{"id":8657,"date":"2016-04-17T09:33:50","date_gmt":"2016-04-17T09:33:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/2016\/04\/17\/why-dyscalculia-awareness-is-so-important\/"},"modified":"2016-04-17T09:33:50","modified_gmt":"2016-04-17T09:33:50","slug":"why-dyscalculia-awareness-is-so-important","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/2016\/04\/17\/why-dyscalculia-awareness-is-so-important\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Dyscalculia awareness is so important"},"content":{"rendered":"

bisexual-hamilton<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

chopythes<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

akamine-chan<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

lemonsharks<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

jeneelestrange<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

lynati<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

setepenre-set<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

thecashewchronicle<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

I\u2019d like to take a second to list all the people I wish had known more about dyscalculia growing up:<\/p>\n

My first grade teacher, who noticed when on a verbal counting test that I went from 99 to 100 to 200 and told my parents I just needed a little practice<\/p>\n

My third grade teacher, who couldn\u2019t understand why I would turn in a timed multiplication table test with absolutely nothing written on it, or burst into tears when asked to bring it home and have it signed by my parents<\/p>\n

My school corporation, who placed me in advanced mathematics for two excruciating years based on aptitude tests, apparently unaware that aptitude and ability are not one and the same<\/p>\n

My fifth grade teacher, who privately admonished me for \u201claziness\u201d because I couldn\u2019t stop making \u201csilly mistakes\u201d\u2014like switching multiplication and addition, or flipping numbers like three and eight, or failing to follow every step of a math problem<\/p>\n

My sixth grade math teacher, who publicly called me out for writing the formula for the Pythagorean Theorem on my hand, claiming I didn\u2019t study, though I had spent five hours the night before preparing<\/p>\n

My parents, who grounded me every time my report card came out, trying their best to discipline what they thought was laziness<\/p>\n

My family doctor, who, once told about my math troubles, prescribed me ADD medication without any running any kind of diagnostic<\/p>\n

My Algebra teacher senior year after I was diagnosed, who claimed that giving me extra time on my test would be \u201cunfair to the other students\u201d<\/p>\n

Every teacher who ever laughed and pointed at the clock when I asked them what time it was<\/p>\n

The boy in my band class that said I was the \u201cstupidest smart person he\u2019d ever met\u201d<\/p>\n

My former boss, who when I told I had dyscalculia told me \u201cI probably have it too, I am always mixing things up!\u201d (she was an accounting major and ran the accounting portion of that place of business)<\/p>\n

But you know who would have really benefited from knowing about dyscalculia? Me. I wish I had known. I wish I could go back and tell my ten year old self that it wasn\u2019t my fault, that I am extraordinary in the best way. I wish someone, somewhere along the way could have seen what was really going on.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why dyscalculia awareness is so important.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

oh my god.<\/p>\n

I. had no idea this was a thing. looked up the symptoms and<\/p>\n

\u2018inability to tell, at a glance, how many objects are in a small group\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

THIS. THIS IS A THING? THAT OTHER PEOPLE HAVE?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018struggles with directions, anxious about moving from one location to another\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

I memorized the route to all my classes in high school and yet if I didn\u2019t have COMPLETE AND UTTER FOCUS I would STILL GET LOST it was so unbelievably stressful<\/p>\n

\u2018is constantly late because struggles with understanding the passage of time\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018struggles to\u00a0read analog clocks\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018moves too fast or too slow\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018struggles with basic math\/memorizing math facts like times tables and formulas\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

GOD. I spent MONTHS on those times table tests; long after everyone else had gotten theirs done, I was still taking and retaking those awful, awful tests.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And I still have to turn everything into addition to get it to make sense. 10-7? count up from 7 to 10, on my fingers. do it again to make sure I\u2019ve done it right. 4×6? that\u2019s 6+6+6+6. \u00a0keep track of it on my fingers. do it again to be sure. 18\/3? start adding threes together, keeping track of how many it takes, on my fingers. do it again to be sure. STILL SOMETIMES GET IT WRONG because even addition is hard.\u00a0<\/p>\n

