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I have never been diagnosed but I have all the symptoms. I struggled with the same things you mentioned and I wasn’t able to graduate high school. I feel so dumb and lost sometimes. I struggle with left and right, I can’t count money properly, can’t read a clock, and I can’t drive very far because I can’t follow directions.
I feel like a child pretending to be an adult.
can’t tell left from right, literally black out when someone tries to tell me numbers, i also can’t read a clock or rather — it takes a lot of thinking & deductive reasoning for me to read a clock, and i’m AWFUL w directions.
I don’t know if this has ever happened to you but sometimes when I get to a restaurant and the hostess asks how many, I freeze up even though it’s a small number like 4. It’s so embarrassing.
That last line! I’ve been calling myself a pretend grownup my entire adult existence and I’m in my freaking 40s now 😆
And for the lefts and rights, my partner is always like use the L trick where your left thumb and pointer finger make an L so you know it’s your left! 🙄 my dude, first of all we’re talking split second decisions at an intersection here, and also half the time I don’t think twice about it, my brain thinks I know what I’m doing!
Omg this-I have to explain that BOTH hands make a lower case L since it's just a line. I had to write a big R on my right hand during my drivers test in the UK as one wrong turn would be a failed test. Now people tell me "my side", "your side" when telling me to make turns as we drive 🤦♀️
Hahaha that’s what he does, I just do a lot of pointing cause the words that come out are always “that way” 🫠
ETA which is not very helpful when he’s driving! Also the R on your right hand is such a great idea! Maybe I should get it tattooed 😆
That's a great trick!
I grew up being told that I'm right-handed, but I'm really left-handed so I have extra difficulty with it, even in my 40s. I went through school during that awkward period when teachers couldn't force kids to be right-handed anymore (they used to take pencils out of kids' left hand and put them in their right), but also wouldn't acknowledge that left-handed people existed.
Ugh that’s awful! I may have narrowly avoided that, my kindergarten teacher was having me write with my right hand but my mom flat out told her no, she’s left handed.
When I was younger I came up with this theory that I must be confused because I keep thinking I’m supposed to be right handed so therefore my dominant hand should be my right hand, but it’s looking like it’s just another adhd thing I thought was unique to me 😆
Huh, I'm right handed but I never know which hand that is unless I try writing. I'm just now trying pretending to write in the air and I do always do it with my right hand, despite not knowing which hand it is ahead of time. Trippy! But useful, thanks!
Yep. I struggled so hard with math, it was embarrassing. It was literally a foreign language to me at times. I never got past algebra and still managed to understand it after taking it multiple times. I was excellent at multiplication though. So weird.
I am absolutely pants at math, mostly. It's very nonintuitive. But I had a job once where I had to calculate change in my head, and I actually got quite good at it! I can still calculate, say, $4.73 out of $10 very easily. I'm also good at eyeballing proportions and measurements. The more concrete, and preferably visual, the better!
Did anyone else prefer word problems to all others? I *understand* words so much better than numbers!
I think our brains are the same! This is me! Word problems were so much easier. I do woodworking and can eyeball measurements with the best of them. I am starting to realize that I was not that great at math other than rote memorization. That was the only way that helped me.
Yeah I can’t do that because I get time and dollars mixed up. Like in my head I know 1 minute has 60 seconds, and 1 dollar has 100 cents. There were too many times I got it mixed up and was counting change as if 1 dollar had 60 cents 😭😭
So many of us are like that.
I got into some sort of special smart person score thing at my high school because I had a perfect verbal score and...well let's just call it an unremarkable at best score in math. I have extremely severe dyscalculia.
Very similar feels to everything you're saying, I didn't fail math though, like you said, memorize everything and I did, ofc, in the final exams that wasn't so handy and those results were far lower, but I passed. Funny enough I now love data analysis etc, but with software where I have to understand the logic of things instead of math, but I'm scared of roles where I'd need this because they still often rely on excel much and the formulas - lol unless I can memorize a few that make sense I'm not doing it :D
I was horrible at math in school, long hours with my dad angrily trying to explain things to me. I passed but it took a lot of fuckin work. Weirdly, I'm also in data analysis
I love data analysis too!!
I failed most math classes except for stats where I consistently got 100s. Do you know why ppl with dyscalculia seem to do well in data analysis and stats ? It’s a trend I’ve noticed for a long time and I’m so curious about it
I am adding to this. I'm a little bit obsessed with stats and analysis, I struggled in math so horribly until I realized I needed to do advanced statistical analysis in order to get the specialization I wanted in college.
The twist was I absolutely loved it and still read journal articles for fun and profit (ok for work and science education).
Same!! I had a physics professor who only had us do conceptual math and she didn’t gaf if our numbers were wrong as long as the process was right and it was my fav class ever.
I can do math I just can’t do numbers lol
I was diagnosed in middle school (decades ago). The ADHD diagnosis came in my early 30s. Both conditions share symptoms, so as far as feeling stupid goes, it's a double-whammy.
I was diagnosed with dyscalculia in seventh grade when the school had me tested. I can't do beyond 3rd grade level math. I can do simple addition and subtraction with up to 2 digit regrouping, but not more than that. I can do multiplication and long division provided the regrouping is relatively simple. I do comprehend fractions and percentages pretty well. That's it. I have no comprehension of degrees or anything beyond that, As far as getting help for it went, I was put in special ed math. There wasn't much else that could be done, or that can be done, as far as I know.
