Dyscalculia-girl looking for other dyscalculia-people

Hey there! I’ve been looking for someone too that has math learning disabilities. My academic counseler at college calls mine a “math processing disorder.” Not sure if it’s the same thing but probably it is as discalculia. last year I was diagnosed after years of frustration and after dropping out of a remidial math class in college I had enough of math so I got tested at the disabled center at my school. Hope you are getting the help you need to be successful in math. I have to extra tutoring and go to the disabled center at my college every week. I’m glad I only have Algebra 2 to go then I can graduate next year in Spring. :D

Hi!

Where do you live?

Why don’t get an actual dyscalculia-test? I would think that math processing disorder is the same thing, though…

I will not choose an education that requires math, I can only do math at 3. grade level… But I do need help in other classes though, when I start going 2 school again - i have problems with my verbal working-memory - so I can’t join discussions and make up in my head what I wan’t to say at the same time. Also, I have general memory-problems. But at the same time, tests show that I’m gifted when it comes to language. So, if I find an education not requiring math, I should do well.

:-)

Hello, I have dyscalculia too! We are rare breeds in the learning disability world, man:) I have a not otherwise specified learning disability also, so I am as purely nonverbal as a nonverbal ld having person can be! So welcome to the club folks!
Math ld is very non verbal. So it is good in that we are really good with language and reading and all of that, maybe not typing!?:) But we are bad for other things, I guess. But it is all in how you define bad. Sometimes we are more artistic and gentle also, I see nothing worng with that.
I do math at grade six level ellyodd! I admire you for being at grade three! You hve a lot to overcome and if your thinking is as good as your “posting” you will be alright. Your grade level for math is not in stone, my friend, you can improve it!
I made almost perfect “scores” for reading and writing and all of that on my l.d. testing; like really high level…but my math abilites are grade six!
Some of my math abilites and whatnot did not palce on the charts, how great is that?!
Nice to meet you. Everyone is different and yet we are all the same, at the end of the day…it is all in how you live your life, I guess.
I go to University and I study literature there. I am soon to be on my second attempt at taking Intermediate Algebra, and just am quite alright with that. I live in Memphis, Tennessee; which is the home to Elvis and the blues and great r&b music!
Never would I want to go in a line of work where math was very important, but that is just me. In the United States we must take a bit of math for our degrees, but it all matters what you want to major in. For English, I shall one day (next spring and summer) take pre calculus and calculus I and then a science with a lab. the science makes me more scared than the maths, actually!

Well, it is nice to hear from other math ld folks. We are really rare, you know!

Well, a lot of ld-people have problems with their verbal working-memory - so if you call that language, we also have problems with that… But I guess that’s just me, saying stupid things and daydreaming, I just have 2 live with that :-p

I’m not really good at anything.. I was very surprised when the test said that I was gifted. I’ve only attended bad, bad schools, so the shrink thinks that I just havent been able to use my “gift”. I’m only a B-student in the classes I can do best, so I don’t really think… Well, doesnt matter.

No, I can’t learn math higher than 3. grade. I’m just not able to learn it. In Denmark we have a lot of other educations and loopholes to get a higher education, so I do have 2-3 options to be something other than a cleaning woman…

I don’t understand why people always say that dyscalculia is rare. Studies shows that 4-6% in America, England and Sweden has (have?) dyscalculia. That is not that small a number! (http://www.dyscalculiainfo.org/)

Dyscalculia is really unheard of, I think that’s why we never really meet other people with the same ld… They don’t know that they have a ld!

Thanks for posting :-)

I wonder what it would take for more people to learn of our l.d. You know, if you have dyslexia, you have the Orton (or something) society that has been in place since like 1920…if you have ADD, you have everything a person could think of at your disposal, but if you have math ld…it is like you are too rare for words…or sometimes folks might think that you have math anxiety becasue you are a lady with math ld. So, what are your feelings about what could be done to educate folks about math ld, for we are living proof that is an actual thing, ellyodd. I mean, who would wish for grade three or grade six math levels, or math levels for some things that do not place on the charts? Really, like I was sitting at home one day and was all like; “Oh golly, I want to be at a low learning level for math, man!”