just.<\/p>\n

dyscalculia<\/i>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

is a thing.<\/i><\/p>\n

thank you for this post.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I see people trash-talk Tumblr all the time but I\u2019ve lost track of how many people have said something JUST LIKE THIS about their mental or physical health, their gender or sexual identity, and their understanding of social issues or world politics during the less-than-18-month I\u2019ve been here than at any other website or classroom I\u2019ve ever had a presence in.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I literally didn\u2019t learn that I might have dyscalculia until I was studying to be a teacher and had to learn what the hell that was. And oh hey, look, I have practically every symptom but I\u2019m about to graduate and there\u2019s really no point in me putting forth the money to diagnose anything. Seeing kids FINALLY get something in math after working really hard at it, only to forget by the next day, JUST like I used to do, but knowing there\u2019s nothing I can do to stop that. All I can do is teach them the little tricks I learned to remember and figure stuff out and get around the fact that I knew only about half the times tables.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

HOLY MOTHER OF PIE.\u00a0<\/p>\n

@taraljc<\/a>, look at this IT IS US.\u00a0<\/p>\n

(Most of my symptoms have been mitigated or alleviated by technology and I would like to tell my third grade teacher: fuck\u00a0<\/i>you, I have a calculator with me at all times <\/i>and I do not<\/i>\u00a0need to know my times tables FFFFFFFFF and I am not <\/i>stupid or lazy for not being able to learn them)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I was 38 fucking years old when someone said to me \u201cIt\u2019s like you have dyslexia, except with numbers\u201d and when you look up \u201cdyslexia with numbers\u201d you get dyscalculia.<\/p>\n

I went through the list of \u201csymptoms\u201d and it was like a fucking checklist: yes, yes,YES.<\/p>\n

For probably 34 years, I was told (and believed) that I was dumb and stupid.<\/p>\n

Imagine my surprise to find out otherwise.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I too, found out I had dyscalculia when I went to university to study to be a teacher.
I\u2019ve always had trouble with math, lately it\u2019s gotten worse which is weird as I use math almost everyday at work. Can no longer see the difference between 3 and 9 for some odd reason, 8 becomes 0 and so on.<\/p>\n

I DID learn the multiplication table, but that\u2019s only because I had a poster on my wall with the table on, and I got a A+ on the test. I think I had that poster till I was 18 or so.
Very helpful. <\/p>\n

In\u00a0 gym class, we were handed maps and do orientation: I got lost because I had no idea how to follow a map. <\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t learn the analogue clock until I was in the 6th grade.
I still don\u2019t know how to do the Pythagorean Theorem, I remember asking my 7th grade teacher about it, and he just said: There\u2019s nothing to get, it\u2019s just is like this!
But I have to like\u2026 KNOW and UNDERSTAND the problem before I can solve it, just having to be told \u201cIt\u2019s like this\u201c.<\/p>\n

In 10th to 11th grade I had to take the easiest problems to solve in math class (and they were like super easy). I was the only one in the class who had just the EASIEST problems.\u00a0
And I couldn\u2019t even solve them, I wasn\u2019t even halfway through the book when we got to 12th grade, and the others were already into the 3rd or 4th book. ANd they solved ALL the problems. <\/p>\n

In my 12th grade, the math teacher had to sit with me and almost tell me every answer on the last test I had in school so I would be able to graduate.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been told so many times that if I only try harder, if I only better, I\u2019d understand. <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been told to take extra help courses, as if that\u2019d solve the problem. <\/p>\n

We need to raise this awareness.
WE need more people to understand how difficult this is for us, it\u2019s not fun to get anxiety and suddenly cry because you see a math problem. <\/p>\n

We need to make people understand that we\u2019re not stupid. <\/p>\n

We\u2019re not alone in this.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

i failed\/nearly failed every single math class up until the 11th grade due to this and now i am in 12th grade just learning that dyscalculia is, indeed, a thing, and i\u2019m not just \u2018slow\u2019 or \u2018just bad at math\u2019<\/p>\n

amazing.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

bisexual-hamilton: chopythes: akamine-chan: lemonsharks: jeneelestrange: lynati: setepenre-set: thecashewchronicle: I\u2019d like to take a second to list all the people I wish had known more about dyscalculia growing up: My first grade teacher, who noticed when on a verbal counting test that I went from 99 to 100 to 200 and told my parents I just … Continue reading Why Dyscalculia awareness is so important<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3259,3258],"class_list":["post-8657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-math","tag-me-me-me-me-me","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8657\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}