Someone said to me today – “dyscalculia is just like dyslexia with numbers” and whilst that’s often how I describe my own diagnosis, it doesn’t really take into consideration all the other difficulties that can be experienced.
Slow processing – This is often a common characteristic of having a specific learning difficulty and is to do with the speed that our brains takes in information, make sense of it and then respond accordingly. This is nothing to do with intelligence but because the person may be slow to understand and respond, this can make someone feel ‘stupid’ compared to those around them.
With dyscalculia, processing plays a large part in understanding what that mathematical problem is asking which is even more challenging if you have to do this under timed conditions! For me, slow processing shows up when I’m given information verbally and often means that I need to ask for things to be repeated or written down. These processing difficulties also don’t just show when I’m dealing with maths based information, it can be when someone is explaining how to play a game or how to do something for the first time.
Working memory – I have a great long term memory, which is highly visual and to the extent that I can remember a whole conversation, what I was wearing etc. My short term memory however, is not great and has got worse the older I have got and the more complex my life has become. Maths relies heavily on remembering basic rules and if this hasn’t been stored in the long term memory, then it’s more difficult to retrieve at a later date.
Visualising shape and space – As someone who loves to make my own clothes, dressmaking relies on being able to put 2D pattern pieces together to create a 3D object. I struggle to see how all these connect along with difficulties following instructions (another SpLD trait!) I end up abandoning it and just put it together how I think it should go. This is probably not the wisest of approaches but it means that I get it completed. I would love to draft my own customised patterns and make adjustments to commercial ones but I know that I would struggle to understand how to do it and would inevitably lose patience. The picture featured in this post is actually an example of a really good template which I was able to follow to create a personalised pattern – information presented clearly, separated by boxes and with plenty of space around it.
So when considering if you may have dyscalculia, it is always worth considering the other characteristics that you have noticed. The Dyscalculia Network https://dyscalculianetwork.com/ is a great source of information, for both adults and children and includes a dyscalculia checklist which is a good starting point when thinking about a dyscalculia diagnosis.
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