However, I think labels are for cans (ancient american saying, there:) if you just go by your testing, then you are kinda messed up, I do not mean you personally…I say do what you have to do to try your best to learn your stuff, do not let a grade level get you down or I will come to your country and beat you up! Darnit! Do not post saying you are not good at anything, that is not true…if you have sense enough to post these nice messages, then you are already showing you are good for articulating your feelings, ellyodd! Golly gee, do not make me book a flight to Denmark to beat you up, lady! I am kidding, but never sell yourself short like that!

Yeah, we don’t really have anything that can help us like dyslexia-people have. Maybe it’s just a matter of time?

All my life people have told me that i was just avoiding math, and at the end I really did - not because of the math but the people telling me I could if I wanted 2. I couldnt. There is nothing more in life I would like better than doing well in math, so it’s got nothing to do with will, in my case.

Diagnosing a ld is just the first step. A very important step, though. Then you can find out what level you are on, and find out that you’re NOT stupid.

There is different kinds of dyscalculia - mine is bad. I can’t multiply no matter how much time I spend trying 2 learn it. But then I just use a calculator. I can’t always remember what is the symbol for addition, subratction and that stuff - but I think I could learn that if I find the right method, and that would help me in daily life.

Maybe if I spend 20 years going in 9. grade, I could get a C- in math ;-)

When I say I’m not good at anything, I guess it’s just because I have not found out what I’m good at, yet. Maybe some day I’ll know :-)

You know, Ellyodd, I feel you. I cannot do integers; like -5+6=; I cannot do those with adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing. However, since I am all grade six and some things grade nothing, I can do that with whole numbers; like add, subtract, multiply, or divide. I learned that because all I did when I was a school girl was learn that, and how to do that with fractions, and how to do that with decimals. And that is all. It took me from grade four to grade ten to learn that, then I took math for the Real World and made a D, and took pre algebra just for the what for.

I took pre algebra years ago just for the what for and the teacher let me make a C because he knew I was not faking being slower than most or anything. That is one class where I remember nothing!

I have no idea how to do percents, and so I use my calculator for that also; it is terrible to be a girl and not know what percent off a nice dress is if you do not know what 20% off $75.00 means; my late mother used to tell me that, but now I use my calculator or will just very politely ask the salesclerk.

Do they have the Texas Instruments Calculators in your country? Those are really nice for us. You can see, plain as day, what you type in. Ask me if you want to learn more of them.

I am glad to hear that you are trying to find what you are good for; you had me worried there for a moment! Those things take time and I have faith you will find your calling because you are in a very modernised area of the world.

All I did in 7th grade was dividing - I still couldnt. But of course some people with dyscalculia can, cus there is so many degrees of it.

I can’t find out how 2 find out what % of something someting is, on a calculator. Maybe I could learn it, though. Or I could write it down, step by step… on the calculator… Hey, that was an idea 8)

Nope, I don’t know what that texas-thing is. Is it just a biiig calculator?

Yeah, I’m so lucky for being born here… You know, in Denmark, education is absolutely free, and we even get paid 300-500 dollars a month when we are over 18, 2 take an education… Crazy, huh? I love it :D

I wish we had something like that here in America. I do get special grants and loans but that’s because I can’t get any help from my family because they don’t have the money to put me through college. Then I take whatever P/T jobs I can to pay off for school, and thanks to a thrifty grandmother I have learned how to get good bargains for clothes,shoes, and food. Still it would be nice to get paid per month to go to school then I think more kids here in the U.S. would go to college. :D

Math learning disabilities show up in many forms. My problem is I’m a bit “slow” in processing the math problems in my head. I have to go to the disabled center at my college to take my test, and what takes most people two hours to do takes me four to five hours! Imagine being in fifth grade and you just are getting the grasp of your multiplication tables beyond 5 times 5 while the special ed kids in the classroom next door are either third grade and know them all, or are savants who at eight years old are doing pre-algebra! :? :x

I would think that ld-people could get more help from somebody, in some places in America?

