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college and dyscalculia, what to tell my professor?

Submitted by an LD OnLine user on

I am a student at University in Memphis, Tn. I am not always the best typest so please bear with me. I have “mad wicked” hard core dyscalculia, I almost have alcalculia as well, but not all to very badly. Currently, I am on the verge of getting reevaluated for my dyscalculia because I did not have precence of mind to remember to save all of my documentation and what little documentation I have is very old. I was advised by the lady who runs student disabilities to please just get re evaluated. At any rate, I have my first test in remedial algebra Thursday and I am pretty darn sure I will fail it. My teacher is very speedy in her teaching, she uses about thirty minutes of the hour and a half the class is scheduled to be. However, she is nice enough where she says that if you have an issue or two come to her office. She also gives partial credit on her tests if you turn in all of your assigned math homework to her. I have done way more than the homework that was assigned so I know that I will get partial credit on my test. My question is how to explain what I do not understand well to my math teacher? By the middle of October all of my dyscalculia testing will be complete and I will qualify for special assistance through the office of student disability, but until then I am on my own. The class I am taking is basically algebra one at the high school level, for lack of a better way to describe it. I can memorize without really being able to understand, the integer rules for adding subtracting multiplying and dividing to an extent. And I can add multiply and divide to an extent if I concentrate really hard. And I can subtract somewhat. I know of the order of operations but I am lost with the distrubutive property. I study my developmental (remedial) algebra for four hours a day six days a week. I have time to do this amount of study becuae I went far out of my way to take the easiest classes possible that pertain to my major so I would have a lot of time to study math. The fact remains that I would like to know of how an educator would respect their student coming to their office and asking for help with the problems they got wrong on their test. If the student has done the work but got a very bad grade on the test, I fear my teacher will not understand my problem until I get my testing for my dyscalculia out of the way. I need to know how to make her teach me what I do not know so that I can learn of the polynomials (which is the next area we are covering really soon).

Submitted by Sue on Fri, 09/26/2003 - 1:09 AM

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Hi, I work with students in those pre-college math classes at our community college. The most common issue is that teachers move too fast — and that’s with people who are just rusty, not with a real dyscalculia problem, so I can imagine how confusing and frustrating it must be.
ONe thing our college is working on is doing math in “modules” so that students can be self-paced. (One thing they already do is have me around to work with students at their pace, too). But ‘til that is in place, wha’ts more common is that students just have to take the class, do the best they can, drop it so they don’t get an F, and take it again. In any given class, half the people are there for the second time around.
Besides it all going too fast, what makes it hard for you? Do visual explanations or examples help?

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 09/26/2003 - 9:08 PM

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I thank you very much for your responding to my post. The only thing that I personally know to do in math is methodically go through my math book. I read and read all of the explanations and examples and write them all out in long hand. It is very very hard for me to articulate anything I am unsure about in math, I even speak slower than I normally do when I am working with a tutor and whatnot. When I was a school girl in the resource room for math, they taught with the modules and it worked alright for me, to an extent. However, I need to catch up and master enough remedial algebra so that I can pass a comprehensive final and move on to the next math class. As of right now, the only thing I know to do is just go over everything and read over everything until I understand it, and then do a problem a good five or six times in a row until I get it correct. I really cannot (pardon my spelling) conceptualize anything in math. I have since taken the math test that I wrote of in my previous post and made a 69. I made a 69 because my teacher gives partial credit, I did not get anyone problem 100% correct at all and this is after a grand total (since August 26th) of about four hours a day of work six days a week. I wish I knew of how to visualize how to do certain things in math, like with the distributive property, that is mighty hard for me. I am currently learning of the polynomials and I am finding it very hard to write them down onto paper, so I do not know where I will stand with my remedial algebra class at all. Sue, how do you learn of these things if you are in my situation? I would really like to master enough of this remedial algebra (which is really just high school algebra one) so that I can move to the next class, but I really do not know how to do it. Thank you for reading my post. I try to explain these things to my teacher but it is if she does not believe me. I think she sees a 29 year old lady and nothing more than that. I think that she thinks that I am just out of practice and have anxiety or something, but that is really not the case at all, I wish I just had anxiety to tell you the truth.