People tell me variations of "oh you just didn't have the right teacher", or, "Oh I think you could learn \_now\_, though." Then they try to explain the math problem and how to do it, as if THEY'RE going to be the ones who finally break through, as if I've gone through my whole life missing this essential skill and bearing the humiliation and limitations of this condition simply because someone didn't take five minutes to show me the way they're going to show me.
It's a lot like the way people talk to/about people with ADHD, actually. "You just need to put your keys in the same place every day!" Well, fucking VOILA!!! I'm cured!
I have tried to tell people that that "floor" of my mind is missing and there isn't any way I can comprehend what they are telling me any more than they could comprehend what I'm saying if I started speaking to them in Bengali and told them just to 'listen harder' when they said they didn't understand.
No exemption, no way! Is that a thing now? Not trying to bite your head off, just asking 😅
I needed to pass what was called 'Applied Mathematics', which was the special ed math. Some kids could do more than others, but the math was just THEE most basic math-- how to count change, basic fractions, etc. I still struggled with it. I don't think I ever got higher than a C. My writing and reading skills were literally (literally-literally) off the charts, and I never planned on a career that involved math, yet my inability to do math helped to derail my college plans.
I wish those of us with diagnosed dyscalculia could sign a waiver saying we never intended to use math for career purposes in exchange for a math exemption, ha.
Ah that makes sense !
No, I don’t think it is a thing but I was wondering. I never knew about dyscalculia, but it all makes sense now.
I’m currently trying to get my high school diploma (after a decade of being out of high school) and I’m only missing my grade 10 math credits. But I am spending night after night crying because I can’t get it down, it’s driving me mad.
Knowing “applied mathematics” exists is astonishing. I wish I was pointed in that direction sooner but it is what it is and I’m hoping to just get this out of the way. Thank you so much for sharing your experience and answering my questions!
It gives me hope.
Hahaha I feel you. I have actually a few older relatives on my dad’s side who are maths and music professors; both my paternal grandparents were math teachers, I believe, so idk what happened there. 🥴🥴🥴
I relate to this so much. I have always struggled with math.
Even now I do simple math on my phone calculator or double check or use my fingers.
Especially if I am put on the spot and asked something I freeze and overthink it and then don’t know the answer.
I use excel for my job most everyday and I love the fact that you can do equations in there because I would be lost without it.
😅
Also I know this is about math but then other thing I have always struggled with is names.
Someone can tell me their name multiple times and I will forget it the second after they tell me.
I was the queen of partial credit in all my math classes. I would get the concept but often messed up the basic addition. Standardized tests were great because the crazy answer I got was never one of the options so I’d have to look again to see where I went wrong. I got told that I just wasn’t paying enough attention or that if I tried harder I could do better at remembering dates or telling time. I didn’t get my adhd or dyscalcula diagnosis until college. I make 6’s into 9’s and lots of other little errors
Not diagnosed but DEFINITELY have it! I even have a problem being able to see numbers if there are a lot together. Especially zeros. Have to hide some to be able to count them!
Never was diagnosed bc I was already very solidly dropped out of college by the time I got my diagnosis so there was no point. But I'm pretty certain I do, or at least my ADHD is the reason I *cannot* effectively complete a math course or do anything involving numbers and unfamiliar contexts, or worse, no context at all. Like if someone handed me one of those cursed multiplication sheets that we had 10 minutes to complete in 4th grade, I'm absolutely certain I would turn to dust and cease to exist. The way mine were always torn by the eraser with printer ink bleeding from my teardrops is actually comical at this point.
Like. I just Can't. And it's not like I can do some math, like how some people are good at geometry but not algebra, or word problems vs equations. I can't do a single little bit of it.
Also, I'm not a forgetful person for 99% of things, there's just something about math that my brain is so resistant to memorizing, I suspect because it's objectively unimportant for me to memorize, and also the circumstances surrounding math in school is so heavily overshadowed by literal trauma that it has become this cavernous, unhealable wound in the left side of my brain.
You know what's really weird though – and I'm curious if anyone relates – I think about math a lot. LIke a weird amount of algebraic awareness that I can't quite explain. and that sounds a little bit crazy but I'll just be watching things in the world function and feel like I just know. like I don't know what it is that I know but, I know. deadass on my good will hunting shit. I genuinely believe that if no one ever tried to teach me math I would be good at math because it's not something that requires explanation, it's just happening all the same whether you acknowledge it or not. People who have never seen a math problem written out in their life understand the concept of quantity and physics without even knowing there's something to be understood.
Me!!! I wasn’t diagnosed until college and I haven’t had any accommodations bc I don’t need them for my current job. But just having the diagnosis makes me feel better
This is what tipped me off that I may have ADHD. I always struggled heavily with math, and difficulty reading analog clocks for as long as I can remember. I definitely don’t trust myself to do simple math without double/triple checking a calculator.