I’m happy to hear that you CAN work and go 2 school though, I would get too stressed and… Well, I need time off, or else I get sick, headache and stuff like that… I need time alone, doing not important things, like watching tv or reading a book. I need 2 think of something else than things i NEED 2 do, ‘cus alot of things is really hard for me 2 get done.

I’m slow too. I think most ld-people are. But if you CAN do the math, but just do it slowly, then you are sooo lucky :D

I have found out if you work hard and just practice the math over and over sometimes you can “get it”. Believe me I put more time into my math studying than anyone else in my class. The tutors at the disability center at my college make me do fifty problems when the teacher only requires twenty. And I have found out that when I have “got it” when I am faced with something simular but more advanced it doesn’t take me too long to figure it out, though as always it’s going still be slower to process the information than everyone else.

Also it seems like my brain has some kind of wierd quirk to it. Some math problems that other people don’t “get” I seem to “get” it. I also had this problem in sports when some techniques seem to come to me easy but I couldn’t do any basic skills. It drove me nuts when I couldn’t do something simple as jump up in the air and do a half turn in figure skating but if I did a whole turn it was easy. :lol:

Wow, it is so cool that you have found a way you can learn math. Maybe some day I will find a method too.

About the “wierd quirk”… Well, I think I have that 2, if you can call this a wierd quirk… I can’t spell small words with double letters like “irritate” - I can never remember how many R’s there is supposed to be. To and too is a big problem too ;-)

But I can spell looong words I have never heard before… :?

Ellyodd, this right here is the web site for the Texas Instruments Calculators [url]http://education.ti.com/educationportal/[/url] they are cool. I do not work for them (I wish I did because I would send you one) or make money from speaking about them or anything like that. All I know is that they ahve this one calculator called the TI 89 that has a symbolic math guide that shows you the steps to problems and I think that is neat for when you are on your third try doing your homework problems or something like that. All of these calculators, from the one called TI 83 and on up, they have this feature where you can just see as plain as day what you type out and I think that is neat too because with the other types of calculators, you can forget what you typed in sometimes (I do that real good, so that is why I bought one of these big calculators).
My “school year” just started up last week. It is funny because in the American South we go to University one full week, and then have a long weekend because of the holiday. Ellyodd, the holiday is called Labor Day and that is a day where we all rest from our labor; our jobs and everything, and for some reason stores sell a lot of linens on that day. I have always wondered what clean bed linens have to do with taking a day of rest from your job and university responsibilites?!:) That always makes me laugh because I think we should just start a bit later.
I got lucky this semester because I take Intermediate Algebra online. My book is really good. But, the neatest thing is the “virtual” professor is in Maine and all she does is Special Education at this point in her life, she has a PHD. So, this is the first time in my whole life that I can just ask a question that might sound silly or something, it is great to have a professor be one for the maths and have studied on special education also.
Amber, sports used to crack me up also. I am really tall and people always thought that I could play basketball just because I was tall, but I am living proof that is soo not true; I used to make baskets for the wrong team and lots of silly stuff back when I was a young lady. Had the gym teacher paddle me more than a few times because of that, so I see basketball now and it makes my rear end hurt to think about it! I am glad to hear that you are being told to do extra work in math; I really think the more you do the more you can remember because of how math is soo comprehensive.
Have either you, Amber, or Ellyodd taken a science yet? I am hoping to be able to take Chemistry with a laboratory in the Spring, have either one of you had experience with that? I have this goal to take this intermediate Algebra now, then take Elementary Calculus online and Chemistry with a Laboratory in the classroom setting; if I do that I can start studying for the math portion of the GRE’s during the summer because I know I should start studying for those during my senior year of University what with being slower and all; have either one of your had any experience with that sort of thing?
I am sorry for posting this well after the both of you had made some really nice posts, but I have been busy with University starting back up and everything.

