Dyscalculia?

[Kari Suttle]

Ever since i started my current part time cashier job nearly three years ago I've had issues with numbers. I've always been bad at math - can't do math in my head and it always took me forever to grasp new mathematical topics. Past elementary school math was always my worst subject but somehow i always managed to pass it.

I'm short on time cuz ive gotta leave for work soon so i'll try to make this quick. Growing up i never noticed it so i'm skeptical as to if this is just a personal deficit or if its a learning disability. At work on the register when i read out the totals to customers if i'm not calm and paying total attention to the numbers, i'll transpose them or misread them entirely. I do it all the time. When i have to type in UPCs when an item won't scan i literally have to cover up everything but the four numbers im trying to type in at once sometimes (UPCs are 12 numbers long, give or take). If i dont, i easily get lost and have issues figuring out where i was in typing in the sequence of numbers.

These are the only issues ive ever had. I mean i said the same thing about my self diagnosed AS/HFA, but i figured if i had a mathematical learning disability surely it would have been noticed growing up. Does this sound like its moreso a personal thing or autism related, or could it be its own learning disability? Does anyone else have similar issues? Ideas how to cope with it? I've never had issues reading the numbers (in my head to myself) on a digital clock or on my phone or the like and i dont recall any times i had issues reading aloud the time. How isolated it seems to be is what makes me wonder. I think i created a thread for this ages ago but i cant find it and i dont remember what i called it and i dont know how to find it so i made this one.

 

[Ylva]

From what I understand it's about thinking in numbers. I mean failure to do so. It's probably similar to how I (and at least some other aspies, even though it can't be all since AS isn't defined as a learning disability) have trouble thinking in social concepts. So it's about thinking in mathematical concepts. (You can just tell when I'm just going stream-of-consciousness.)

I know a man who has it, who vaguely despises math even though he has no problem with logic. He seems to have hacked it through pattern-recognition, we have never actually discussed how, but I know his thinking is mainly spatial and tactile, so if I understand that right the way to hack it through, say, visual thinking would be to actually visualize numbers and attach them to each other through various patterns. Which sounds laborious. I semi-hacked my dys-socialia by visualizing scenes from books and movies that resembled the specific situation, and equally semi-hacked my dys-musicia (failure to think musically) by instead concentrating on the colors the tones produced.

Don't know how useful that is, but my point is, maybe try circumventing your problem by thinking of it in ways you are more familiar and comfortable with?

Rant out.

 

[Wireless]

When I started work in a supermarket I found myself misreading numbers and mixing digits up.
However, I found that my brain made the same mistakes over and over again e.g. mixing up 3 and 7. By remembering what mistakes I am likely to make I am able to recheck my work or take it slower.
Anxiety, stress and/or tiredness made the problems worse.

 

[tree]

I found out that I can't do anything right with numbers if
I have any food containing cow milk. Can't remember where
anything goes on a list/on a form/filling in blanks/knowing
what word to say. Nothing.

So I don't do cow milk anymore.

In general, even without cow milk interfering, I seem to
generalize the shapes of letters and numbers. 9 and 6
are easy to mis-remember. I know the names and I
know what quantity each means, but the shape is the
same. Like b and d are alike.

I can do some math. I have taught kids first and second
year Algebra. But don't slip any cow milk in on me or
breathe tobacco smoke in my face...

 

[royinpink]

These are the only issues ive ever had. I mean i said the same thing about my self diagnosed AS/HFA, but i figured if i had a mathematical learning disability surely it would have been noticed growing up.

A lot of teachers don't know about dyscalculia--they only know about dyslexia. Awareness has grown in recent years, but it takes time for that to reach the whole education system.

I know an aspie who is both dyslexic and dyscalculic. They often pair together (though I don't doubt that what Mia said about ADHD is also true), as do, I believe, dysgraphia and Irlen Syndrome aka scotopic sensitivity (the thing that makes numbers and letters 'dance' on the page, or striped things like escalators and dress shirts seem to vibrate)

 

[Naturalist]

I have always had such difficulty with numbers and maths. I love to read about mathematical concepts which are logical or pattern-based, and had chosen a set of "favorite numbers" which consisted of squares (25, 36, 64, 100) long before I knew there was such a thing as a square root. But I struggle to add or subtract even "simple" equations, and often get numbers mixed up, unless I can mentally attach the number to somthing else, such as a visual pattern or an important date. Even writing the numbers down doesn't help, because I make errors in transcription.

I don't think anyone would have identified this as a learning dysfunction, because teachers usually called my errors "careless". As if I wrote the wrong thing because I was not paying attention. If only they had known it had taken me all night to do my homework, just trying to get it right...

 

[Progster]

I have difficulty solving algebra problems, but I don't think I have dyscalculia.