r/dyscalculia

I am convinced that math people can neither teach math to non-math people, nor understand that a non-math person could possibly exist upon the earth.

In school or college, did you ever experience a teacher skipping over multiple steps in a problem on the board, and when you asked how these numbers came out of nowhere, the teacher responded that they skipped steps because it was basic common sense?

I recall this happening several times. It was so frustrating. I am doing everything to keep my head above water but the teacher is smugly beholding truths to be self evident. It really just reinforces the desire to give up. The teacher is dismissive toward you and is not willing to show their work, but they expect a kid or young adult to understand at the same level as someone with a MS/PhD in mathematics.

I have been told multiple times that "no one is bad at math, you just arent applying yourself." Ok but someone who is bad at sports can be uncoordinated or considered a non-athletic and that is fine. We don't berate students if they dont have a 30 inch vertical in basketball and tell them that everyone can dunk if they just paid attention.

Dyscalculia is such a wide spectrum and I find it interesting to see how much everyone's experiences vary!

My biggest issues are primarily mental math and just being able to correctly interpret numbers. Even though I have a very vivid imagination I just can't get them to stick around properly in my head. And I tend to misread numbers and mix them up a lot. And don't talk to me about tipping cause I either give too much or too little on accident!!

I don't struggle with directions as much, but I have a hard time gauging distances based off of numbers. Like if something is supposed to be 30 ft away its hard for me to figure out how much 30 ft is. But on the other hand, I can navigate really well based off of random visual landmarks, its kind of a superpower at this point 😭

And I think my grasp on language is decent, when I took the ACT in high school I actually maxxed out the english and "science" (basically just reading comprehension) sections but my math score brought my overall score down. And I've been learning Russian on and off and I've picked it up fairly fast, I love learning languages!

I had to drop out of highschool and get my GED because of health issues but while I was getting my ged I got high scores and college ready + credits on all of the subjects except math, I barely passed with a 145 on the math portion when 144 is a fail lmaooo this was after rigorously studying what I needed to for a whole 2 months 4+ hours a day.

I only passed because calculators are allowed and the online resources I got from Reddit taught me how to use the calculator to get the answers on most of the questions 😭

I’m so cooked my physical health issues make it so blue collar collar work would be nearly impossible and my mental health issues make it so I can’t even go to college to get a white collar job 😭

I have dyscalculia as well, and I always loved strategical games, especially fog of war chess , poker , stratego, but to be great at those games you need to take the mathematical optimal decision. What's your experience on this

I'm in the Army, I've been in for only 3 months and currently I'm in AIT(job training). I just started classes a week ago and I'm already failing miserably. We're learning about DC series-parallel circuits and i just don't understand any of it. We're able to use as many notes, even a calculator to do the work but I just forget everything they teach us. On Wednesday, I had a small mental breakdown, I told a counselor and a instructor that I want to reclass into another job, because I can't understand any of the material, i wanted to say more but i didnt want to risk being on suicide watch or something. It's getting really bad for me and I just can't help but feeling like hurting myself. I'm always the last one to finish any problem and everyone has to wait for me to finish, it makes me feel awful.

Before the army, I always had trouble with numbers and math. I had many tutors growing up, had after school classes, all the resources to learn, but I could never get it. I just get so much anxiety when I have to do math.

I told a friend over here that im starting to think I have dyscalculia, what did he say? He said he doesn't think so because I know where my room is(I don't remember the room number). I just remember the direction, I often have to look at my room key to remember the actual number.

I don't know what the point of this post is, I just feel miserable constantly. I keep getting bad thoughts and I don't want to act on impulse. People here can see im not doing well, im often asked by random people if im okay, im not. This job was supposed to be part of a goal I had, i joined to change myself, but it feels like its all crashing down.

Sorry if this is a silly question.

I recently got diagnosed with dyscalculia in March. I reached out to the accommodations office at my school and had a meeting with them. I won’t find out if I get accommodations until August before school starts. Just in case I don’t (or even if I do), I’d love to hear some tips.

I’m in college now, but math has always been my biggest struggle. Dyscalculia is obviously a huge part of it. I have practically no foundational math skills. After my clinical assessment, I found out I’m at about a 3rd-grade math level (which was really embarrassing to hear). I struggle to grasp even the most basic math concepts (like division for example). I’ve failed two math classes so far and a physical science class (it required so much math…), and I still have to take four different math courses for my degree. I would already be done with my gen eds if it weren’t for my math and science classes (the science gen ed credit I need involves a lot of math). I’ve tried tutoring with multiple different tutors (I even received tutoring from my former math professor), but none of the content ever seems to stick. One thing that really worries me is that two of the math classes I still need are only taught by the same professor. I failed her class last semester. She doesn’t allow calculators on exams, and we only get one hour to finish them. The exams are around five pages long with no multiple choice questions. When I took the class before, time would run out and I’d still be on the first page because it takes me so long to work through the problems (even then, I would still get all of them wrong). I don’t think there’s much I would be able to do about this though if I don’t have accommodations.

So for those of you who made it through college math, what helped you pass? Did you use any accommodations, certain study methods, or other strategies that made a difference? Were there any resources you found especially helpful? I’d love to hear any advice or feedback. Thank you.