That calculator looks advanced… well, I will remember your praising of it if I should ever need a calculator like that :-)

We have a labor day too, May 1. It’s simply called May 1! Schools and work close at noon most places, and then people relax, and in the big towns there is political parades and speaches in the parks. And people drink a lot of beer. Drinking cold beer May 1, is THE Danish thing to do.

I went to special school because of my ld (I didnt know I had dyscalculia until march this year, but they sent me to that school because I was “difficult” - they really, absolutely believed that I was just being a brat when I could not do math), and even at that school I felt bad when the teachers was annoyed because of all my “stupid” questions. Even at a special school with special teachers. So, I’m happy to hear that you have found a great teacher :-)

About sports… I cant even catch a ball. Either i grab out to get it half an hour before it comes or half an hour after :P
Also, I’ve been taking swimming classes from I was 2 to 15 years old, and still, I can’t swim anything but breast-swimming - and even that, I can’t do right, i kick my legs at the wrong time. But I love water, so it did not stop me from going :-)

I took science for 3 months in 7th grade before I started on the special school, and they did not teach science. I could not understand anything those 3 months, though. I have NO plans taking science classes.

I think I’m going to be a… well, you don’t have a word for it, in english, but a person who takes care of children and adults in instutions and places like that. I’m not sure I want to work with people, but the education is interesting, and I can get into it. If I’m not going to work with children after that education, I will continue school and get degrees and stuff like that, in that field - and then be an advicer or teach people in that field. I would really like to teach people about dyscalculia, and I’m doing that when the danish dyscalculia group gets up and going. Right now I have a website about dyscalculia. You can see it at http://www26.brinkster.com/rebella – but it’s in danish, so you cant understand anything :P

It doesnt matter that you are writing “a little late”. There is no such thing as too late ;-)

Good luck with the new school year :-)

Ellyodd I think that what you want to be when you “grow up” is called a nurse’s aid or recreational threapy assistant in English. Those are very fine lines of work, no matter how you say it. I worked for a long time as a nurse’s aid for ladies and gentlemen who had dementia and that is a really great line of work; I do not have the certificate to do that line of work where I live now, but it is nice. I think that is a great line of work you want to get into and what is neat is that you do not have to really know your math for really important things like for medicines or something, but you get to help others really well and that is very fufilling.
Yeah, I have not a clue what your web site said! I speak Spanish and German! So I way do not know your language, man! But, I admire you for putting it out there because we need exposure, you know? All us ladies and gentlemen with dyscalculia in all its forms need more exposure.
That calculator is not really advanced, it is all in how you look at it. I just like being able to see what I type into the thing. The fancier model I use to help me with homework, but I never use it on tests; because it can do everything. I love the technology for math now a days.
I do not think we all need science, really. After I get through with the schooling I am trying to get now, I go to graduate school. I do not want anyone to look at me being a lady who is bad in math. Like, I want to at least be able to show that I put forth good effort and that is why I wish to take Chemistry with a laboratory becasue if I do that and make a nice mark, no one will be looking down on me with regards to Graduate Schools admissions officers, you know? See, I have a literature emphasis; and where I live you have to either take a high math or a science with a lab; I figure the science would be neater becasue it would look nice. However, I really think one can get away with not knowing a lot of science; I mean, unless you marry a scientist or something who needs it?
Cold Denmark beer? My goodness! Where I live in Memphis, that is the holiday of bbq and beer and linens on sale at the store, so we have a thing in common in that we live where people like their ice cold beer!
Have a nice day

Hi, I’m busy and I have trouble with my connection to the net, so… Well, i want to write a LOT (i love this, dont u? :) ) but it will be a week or 2 before i get the time to do it. Take care