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 09/26/2003 - 9:40 PM

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Don’t tell anybody, but I don’t generally visualize in math either — so while I don’t have the depth of problems you do, it could be that you can learn it well enough without being able to visualize it.
So, next question — how are you with logic?
I think one of the most important processes to be able to do is to be able to substitute things in an equation.
The simple version would be — if X is 3, what is X + 7?
How are you with that kind of thing?

And do you have the language basics yet — that 4x would be 4 times X ? (so if X were 3, what would 4x be?)

I’ve had some luck explaining that “distributive” property by having people draw an arrow from the first number (the one outside the parentheses) to each number you have to multiply by. So if it was 3(x + 3) you’d draw an arrow from the 3 to the x, and an arrow from the 3 to the three. When you distribute candy, you hand it out to everybody… same thing with distributing a number. It’s like “distributing” a magic spell. It goes over and zaps *eerybody* in the parentheses. So first it zaps the first number… Three Times X. Then you stick that plus sign in there. THen zap! it zaps the three… three times three. So the answer is
3x + 9.

But… this is words ;) one of these days I’m gonna make a video :)

Submitted by mcsjr on Fri, 09/26/2003 - 11:22 PM

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Merlinjones,

Girlfriend I hear you. I have mad silly dyscalculia. The experience you are having is exactly like what I went through in college. In fact, i never passed the math requirments at my university, and ultimately my family had to threaten a lawsuit so I could get my degree.

Please be advised, colleges and universities get money from the govt. for every l.d. student they have enrolled. Get retested, with that you should get special consideration as far as your math requirement goes: free tutors, extra time, etc. In my case, the school was taking money they recieved for l.d. kids and spending it on athletes-hence the lawsuit and they gave me my degree, b/c I had performed well everywhere else.

Don’t worry about conceptualization. You never will conceptualize. Just memorize what you can and go from there.

When you talk to your teacher, I’m sure she’ll be cool. If not, stand strong, b/c no one who is not learning disabled will ever understand you. Especially if you do well in school otherwise.

You rock. Math sucks. Use all of your abilities and skills to move along in the class-homework, conferences with the teacher, alternative stuff you can think of.

Don’t let your frustration stop you. Take a break from math for a day or two. Remember why it’s great to be alive. I’ll think of specific things and post again.

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 10/10/2003 - 4:12 PM

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That post was too cool to me! That was very nice of you to do such a thing. Yeah, I will never conceptualise a damn’ thing in math, I guess. I did get all of my re re re evaluating out of the way and next week I get to go talk to disability student services. I actually have e mailed them already, a heart wrenching e mail, of my mathematics troubles and I even put in the e mail hyperlinks to dyscalculia, the Wrights Law and the American with Disabilites act!!! So, tell me I won’t at least qualify to get a tutor! Sue, I think that you are in the most noble lines of work there is, really. I thank you for message board a posting with me and I am sorry that I have been to busy studying and working to come to this web site more often. Peace be to all of you on this site, man!! And merlin is a lady, thank you:)

Submitted by des on Fri, 10/10/2003 - 7:00 PM

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hi Merlin jones,

You would be surprised how many people have thought desdemona was a guy!! I am such a big Harry Potter nut that on Halloween I go as Dumbledore, so you could be a gal, who knows. :-)

Anyway back OT, I also have dyscalculia (or I think so), didn’t find out til after college but the head of the math dept was aware of the problem— she even got the required for graduation math test not required anymore. Truth be told, prolly got tired of tutoring me for it after I flunked it 4 times.

Anyway, it seems a bigger deal in school than in the rest of life. However, I learned about negative numbers the hard way (checkbook!!). And know I know how to do the checkbook thing better. Can even estimate my grocery costs within a couple dollars.

And now I am tutoring in math. This is a very strange world.

—des

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