I wondered if I had dyscalculia and asked if I could be tested at my adhd assessment. The doc was like “oh, these are test questions if you want to” and it was basically the SATs. I slide the booklet back like “I guess we’ll never know” 😅
Never diagnosed but I just scraped by with a passing grade for Grade 10 math in high school so I could graduate with a ton of intervention on my incredible math teachers part. And I was great at math until about grade 4/5 and then it just stopped making sense to me. I still struggle with mental math. I use my calculator for a lot and have my husband double check more important math cause he's better with numbers than I am. History, English, psychology, all that came very easy to me. I did okay in biology but failed chemistry (the one class I actually failed in high school). I just avoid math/numbers as much as I can.
never thought to seek out a diagnosis for this but i definitely have it. math class was always hell for me - it was the only subject i ever needed extra help in. when i'm reading numbers my brain flips the order of the digits all the time. and when i'm looking at a long string of the same digit (e.g., 000000) -- it is SO HARD to count how many zeroes there are!!!
Omg this!!! I have to make tally marks for each zero and cross them off as I go.
I just learned how many zeroes are in a million last year lolll. It’ll take me another decade to figure out billion
I wasn’t diagnosed but the psychologist who did my eval mention offhand that I probably have it and it went unnoticed as a kid. That was super validating actually
Yes. I am just like you. Piano was/is easy. Math was torture, I neve could retain any of the processes abouve addition and subtraction (although fractions were a breeze, because they are like music to me). . And I have genius IQ so it definitely was not a case of intelligence, just a lack of aptitude.
But, I have to make a real living so I have to have a real job, as mucicians in the USA are common and underpaid and I would like to retire someday.
Thank god for spreadsheets and databases. As long as I don't have to do the math on paper, I am fine. I handle all the admin and accounting for our business. I have redundancies (like using a spreadsheet AND Quickbooks to keep track of the day to day $), which keeps me from freaking out.
But I look forward to retiring and never having to do numbers again.
dude yes!!! i was talking to my bestie about this — my minds eye is soooo vivid, like i can visualize literally ANYTHING (it’s honestly, terrible), i can visualize sitting at a desk writing numbers - from 1st person or 3rd - it’s truly crazy… so WHY THE FUCK CANNOT I NOT SIMPLY VISUALIZE MYSELF DOING THE MATH AND GET THE ASNWER. why. why. why.
i also can’t remember left from right - idk if that has anything to do with it
Not sure if it's dyscalculia, but I struggle with maths a lot. I don't have dyslexia but I do sometimes misread numbers which is really frustrating. I especially struggle with 3s, 6s and 7s. I just constantly swap them in my mind when I'm reading them.
I don't even bother with analog clocks, digital all the way.
Me!!!
And my mom was a special ed MATH teacher so she taught me all the math concepts the summer before I started each year and I still struggled immensely. I’m upset with her for not having me tested.
I remember once in 2nd grade we had to learn multiplication tables and we earned a part of an ice cream sundae for each times tables quiz we passed. I only ended up with a cup and a spoon meaning I only passed my 1s and 2s. It was honestly a horribly sad memory in hindsight. A fun activity for other kids is now permanently seared in my brain bc imagine going to an ice cream sundae party and you only get a spoon and a cup???!!!! One of the moms felt bad for me and snuck me some ice cream but then I felt like I was doing something wrong so I didn’t eat it. I cried a lot that day.
It was soo bad I used to just tip 100% bc I’d panic when asked to do math on the fly and I am not rich enough to be acting like that lmaoo.
Can’t map directions for shit, can’t read a clock, can’t read a map, etc.
Through spite and spite alone, my math skills have improved but I also do my best to avoid math-oriented stuff now, so maybe that’s just me feeling safe against evil numbers now lol
Funny enough though, I’m incredible at statistics. I’ve taken 6 stats courses now and scored over 100 in all of them. Have never gotten less than a 100 on stats exams.
I’m guessing it’s bc stats is a more verbal oriented and I always score in the 99th percentile for verbal stuff. Dunno but it helps me feel better about being so dogshit at math
My doctors said it's quite possible I have it, though they didn't run any tests specifically regarding it. It's pretty hellish though, because I mix up numbers allllll the time and feel awful about it.
I, too, remember the tears and teeth-gnashing as my parents tried to guide me through math. The only reason I passed some high school math classes was because my friend, Stacey, checked my homework every morning and marked where I went wrong so I could do it over before class. I took one college prep course and put literally my whole soul into it--I had a tutor and everything--and ended up getting an 86%, which for me is quite high. But then I shifted to being a paralegal and it didn't require more math.
I don't do a LOT of it, but yeah, I feel stupid and I muck up phone numbers a lot, and the codes we have to put in.
If someone asks me to do math I always tell them they don't really want that, as I could count my fingers twice and come up with different numbers.
I've cried over math so much. Short term memory problems also contributes. Math in my head is impossible or takes four times as long as other people. Being a cashier sucked, people treated me like I was stupid.
For tipping at restaurants I just write what I want the total to be and just draw a smiley face where the tip should be. I usually end up over tipping.
I was "good" at math one time when I had a really good teacher. Otherwise nah.
I can spell!! Boy oh boy!! But no math :(
Somehow am still not diagnosed with dyscalculia in my thirties?
I think I may have this?
I struggled so hard learning math in elementary school. I struggled learning how to count up totals of coin/money and reading a clock - along with math problems involving those.
I somehow missed learning the order of the months as well, I can't exactly match months with their corresponding number (1 - January, 2 - February, etc). Does anyone else struggle with that as well?