Ahhhh, online at home now…

No, I didn’t mean a nurses aid. I looked it up in the dictionary… The English word is pedagogue. When I look up pedagogue I get the word “teacher”, but it’s not a teacher like in, a schoolteacher. A normal pedagogue takes care of children in daycare and places like that – we don’t educate children before school, in kindergartens, in Denmark, but use people who have an education in taking care of people, like, well… I don’t know how to explain, arrhhg… It’s a education that takes 4 years, so its not just some guy or girl babysitting, but actually a person who has an education in raising and taking care of people of all ages. To get into the education you either have to have a high school diploma or take the education right under pedagogue, pedagogue-helper - that takes 1 year and 8 months. That’s what I’m doing some day, because I am sooooooooooooo far away from getting a high school diploma as I can be, with me being on 3. Grade level in math… And, my plan is, that when I have become a pedagogue, I will study to be a special pedagogue – one, who takes care of special people, like in psychiatric hospitals, group homes, orphanages, places for homeless people, youth detentions, etc. You don’t ABSOLUTELY need to be a special pedagogue to work in places like that, but I want a higher education, because I KNOW I can do that in this field, and I don’t want to waste that on kindergarten-children ;-) Plus, I hate taking orders, I want my own institution one day, or a place where my ideas will be used, and only special pedagogues gets to be the boss ;-)

If I’m not going to work WITH people, I am going to teach others to be pedagogues. But I’m certainly not doing it for the money; then it would be stupid to take THAT direction ;-)

So… I will probably go to school for 7-8 years when I start…. But its less than others becoming special pedagogues – because high school takes 3 years here, and I’m taking the helper-education in stead. I have just wasted a lot of years trying to figure out what the h… I was going to do with my life… I picked what I COULD do, and then found out that I actually wanted to do that same thing ;-)

(Since I left school in 10. grade when I was 17 years old, I’ve been trying to pass 10. grade at an adult school, then I went to cooking school and found out I didn’t want to be a cook, I’ve worked with layout at a school for young people who doesn’t know want they want to do, and I’ve been to a folk high school, which is a special Danish thing were you go to school and live on it (as adults) and take the classes you want to take and there is no tests and stuff like that… arh, I cant explain it better, but many people in Denmark take 3 months or ½ a year or 1 year in folk high schools, especially young people who just graduated high school and needs a break before going to college. But retired people love folk high schools too. And for the past 2 years I’ve been doing absolutely nothing else but training and watching TV because of 2 slipped discs in my back. I’m getting better, though, so I think I can start school next summer :-) )

:) Hello there
I am new to this site and am happy to discover that I have so much company. Before the advent of LD testing most of us were thought to be lazy or slow if we weren’t able to perform in some academic arenas. The problem I have run into is that dyscalculia is not as widely know as its more famous counterpart,dyslexia.
My main interest in connecting with others with dyscalculia is to form a support group here in Eugene Oregon and worldwide and to educate the public at large about its attributes (I don’t like the terms “symptoms”, we’re not sick, our heads are just hard wired differently) To this end I would like to recommend a website called “Dyscalculia.Org.(http:www.dyscalculia.org/calc.html) It lists the “symtoms” of dyscalculia in a very readable, ie.non technical, language. Even though it was last updated on July 6,2000, it is valuable in that it descibes the attributes of dyscalculia in terms you don’t need a Ph.D to understand.
I grew up in the 50s and 60s when LD was not widely understood. I missed so many hours of recess because having gotten high marks and exhibiting above average proficiency in other academic areas, I just (literally)couldn’t do the math. This was attributed to laziness, obstinancy and just lacking the will to try. From an early age I always felt intuitively that that there was just something different about the way my brain was wired. Like many with LD, I have above average intelligence and did well in school until the math kicked into the curriculum.
Please keep in touch and wish me luck in forming my support group here.
(PS. Dyslexia is statistically more common in boys than girls, does anyone know the distribution of dyscalculia boys vs. girls?)

Hi blacita!

I know dyscalculia.org, and problably every other site there is about dyscalculia, now. I’m so sad that newmans email adress doesnt work, I would looove to talk with her.

I use the word symptom when i tell people about dyscalculia in the danish group, to get peoples attention. I don’t see my self as sick, but right now the rest of my country does - not sick with dyscalculia, but sick with… being lazy. I’M NOT LAZY!

And somehow this really works. I would love to just use the line “signs of dyscalculia” one day, and I’m working to get there.

