other day. A couple of folks mentioned that I worked it in an odd way. I did that to work around this issue. For example I don't subtract, I add the negative number and I don't divide, I multiply by the inverse. That way I don't worry about mixing up +, −, ÷ and ×. Just about any solution I come up with is done in an odd way, but that is to work around these problems. This does have an advantage, no one else does it the same way so I usually come up with solutions that no one else would think of. You mention that you have problems doing the math to make change. I have that problem also. I have trouble doing math on the fly. I got around that by learning to count change. For example, the Bill is $11.57 and the customer gave you a $20. So you give them A penny and that makes $11.58 Another penny $11.59 Another penny $11.60 A dime $11.70 Another dime $11.80 ANother dime $11.90 Another dime $12.00 A dollar $13.00 Another dollar $14.00 Another dollar $15.00 A 5 dollar bill $20.00 This way instead of doing math in you head, you just count. Also don't let it get you down. I have these difficulties and I still managed to get an Engineering degree.
Thanks, Starfish. I'm required by my job to punch the numbers into the register (they keep track on their system) but I should, perhaps, not look at the number until I count out the change I think is correct and then verify it by looking... Thanks, and thanks for adding in the engineering degree part. My physics teacher and I had words the other day, where he basically told me I wasn't as smart as he thought. So that's uplifting.
I don't think it's so much as dyslexia than it is just a general struggle with math itself. Generally speaking, math people don't do as well in English and vice versa. But, I can sympathize with feeling stupid in front of customers. I used to be a cashier, and would frequently read the numbers in the wrong order... Example Total is $7.36, i would tell them that their total is $3.76 or $7.63. The worst was when I goofed and told the person the wrong total and she had written it on the check, needless to say she wasn't pleased.
Hi my brother, very intelligent person suffers from dyslexia and his son... also way off the charts on intelligent scales has sever Dyscalculia to the point where he got a special dispensation from his school for his exams where someone else wrote down his answers. He can do the math, he has the right answer but he is incapable of putting down the numbers in the right order so that someone else reading it reads the right answer. There are clinics where you can get your self tested and there are all sorts of methods now to help overcome this disabilty. In many counties in England the educational authorities recognise dyslexia and dyscalculia as learning disabilities and set up extra classes for kid suffering from these so that they can get the help they need within the school environement and this is not a financial burden on the parents. If you get tested and diagnosed you might be able to find out what is available in your area to help you.