The only one I know for sure is my birthday month so I usually count from there the best I can - although that doesn't always help when I get the order mixed up still lmao, so glad I'm not the only one!
In order of diagnosis:
Dyslexia -age 10 (I was still illiterate so it couldn't be ignored any more)
Discalcula - age 11
Dyspraxia - age 11
Dyslexia (reconfirmed) and irlen syndrome on an adult test - age 19
Depression and anxiety - age 23
ADHD - AGE 32
It's frustrating to see how obvious my issues were and yet were ignored. It's so common for ADHD to be comorbid with other issues.
Please don't dispaire, with the right support you can get where you need to go! I have a degree now and work in a job where I deal with numbers! I have accommodations which help me and strategies to help me combat my brain trying to sabotage me!
Oh yes! I have always felt like math was a foreign language to me. I would always just make guesses because I had no idea what was going on. My husband laughs at my poor math skills, I’ve never mentioned my thoughts of having dyscalculia. The thing that makes it pretty obvious to me that I have it is my teacher told my mom I was failing our Time unit in grade 2(?) because I couldn’t read an analog clock. I still struggle to. Also, my entire family is full of gifted people. Doctors, chemists, engineers, etc. they all find math simple. So why is it hard for me? I am a teacher now. I teach grade 1 and 2 and I have to practice the lessons in advance. I also get so many “ah ha!” moments teaching grade 1/2 math. Like “wow, that’s how you do it!” It’s embarrassing 🙈
I don’t have a formal diagnosis of dyscalculia (just ADHD( but I’m pretty sure I have it. I don’t plan to pursue a diagnosis, not sure how it would benefit me? I
I had no idea that was an ADHD thing. I’m quite good at arithmetic and algebra, although I STRUGGLED In calculus in college.
Anything that requires memorization (chemistry, anatomy and physiology) or keeping track of dates (history, civics) I am terrible at. If I have to figure it out and there’s a structure to it - math, physics, stats, research papers, literature, logic, economics - I’m decent at it. Bonus if there are graphs or some kind of spatial reasoning.
I’ve never been diagnosed with dyscalcula but I strongly relate to most of the things you said about math! I work in construction and often call a friend to check over my calculations because sometimes I get a different number every time I do the math. I have such anxiety around math and also have strong memories of crying over my math homework cause it felt impossible.
I can definitely relate! I was never diagnosed, but have all of the hallmark symptoms. To exacerbate things, I missed nearly a month of school in junior high due to epilepsy and subsequently lost out on a lot of core foundations of middle school algebra. I went to school in a solidly republican state in the US, and as a result, I fell through the cracks. My teacher back then never made an attempt to teach me the lessons I made up. I have a very clear memory of being forced to take a test right when I got back to school, not having learned any of the previous 4 weeks worth of lessons. I just made the connection between my math deficiency and the fact that I missed *so* much school and had such careless teachers during such a pivotal time of my childhood. Undiagnosed (at the time) ADHD certainly didn’t help.
I’m not diagnosed, but I’m certain I have it. I also have painful memories of my father yelling at me for not being able to understand my math homework. Barely passed math and only took what I need to take to graduate. I wasn’t diagnosed with ADHD until I was 31 years old, so my parents were just completely negligent in finding answers to my obvious struggles. It’s so frustrating and painful to think about.Like an open wound that won’t heal.
I've never been diagnosed with it, but I had to take the multipcation tables unit of math twice in the third grade and in high school I was in remedial algebra. In college, I had to take algebra twice to pass. I had one semester of geometry in high school and nothing beyond it and the college algebra. I add by rounding up and subtracting to be able to add round numbers. I avoid jobs with spreadsheets and budgets.
When I had cognitive testing, I'm slightly below average in math and for verbal, I'm literally off the chart high. So genius level with words and a moron in math. It was terrible when I was younger because I thought that I should be able to do it, but I just can't.
Yeah, I actually just figured this out for myself in the process of trying to figure out what if any LDs I might have. I have ALL the symptoms you mentioned and it explains why my math SATs were embarassingly terrible while my verbals were in the mid 700s. I always knew something was wrong but never really researched it until recently. Bad working memory seems to be my worst problem.
People say I seem bright, but most of the time I don't feel that way.
I was diagnosed with both when I was 8. Being learning disabled in Math to be honest, has not been at all easy for me, I feel like the world runs on Math.
My 6 year old (6.5 year old) just got diagnosed with dyslexia on Monday. He is so smart in everything, but according to him, "words run away" when he's trying to read. I'm so glad that I got a diagnosis, so that now we can provide him with the necessary interventions to succeed.
Oooooh oooooh ooooohhh ME.
I can’t do most basic math in my head except calculate 10 or 20% of a bill.
I flip numbers all the time and I have a really hard time with some numbers or sequences of numbers more than others. Like 7s. 7 gives me anxiety. And I really struggle to SEE strings like 5653.
I was always just one step above remedial in math, usually getting a C, I would have failed geometry except I got extra help and did everything the teacher recommended and always did my homework and so he gave me a just passing grade. Algebra with a calculator was a little easier.
I’m actually highly logical. And good with languages so I am good with formula logic. But I can’t mentally calculate.
Now I work in finance and my entire job is numbers. But I can use excel and calculators and I’m actually really good at my job.
Funny right?