Bjorn Adler is a man from Sweden, and he wrote a book a couple of years ago; “what is dyscalculia” - in it, there is numbers from a study someone called R. Shalev did in 1993, and it shows that it it 50/50, woman and man. 2/3% of people with dyslexia is male (gillberg & odman 1994), so it is very different from dyscalculia!

Good luck with your group, I am certaintly working in and with mine, halfway around the world here :-p

Hi blacita!

I know dyscalculia.org, and problably every other site there is about dyscalculia, now. I’m so sad that newmans email adress doesnt work, I would looove to talk with her.

I use the word symptom when i tell people about dyscalculia in the danish group, to get peoples attention. I don’t see my self as sick, but right now the rest of my country does - not sick with dyscalculia, but sick with… being lazy. I’M NOT LAZY!

And somehow this really works. I would love to just use the line “signs of dyscalculia” one day, and I’m working to get there.

Bjorn Adler is a man from Sweden, and he wrote a book a couple of years ago; “what is dyscalculia” - in it, there is numbers from a study someone called R. Shalev did in 1993, and it shows that it is 50/50, woman and man. 2/3 of people with dyslexia is male (gillberg & odman 1994), so it is very different from dyscalculia!

Good luck with your group, I am certaintly working in and with mine, halfway around the world here :-p

Hey, I got LDOnline to open up for BBCode, so now we can put pictures here. But for some reason, they removed the smiley-option?!

This is me, angry. ;-)

[img]http://photo2.myphotofriends.com/pics1/299/299/5021.jpg[/img]

You are just the prettiest young lady! And I say that as a grown woman of a certain age, I am not an odd person or anything. You are soo pretty! My gosh:)

You know, I am thinking of putting a web site together about dyscalculia. And I am a bad typest but I can write like no ones business. Believe it or not. I love spell check because I am a bad typest, that is different than being a bad speller. I have weak hands!

If you guys were to want to look up stuff about dyscalculia, what would you want to know? I am really thinking about putting osmeting online about dyscalculia. And I want that something to be really good. In my other life, with the literature and whatnot, I have a web site out, but it is not super good. But I think a good humble web site that is informative would be neat. If you guys have any suggestions let me know. I am thinking of doing this after my school semester.

Aaaaww… :-) Well, I only put pictures online that I like myself ;-)

(and I loooove photoshop, hehe)

Thats nice, that you want to make a site!

What would I like to know… I guess the same things as my dyscalculia site is about.

Good facts, and signs - so people can recognize themself, their kids, family, friends AND their students.

And, where do they go for help? What should they ask for, what does the law in a list of countrys say about what they can “demand”?

And how does a test for dyscalculia work, what should they ask for and where can they go?

And stories from people with dyscalculia, I love that part of dyscalculia.org.

Also, bookreviews about dyscalculia. I just took some from amazon and translated them into danish.

And links to great articles and websites, of course.

So, was that enough ideas? :p

Well I have been thinking of doing a web site for grown people…like, a web site on dyscalculia for mommy’s and daddy’s who have children. But, I also have been thinking that it would be good to have links to research that validates the fact that there is such a thing as dyscalculia. So I ultimately think it would be neat to do a web site that would be fair in showing research and guidance for both adults and youngsters. But, geared more towards adults. Maybe I will do this later on in the year.

Well, dyscalculia is in WHO’s diagnosismanual ICD-10, and is in the same category as dyslexia… and a physical handicap. So that is were you find the “proof”. :-)

But, there are studies done on dyscalculia and stuff too. Some folks are ignorant about dyscaculia, not the two of us, though!! Like, neuropsychologists do deep studies and stuff, but none as much as with dyslexia

http://www.dyscalculiainfo.org/ - bjorn adler has a lot of info. Not really on that page, but he can help, I am sure of, if you have some questions.

Or maybe Steve Chinn, he is such a nice guy says the other 2 in my group, they have visited him. And they are going to England again to see him one day, I hope to join them. He is trying to make an official dyscalculia test. He has a school for dyslexic boys. http://www.markcollege.org.uk/

I am sure he wants to help with any questions you have.