dyscalculia (math dyslexia)

[Nostalgia]

i have dyscalculia which is math dyslexia it means that i get numbers jumbled up and am awful at maths. it takes me a long time to work out answers to math questions and stuff sometimes i can take me 15 minuets to work out the answer to one math question. today at college my tutor gave me this math sheet to do it was one where i had times the area of the shape to work out the perecentage, i took me ages to do. my tutor knows i have dyscalculia as i wrote it in on my student pack when i started college. so while doing the math sheet i got incredibly stuck and i kept saying i dont get this but she didnt seem to help, i then asked if i could use a calculater and she said no do it in your head. so i tried and got tottally confused. all the numbers was getting jumbled and everything the numbers started to dance around the page i tried everything to work out the answers and i couldnt work them out. so come break time when the sheet was not finished apart from two questions which i could do the two i could do were 4cm by 4cm and 5cm by 10cm so i put the answers to them down, but apart from them i couldnt do it. thing is though when i was trying to work out the answers to the others and couldnt do it i could feel my head about to explode with all the numbers jumbled up inside. does anyone have any ideas how i can make math less confusing for myself as today i was on the verge of crying while doing the math sheet thats never happened before, i have college tommrow and am dreading it as i know i will be given yet another math sheet...

[Paddy]

Hey, Well i'm dyslexic.

But maybe i could try and help, worth a go eh?

Well, if you've been tested at the college or wrote it down, then you should have support, i have a specifc lady who i speak to when a bit confused.
they also put all my work on different coloured paper.

but try telling your maths teacher again about your trouble and that you need help, keep mithering her so she doesnt forget.

[topov]

I cant offer much of a solution, or even a huge deal of advice, but.

A friend of mine deals with the same thing, numbers just getting jumbled in his head, and when he was in college he had a terrible tutor who handed him a math's sheet and then called him stupid when he handed it back empty.
One day he got his maths sheet and wrote "I'm sorry but clearly I CANT DO THIS! I'm not stupid, I just cant concentrate on numbers, you know this and you know why, perhaps if you offered me a little help I WOULD be able to"
soon after he was offered a helper and things got much easier for him

[BabyIndia]

I'd try speaking to your tutor again, explaining it to them, ask if you could have a little extra support.

[Casey.]

Well, I have Dyslexic, which isn't completely the same, but it's on the same spectrum. I also have trouble with numbers. It's easier with a calculator, I know we're allowed to use them in class now, but I wasn't in high school so it just depends on your school's rules. Also, talk to your tutor, or write them a note. Let them know that you are struggling and it frustrates you, and you need it explained to you.

[Rainbow Dash]

My friend from school had dyscalculia too. I remember she used to get confused with multipication and division. I've been tested for dylexia when I was a child but they discovered I didn't have it. I would talk about it more with some of your tutors, you really should get more support for this.

[Nostalgia]

when i was at school i had a learning support assistant with me for all math lessons, they sat next to me and helped me they gave multiplacation tables/grids to use, i had special graph paper because i could not see the squares so they gave me special graph paper. helped me hold the ruler, they allowed me to use calulator when no one else was allowed too. there was a learningsupport room which one day a week i went to in the mornings to do math sheets and math activities on the computer i aslo went one lunch time a week to do the same. college is different theres one tutor to 15 people, sometimes 19 people. and each time i am given a math sheet i look at it, read it, read it agian, see if theres any i can do. and if there is i will do them, but if there is not i ask for help but i never seem to get the help. i had this problem yesterday, with another tutor, all the tutors at ym college know they have all read my student pack they all know. except yesterday it was with a dictonary, i asked my tutor how to spell a word and she gave me a dictonary and said look it up, i looked at her blank as though what, (i am useless with using a dictonary) but i gave it ago and couldnt find the word, so just wrote down any old spelling. its almost as though im stood in an empty field with a brick wall surrounding me, and that im standing there screaming out for help but because im in a big field with a brick wall all around me no one can hear me. i was not exactly diagnosed with math dyslexia until i was 16 by then i had left school, but all the learning support assistants new math was my weakest subject and got me really worked up so i always had someone with me for math. at my first college i saw an educational pyschogojist and they diagnosed me with math dyslexia and the first college also made sure that there was an learniing support assistant in the math classes with me, they let me leave the room and stuff if math got to much which it sometimes did. but i got kicked out of that college so im at a different college now and its a nice college i have some great mates there and stuff. the course im doing is kinda easy but the math part of it is really hard. im not asking for them to get someone special in to sit with me for ten minuets at the start of the day to the math with me, i just want them to understand me, and explain it to me abit and help me when i ask them.

[Tegan]

I think Its good that you know what you want from your tutor as that will make it easier to ask for it, see your teacher after the lesson and say to them that you want them to explain it and help you when you ask for it. That is, after all, what they're there for?

I have a friend with dyscalculia and she's really creative and artistic so she finds it helpful to combine the two and she draws out the maths problems and works them out that way. Maybe you could talk to someone who could support you in finding a similar way of thinking for you that utilises something you're really good at to support your maths?

[Nostalgia]

i no, i did try writting the sums out and was getting answers of 728 which got me more confused. yeah maybe, i will talk to my tutor next time im in college.

[Power Cosmic]

I feel your pain here, I've got discalculia myself, I can't do numbers in my head without having to sit and think for ages. As the others have said, just talk to your tutor, or maybe ask your doctor to write a letter for the tutor, since they'd probably have to listen to that.

In either case, best of luck with things Lydia.

[Nostalgia]

on tuesday i am going to talk to my tutor. it just annoys me that in my student pack it said do you have any dissabilites, so i put mine down, and i told them when i had an interview for the college im at.

[Gixxers rock]

Try regularly doing simple multiplications in your head. Like pick random numbers and go at it. Nothing outrageous, but do like 13x7 and just progressively up the ante so to speak.

Exactly what is your major btw?