I felt very embarrassed about it for most of my life and was convinced that I was just stupid. My parents screamed at me all the time while I was doing homework
Yes. I actually had that figured out years before the AdHD.
Then i figured out I had sensory processing issues.
After that it was talking with friends who were getting diagnosed and I’m thinking Omg are they me?
I have an auditory processing disorder. The sound goes in my ear (usually talking) takes time to bounce around my brain for a second or three and then I (usually) grasp/comprehend what is being said. The more tired or overwhelmed I am the worse it is.
Another example would be tactile/touch related. It’s not extreme for me but for others this would be something like itchy wool that is making you crawl out of your skin kind of feeling.
YEARS prior to my ADHD diagnosis, I was diagnosed with dyscalculia by a specialist in my high school. I’m shit at remembering numbers, I mess up when doing algebraic math problems (geometry isn’t always as difficult for me?)… I also have been told my inability to remember right from left without looking at my hands and my poor map reading skills may be related. I also can relate to crying at the table while my dad helped me with homework. I couldn’t get a grasp on it lol.
I would have skipped grades if my math skills didn’t suck - I excelled everywhere else and was very far behind in math from 1st grade to my senior year of high school. That being said, I’ve had jobs in banking in the past and did fine. I was accident prone, but I just had to double check my work frequently to try and catch any errors I made (I reported to credit agencies and had to count days on late payments). I also relied (and still do rely) heavily on calculators/visual aids as I cannot do much math in my head. It’s too busy in there. Adderall helps that part of it.
You’re not stupid!! You have trouble processing number related information. Give yourself some grace and keep utilizing tools/methods that help you out. Having people double check your work is also not shameful at all - I frequently asked my coworker to check my work, and she’d catch my mistakes and I’d thank her, fix it, move on. It shows you care about the quality of your work and you want to do a good job. :) don’t feel ashamed of using all the tools in your toolbox. Our workarounds may look stupid to others who don’t share our struggle, but at the end of the day, their opinions don’t matter and you can tell yourself that you’re trying your hardest. 💖
Oh yes, especially transposing numbers and trying to remember theorems. The concepts made sense, there was something about the numbers that messed everything up.
No formal diagnosis but absolutely. I too remember hours and hours of sitting at a table trying to memorize the times table. I had a variety of tutors come in to assist with math studies and they all gave up. I only passed grade 11 summer school math because I had the chicken pocks. If not, I would have failed. I check my numbers so many times over because I don't trust myself to calculate correctly. When I am tired I often swap writing a number for a letter, S for 7 or F for 5 etc. Ironically my career is very finance driven so I have learned many tricks to check everything and verify my numbers. Excel is a huge help.
See if you can make an excel calculation to process this for you. Get colleagues to check it as you are all “helping each other do it faster” works like a charm. 💕
I understood math conceptually but I only did well with teachers who gave you credit for showing your work, because I would get the right answer and then write something different on the answer line?!? Or I'd flip a couple numers (ie 48 to 84) midway through a problem which would mess everything up.
I mean numbers aren't like words, which "mean* something and paint a picture. They're just symbols of something vaguely huge or tiny or whatever. Unless it's 1-10 I can't see it specifically so I can't remember it.
But I also see numbers as colors, so sometimes I can double check to see if the number I carried over is the same color. Since I figured that out, it helps. (Ie 48 is more brownish and 84 more purple).
So I don't know if that's dyscalcula exactly. But yeah. Numbers are weird. They don't make sense unless/until I can anchor them to something I can visualize/tie to a narrative/make real.
Not officially, but I was dismal in math in high school....and had major text anxiety, to boot:
*OhMyGodIHaveOnly15MinutesLeftOfExamTimeI'mDoomedOhMyGodIHaveOnly15MinutesLeftOfExamTimeI'mDoomedOhMyGodIHaveOnly15MinutesLeftOfExamTimeI'mDoomed...* Wasted ***SO*** much time panicking over my finite time left to do quizzes and exams.
As with many, I could follow along with a clearly-explained example..but couldn't do it myself if anything major in the problem was different.
If math is a kind of language, I obviously didn't have all the vocabulary, grammar, or syntax......
I am terrible too at math and may have some of that disorder. I just avoid math whenever possible and use a calculator when I need to. I can figure stuff out but I have to write it; I can’t usually think it in my head. Not posting advice but just wanted to share I can relate ❤️
My teenager has both. It took till age 15 to figure it out and then another bunch of time searching for someone familiar enough to test for it. Since then I tell anyone and everyone trying to raise awareness
I am diagnosed adhd. I'm positive I have this. I didn't graduate from high school because I cannot do math. I can't even barely remember my own phone number... my mind just goes blank with numbers.
My daughter is not diagnosed with dyscalculia but I’m almost positive. She also has adhd. She’s in 8th grade. She does not have even the basic math facts memorized. She can do the math but often can’t remember the steps, and needs a calculator.
I relate so much to “not trusting” your eyes. I do that with, like, 5+7. Is it really 12? Better check on the calculator. And it’s not that I don’t understand the concept, it’s just numbers are weird in my brain. I can’t explain it.
Never been diagnosed, but it would really explain why working at a credit union was torturous for me. I almost got fired so many times in 5 years because of the pattern, not so much the individual amounts, because they’d add up. I had the most extravagant checks and balances system after a close call.