Im from a country where the national university entrance exam requires maths, like, a lot of maths. Its the most important part of the exam. If you don't do good at maths you have zero chances of getting into university.

Im good at any other subject, but this disorder is costing me such important aspects of my life. I want to be a doctor, and there's almost zero maths in medschool. Why do I have to solve all these questions which won't benefit my life in any way 😭

To make matters worse, their "accomodations" are a mere +30 minutes. Lol. Like that's going to help anyone with dyscalculia solve 40 hard math questions in 40 minutes

Title

About a year ago, on a family vacation, my 27-year-old daughter Noga (who has severe dyscalculia) volunteered to buy us ice cream. She stood at the register and tried using a standard calculator on her phone to figure out the cash. The cashier completely misunderstood what she was doing and grew impatient. A line of frustrated customers formed behind her. Noga completely froze, and eventually ran back to our hotel room crying hysterically, without the ice cream. As a mom, it broke my heart. But it also flipped a switch in me. I realized standard tools don't work under pressure. I decided to build her something different: an app that provides complete "cognitive scaffolding." No calculations. She inputs the price, and it simply shows her a picture of the exact bills and coins to hand over. Seeing her pay confidently today, without that silent panic at the register, feels like the biggest victory. How do you help your adult children or teens manage the overwhelming anxiety of handling money in public?

I got a part-time job at a café, and I start next week. I’ve never used a cash register before, and I’m incredibly nervous because I struggle with counting and numbers in general. People have told me not to stress because most cash registers do the work for you, but it’s an old café, so I’m not sure how modern their register is.
Regardless of whether it’s new or old, I’m still worried that I’ll struggle with giving customers the correct change. If you’ve worked with a cash register or handled money as part of your job, how did you navigate it?

It seems to be a common trait in many with dyscalculia.
Does anyone know why?

The brain noise. The anxiety. It’s like trying to read a book with a movie playing.

It’s not a lack of effort.
It’s not that you’re not applying yourself.

Trying to understand to the point of tears, and still not getting it…

Sounds like effort. Sounds like you are applying yourself.

The A’s and B’s in every other class were proof that I did not apply myself any less. The math got harder.

I got left behind sitting in the exact same classroom as my peers.

It’s damaging to hear that you’re not trying, when you never stopped.

This is dyscalculia.

Hello. Sorry if this isnt the right place to post this question but I was wondering what could be a possible way that I can teach someone i know to stop using concrete apparatus to grasp fractions?

At the moment we are using little pizzas that you can colour in the slices to see which fractions are equal. This has gone great, but as soon as they are taken away they cant grasp the concept anymore. Ive tried to get them to draw out the circle and segments on their own, but they can't imagine it and end up getting overwhelmed. I dont really understand dyscalculia but I am trying. Does anyone have any tips that I can use?

After more carefull check of my childhood diagnoses and recent ones too, ive learnt that my "specific learning difficulties" actually mean i got: dyscaculia, dysgraphia and dyslexia..

Ive had difficulties in all of those, and its clear from childhood too, though i never thought i was actually experiencing those disorders so it was kind of shock when i learnt it.

Anyways theres one thing i want to share with how my dyscaculia presents, and while i think its obvious, in some stuff it appears almost paradoxical. I can definitely relate to all symptoms of dyscaculia, well more in childhood and especially counting on fingers which i did till 15 years of age. I would consistently mix symbols and numbers due to their similiarities, forget to do a step and such, getting lower grades or spending significantly more time on problems i had to do than i should have. Now in adulthood i got pretty much really good mental math compared to my peers, i at least belive so. I got pretty good at maths quickly when i got adhd meds too, despite still having most of the other symptoms except the finger counting. I felt great but then i stopped actively doing math and boom, i am terrible at it again (its insane not going to lie). I wonder if this is something you guys relate to also?

Either way, i belived my ADHD was main culprit to my struggles and now it makes more sense. Thats all from me, just wanted to share, i dunno if this looks bit silly or something. Just bit of yap yk:D.

Some days ago I got my grades for the semester, I improved my grades in multiple subjects, some subjects I didn’t but I still passed. But of course I failed math.

I got all accommodations you could think of, getting one on one help in math and more can’t be bothered to write all of the accommodations I’ve gotten.

Yet I still failed. Literally how? It literally feels like nothings ever going to improve. That I’ll never pass math, I’ve lost all hope at this point. I already want to drop out of my new school and it’s two months until school starts.

I feel so behind compared to everyone else, my brother is going to university most certainly, and I’m here feeling like a burden to my family. I can’t even do basic math and I probably won’t even be able to get my dream education due to dyscalculia destroying my dream.

I’ll give it one school year and if I still haven’t passed math in that time frame I’ll drop out. With that being said, I don’t feel any motivation to study but I’m forcing myself to otherwise I’ll be at home all day doing nothing and wasting everyone’s time.

So now I’m just waiting in pure nervousness of having to do like a hundred units (overreacting but it really feels like I have to do that,) I truly wish I didn’t have dyscalculia. It has ruined my chance of getting my dream education.