Dyscalculia - Need Help!

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Are their any strategies (not from Neurotypicals) that would help in eleviating symptoms of Dyscalculia?

I'll tell you what my difficulties are:

Abstract Math, such as long division and fractions.

I haven't taken algebra, and would like to teach myself, please help me with any resources that you may have.

Thank You,

dgd1788

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Hi!

I'm a self-diagnosed Aspie with self-diagnosed dyscalculia.

I cannot do numbers in my head. Only when written down can I do calculations. I'm OK with fractions and arithmetic but I cannot comprehend the most fundamental basics of geometry nor algebra.

Anyone else here with similar experiences?

I officially hate and suck at Algebra, I can't do it for the life of me. However, give me some isometric paper and I'm like Albert Einstein!

Yes. I can't seem to remember the numbers. I remember things as pictures, and see only pictures in my "mind's eye". To "picture" a number or series of numbers is complex for me. I have no trouble remembering anything else. I have an easy time remembering the multiplication table because I remember it as a table of data that I can see. I got through Math in highschool without too many problems, so long as I had a calculator. Thankfully, all the teachers I had believed in calculators and allowed the students to use them in every test. Sometimes, when adding and subtracting simple numbers, I have to twitch my fingers as a way to keep track of the number (almost like I'm counting on my fingers, but this way no one can tell I'm doing that). My offical IQ score at age 17 was 145, so I know I'm not stupid.

Another thing that I can struggle with is Left and Right, and differentiating between the two. I need a second to figure it out each time, almost like it isn't ingrained or automatic knowledge. I don't know why. Again, it has been this way for a long time. I also can have trouble reading most clocks. And forget 24 hour time.

So I am weak in most areas of math, but I seem to do okay with Geometry. For whatever reason, I enjoy doing logic puzzles and I am somewhat good at them.

Left and right took me forever... finally I started picturing the word "loser" in my head... with the L on the Left and the R on the Right. In an effort to increase my self-esteem, I now use the word "laser".

Clocks through me off for a while-- the problem was that the "intuitive" way of doing it would be to have the minute hand, which represents a shorter unit, be the shorter of the two hands. When I realised that the minute hand had to be longer in order to more easily identify the minute it was indicating, while the hour hand only needed to vaguely indicate the hour. Once I figured that, I was golden.

Please read through and understand before commenting and quoting.

You know, It is FUNNY! There was one thing that always amazed me. The idea that ANYONE could even ATTEMPT it, yet most seem to manage it. WE all did, and most here did it REALLY well. And that is language acquisition. Think about it! They haven't even developed a computer program that can come close to doing that yet.

YET, I should be laughing(This is just my way of emphasizing, and not meant as an insult) at all of you for not being able to do such a simple thing, one that the very first computer chip could do.(OK, the FIRST one needed a program, and never did it at the level most of us are talking about, but you get my point.). Anyway, I must be humble and say "Join the club!"! I WISH I could laugh. Frankly, I don't laugh at many things like that. It is just my way of emphasizing sometimes, and usually in a self deprecating way.

According to wikipedia, I have about 5 of the symptoms. I think it is unfair, since MOST have nothing really to do with numbers, and MANY people need a compass! BTW I do FINE WITH a compass. Also, it says things like:

5 and S often ARE alike! On my comuter, I almost have to struggle to see the sharp corner on the upper left of the number.

0 and O are sometimes IDENTICAL! On my computer here, the 0 is just a bit thinner and less rounded. THAT is why computers added the slash to the zero, but on some computers that starts looking like an 8!

Anyway, my biggest problem is trying to do moderate to large math in my head, simply because I have a hard time keeping track of the numbers. There HAVE been times I just KNEW the answer, but those were fleeting and I never trusted it. I WOULD feel stupid, but I see a LOT of cashiers that have much bigger problems.

Steve

Write it down. I too am unable to do math properly unless I write it down.

Figure out the 'pattern' to the formulas, I'm hopeless at memorizing formulas if I don't understand them, but I have found that I'm also hopeless at 'understanding' math.

But since a lot of math is pattern matching, and formulas are simply 'templates', do enough math questions (get an assessment book or whatever equivalent you have there for test questions) and practice practice practice. With practice, you'll probably figure out the pattern, and voila! It's pie from there on.

Speaking of pies......

My rule for fractions is the 'pie' theory. I imagine a pie and slice it through into however many pieces the denominator denotes. And then shade. And then work on my cravings for -real- pie after all that imagining

I do not have any resources at hand, but I have found that google and wikipedia offer pretty good search results for whatever theory I need to brush up on (have a younger brother who comes to me for help in math).

Have fun with it!

LOL! I do the very same thing. I do it when counting time, days, etc. I just can't seem to sort it out in my head. I would always second guess my own results and turn back to using my fingers. I thought this was a common thing though....hrm...........

I enjoy logic puzzles too. I tend to do pretty ok in them even though I lose concentration really fast, and can never really explain how I derived the answer. Sometimes, I do better at the 'tougher' questions and can't figure out the easier ones, and that seems to baffle people.

I think that you should figure out how you think.
I think visualy, for example, so for me it helps to visualize mathematical operations as objects being separated or combined, sliced and re-shaped.
I had problems with algebra because I though of X and 7 as being a letter and a number and I couldn't understand how you could count with letters, but later I realized that numbers are just labels representing values, so both X and 7 are equally valid value representations.
When doing algebra, I also often think of the unknown values as being kept in a box, and I manipulate the formula visually, like if I had X+4=17, in my mind I'd 'slice' off 4 from both sides and are left with X=13, for example.
Also, things you were supposed to know but they never told you, for example, when they say 2X it really means 2 times X, X alone can be thought of as 1X (1 times x), because I always thought of it as being some kind of special case, and X^2 can be rewritten as X * X.
These were some of the examples that everyone else understood but no one ever explained to me until I asked specifically.

Snowfern has a good example of visual thinking with the pie there.

Ironic that PI is an irrational number...

Thank you guys!

if you need help, I can sell you my answer booklet for math related type problems. of course that will be $30.00 plus S and H.

jst joking.

I think one shouldn't worry too much about math, unless its a class that is required for high school to graduate. thankfully I had a tutor, so I never actually took an actual class. and I don't have to do math at all in college..........................I hope.