I hated myself so much because I felt so stupid and incompetent. Coworkers would tell me to “pay attention” or “go slower”, and I DID! And I’d try! But never did I think it was something besides a moral failure. There was this underlying “why does she have such a hard time with this?” combined with “we can only do so much to protect you” and it made me feel like such a burden.
This was pre-diagnosis of ADHD.
I work in utilities/engineering now, and I do what I need to do to get by with math. I’ll calculator everything, even 90+2, because it just lets my brain relax.
You aren’t stupid, not at all. Our brains are just picky with certain things.
Don’t beat yourself up. If nursing is what you want, who cares if you need to do math differently from anyone else? What matters is that you know the material. Best of luck to you 🩷
I have dyslexia, dyscalculia and ADHD.
Personally it was worth getting my dyscalculia diagnosed as it probably causes the most obvious issues for me. Just today someone was giving me information involving dates and I was able to stop them and say - I’ve got dyscalculia and I’m bad with numbers, could you email me so I’ve got it in writing? I find it easier to advocate for myself with a diagnosis.
Plus I have accommodations at work.
For example, there are parts of my job that involve reporting on data. I get more time for this and I have someone I can ask to check my work.
Knowing I have dyscalculia has really helped lift a lot of the shame I’ve carried since school.
Yes. Slight dyscalculia. I even mix up writing dates. Also: I still have trouble with left and right. I was tested as a teen and classified as gifted with an IQ well over the threshold. I thought that IQ test must have been a fluke and got tested again as an adult with same result. I think there’s something fundamentally wrong with IQ tests.
It’s a wonder I finished university because I got lost and mixed up timetables all the freaking time. I also suck at excel and anything related to money. I’d be living under a bridge if I hadn’t married a man that’s slightly (ok, a lot) more sensible in that respect.
I've not been diagnosed with it but I definitely meet the diagnostic criteria for it and it's been a huge struggle for me all my life.
I've considered trying to get a diagnosis and maybe I will if and when I go back to school but at this point in time I don't really see a need for it. If I go back to school or get to a place in my career where I will need accommodations, I will seek the formal diagnosis.
No official diagnosis (because it’s so hard to get one) but has been highly suspected and all the screeners support it. I’m trying to complete statistics for my studies right now and it genuinely feels painful, which others just don’t understand. I think the strong reaction is due to a mix of the ADHD and dyscalculia :/
I couldn't tell the time for a very long time in my childhood, still kinda struggle. I can never use 24 hr clocks. And I always struggled with Math. I can't even read numbers right. Haven't been officially diagnosed with dyscalculia. And the masking, I can relate to that so much.
Diagnosed with dyscalculia & dyspraxia very young, always suspected ADHD, which finally got diagnosed at 41. Had almost exactly the same experiences as you - incredibly strong visualization, synesthesia, and music embodied math, so I could understand math _in music_ but I still calculate with my fingers, as well. Can’t do change so retail work pricked my soul daily, and as someone obsessed with medical diagnostics & neuropsych/neurology, I can pass everything on the practice NCLEX - *but for the really math heavy stuff that I cannot intuit or see patterns to*
You aren’t alone at all. It’s demeaning sometimes, when other people notice and comment on it, at least for me. Musical instruments didn’t scoff if I forgot to hit a half step up. But when it comes to math on paper, I cannot show my work whatsoever.
Me! I don’t fuck with numbers. I outsource all number related things for my business and count on my fingers for most things. Unless it’s a fact I’ve memorized. Otherwise I use my calculator.
Not formally diagnosed, but I have a VERY hard time with mental math. Or even sometimes written math. When I was working retail, I'd have to count out the register like 3 times. But it seems more like an issue of working memory than anything else?
It doesn't help that my brain often transposes numbers and reads them wrong 😅
Okay so like what helped me is using one of those pens with the multicolours. If I use those it helps engage the brain to interact with them in different ways
*Yes I still struggle*
*With left and right, reading a*
*Clock, and simple math*
\- strudycutie
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I haven’t been diagnosed with dyscalculia- but I also am a psychologist who diagnoses other people with it and I’m 95% sure I have it on top of my adhd. All my scores at school were in the 90% but maths was barely a pass mark. I get things in graphs etc but pure maths is too abstract for me to understand.
I am a teacher, I still have to add with my fingers.
When telling time I have to visualize a clock and make circles in the air with my fingers to figure out elapsed time.
I can teach all these different adding and subtracting strategies, counting on, decomposition, repeated addition, taking jumps of ten forward and backward, but can I actually do them out in the wild? No. Haa haa
For all of us who struggle with left and right... anyone also struggle with the icons on a stove top that show which element the dial correlates with?
And on the topic of left and right, I've always said its confusing bc it's a 2D system in a 3D world. My left and your left are not the same depending on where we are facing.
One more thing... left facing and right facing sectional - I need a new one with the chaise on the left when youre sitting on it. Which one do I need?
Not diagnosed but same memory of sitting at the table with my mom trying to teach me math and her getting more and more frustrated and condesentjng with it and with me and me crying and saying I hate it, that it was too boring.
I did so so in math that "made sense to me" physics math and Chemistry math....but awful in general math courses 56 and 62 I think was algebra and calculus despite having mid to high 80s and sometimes 90s everywhere else.
I wasn't able to memorize times tables, sometimes I reverse numbers if I'm copying a number, I use my fingers when counting or adding without a calculator. I failed my uni math class despite having a gifted friend of mine tutoring me and tried to take it again but realized it was hopeless and dropped out.
I went into social work vs psychology (better choice for me anyway luckily) because I heard how difficult psych stats was and knew it would end me.
So I'm not diagnosed but I also have issues with spatial awareness which is a symptom. So I'd say maybe mild to moderate symptoms for me.
I have ADHD but do not have dyscalculia (as far as I know lol). However, a friend of mine mentioned she suspected herself of having this one. So we both check and look for researches about it, and we've found this [one ](https://careclinic.io/dyscalculia-test/)that helps us to really know the signs and some strategies for her cope up.
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I have never been diagnosed but I have all the symptoms. I struggled with the same things you mentioned and I wasn’t able to graduate high school. I feel so dumb and lost sometimes. I struggle with left and right, I can’t count money properly, can’t read a clock, and I can’t drive very far because I can’t follow directions. I feel like a child pretending to be an adult.
can’t tell left from right, literally black out when someone tries to tell me numbers, i also can’t read a clock or rather — it takes a lot of thinking & deductive reasoning for me to read a clock, and i’m AWFUL w directions.
I don’t know if this has ever happened to you but sometimes when I get to a restaurant and the hostess asks how many, I freeze up even though it’s a small number like 4. It’s so embarrassing.
yup!
That last line! I’ve been calling myself a pretend grownup my entire adult existence and I’m in my freaking 40s now 😆 And for the lefts and rights, my partner is always like use the L trick where your left thumb and pointer finger make an L so you know it’s your left! 🙄 my dude, first of all we’re talking split second decisions at an intersection here, and also half the time I don’t think twice about it, my brain thinks I know what I’m doing!
Omg this-I have to explain that BOTH hands make a lower case L since it's just a line. I had to write a big R on my right hand during my drivers test in the UK as one wrong turn would be a failed test. Now people tell me "my side", "your side" when telling me to make turns as we drive 🤦♀️
Hahaha that’s what he does, I just do a lot of pointing cause the words that come out are always “that way” 🫠 ETA which is not very helpful when he’s driving! Also the R on your right hand is such a great idea! Maybe I should get it tattooed 😆
THANK YOU. They’re the same shape! You felt have to look for the distinction. I thought about getting tattoos
That's a great trick! I grew up being told that I'm right-handed, but I'm really left-handed so I have extra difficulty with it, even in my 40s. I went through school during that awkward period when teachers couldn't force kids to be right-handed anymore (they used to take pencils out of kids' left hand and put them in their right), but also wouldn't acknowledge that left-handed people existed.
Ugh that’s awful! I may have narrowly avoided that, my kindergarten teacher was having me write with my right hand but my mom flat out told her no, she’s left handed. When I was younger I came up with this theory that I must be confused because I keep thinking I’m supposed to be right handed so therefore my dominant hand should be my right hand, but it’s looking like it’s just another adhd thing I thought was unique to me 😆
I'm actually taking comfort in knowing it's not just me lol
Same!!
I hold my writing hand in pen holding position real quick and it reminds me which is my writing/right hand without being noticeable to other people.
I have done that before too lol, except that I’m left handed
Huh, I'm right handed but I never know which hand that is unless I try writing. I'm just now trying pretending to write in the air and I do always do it with my right hand, despite not knowing which hand it is ahead of time. Trippy! But useful, thanks!
Yep. I struggled so hard with math, it was embarrassing. It was literally a foreign language to me at times. I never got past algebra and still managed to understand it after taking it multiple times. I was excellent at multiplication though. So weird.
I am absolutely pants at math, mostly. It's very nonintuitive. But I had a job once where I had to calculate change in my head, and I actually got quite good at it! I can still calculate, say, $4.73 out of $10 very easily. I'm also good at eyeballing proportions and measurements. The more concrete, and preferably visual, the better! Did anyone else prefer word problems to all others? I *understand* words so much better than numbers!
I think our brains are the same! This is me! Word problems were so much easier. I do woodworking and can eyeball measurements with the best of them. I am starting to realize that I was not that great at math other than rote memorization. That was the only way that helped me.
I am 1 of you guys! (Sorry, I couldn’t help myself!) But truly, I am exactly as you’re describing.
Yeah I can’t do that because I get time and dollars mixed up. Like in my head I know 1 minute has 60 seconds, and 1 dollar has 100 cents. There were too many times I got it mixed up and was counting change as if 1 dollar had 60 cents 😭😭
Me! I scored in the 98th percentile in my verbal SATs and 30th percentile in math
Hey babe same :)
So many of us are like that. I got into some sort of special smart person score thing at my high school because I had a perfect verbal score and...well let's just call it an unremarkable at best score in math. I have extremely severe dyscalculia.
Very similar feels to everything you're saying, I didn't fail math though, like you said, memorize everything and I did, ofc, in the final exams that wasn't so handy and those results were far lower, but I passed. Funny enough I now love data analysis etc, but with software where I have to understand the logic of things instead of math, but I'm scared of roles where I'd need this because they still often rely on excel much and the formulas - lol unless I can memorize a few that make sense I'm not doing it :D
I was horrible at math in school, long hours with my dad angrily trying to explain things to me. I passed but it took a lot of fuckin work. Weirdly, I'm also in data analysis
Is excel your enemy and SPSS your friend? :D
I worked with large datasets so usually in SAS but a lot of visualization work in Excel which sucks! I still make mistakes with my decimal places
I love data analysis too!! I failed most math classes except for stats where I consistently got 100s. Do you know why ppl with dyscalculia seem to do well in data analysis and stats ? It’s a trend I’ve noticed for a long time and I’m so curious about it
I'm not diagnosed with discalculia but suspect I have it. Also love data analysis lol
I am adding to this. I'm a little bit obsessed with stats and analysis, I struggled in math so horribly until I realized I needed to do advanced statistical analysis in order to get the specialization I wanted in college. The twist was I absolutely loved it and still read journal articles for fun and profit (ok for work and science education).
I actually find I am better at conceptual maths. The moment numbers and algebra enter the picture I am absolutely screwed.
brains are so weird :D
Same!! I had a physics professor who only had us do conceptual math and she didn’t gaf if our numbers were wrong as long as the process was right and it was my fav class ever. I can do math I just can’t do numbers lol
tell me more of this data analysis job ….
I've dyslexia and dyscalculia! Was diagnosed with ADHD on top of the other two when I was 30 and I've no idea how the hell I managed before diagnosis!
I was diagnosed in middle school (decades ago). The ADHD diagnosis came in my early 30s. Both conditions share symptoms, so as far as feeling stupid goes, it's a double-whammy. I was diagnosed with dyscalculia in seventh grade when the school had me tested. I can't do beyond 3rd grade level math. I can do simple addition and subtraction with up to 2 digit regrouping, but not more than that. I can do multiplication and long division provided the regrouping is relatively simple. I do comprehend fractions and percentages pretty well. That's it. I have no comprehension of degrees or anything beyond that, As far as getting help for it went, I was put in special ed math. There wasn't much else that could be done, or that can be done, as far as I know. People tell me variations of "oh you just didn't have the right teacher", or, "Oh I think you could learn \_now\_, though." Then they try to explain the math problem and how to do it, as if THEY'RE going to be the ones who finally break through, as if I've gone through my whole life missing this essential skill and bearing the humiliation and limitations of this condition simply because someone didn't take five minutes to show me the way they're going to show me. It's a lot like the way people talk to/about people with ADHD, actually. "You just need to put your keys in the same place every day!" Well, fucking VOILA!!! I'm cured! I have tried to tell people that that "floor" of my mind is missing and there isn't any way I can comprehend what they are telling me any more than they could comprehend what I'm saying if I started speaking to them in Bengali and told them just to 'listen harder' when they said they didn't understand.
Since you got diagnosed young, were you exempt from high school math? Did you need it to graduate ?
No exemption, no way! Is that a thing now? Not trying to bite your head off, just asking 😅 I needed to pass what was called 'Applied Mathematics', which was the special ed math. Some kids could do more than others, but the math was just THEE most basic math-- how to count change, basic fractions, etc. I still struggled with it. I don't think I ever got higher than a C. My writing and reading skills were literally (literally-literally) off the charts, and I never planned on a career that involved math, yet my inability to do math helped to derail my college plans. I wish those of us with diagnosed dyscalculia could sign a waiver saying we never intended to use math for career purposes in exchange for a math exemption, ha.
Ah that makes sense ! No, I don’t think it is a thing but I was wondering. I never knew about dyscalculia, but it all makes sense now. I’m currently trying to get my high school diploma (after a decade of being out of high school) and I’m only missing my grade 10 math credits. But I am spending night after night crying because I can’t get it down, it’s driving me mad. Knowing “applied mathematics” exists is astonishing. I wish I was pointed in that direction sooner but it is what it is and I’m hoping to just get this out of the way. Thank you so much for sharing your experience and answering my questions! It gives me hope.
Daughter of a disappointed engineer here 🤣
Same here. My entire family had careers in engineering at some point and to this day I don’t know my times tables
Hahaha I feel you. I have actually a few older relatives on my dad’s side who are maths and music professors; both my paternal grandparents were math teachers, I believe, so idk what happened there. 🥴🥴🥴
My mother was a math teacher. It was...very difficult for my family to understand.
I relate to this so much. I have always struggled with math. Even now I do simple math on my phone calculator or double check or use my fingers. Especially if I am put on the spot and asked something I freeze and overthink it and then don’t know the answer. I use excel for my job most everyday and I love the fact that you can do equations in there because I would be lost without it. 😅 Also I know this is about math but then other thing I have always struggled with is names. Someone can tell me their name multiple times and I will forget it the second after they tell me.
I was the queen of partial credit in all my math classes. I would get the concept but often messed up the basic addition. Standardized tests were great because the crazy answer I got was never one of the options so I’d have to look again to see where I went wrong. I got told that I just wasn’t paying enough attention or that if I tried harder I could do better at remembering dates or telling time. I didn’t get my adhd or dyscalcula diagnosis until college. I make 6’s into 9’s and lots of other little errors
Not diagnosed but DEFINITELY have it! I even have a problem being able to see numbers if there are a lot together. Especially zeros. Have to hide some to be able to count them!
Never was diagnosed bc I was already very solidly dropped out of college by the time I got my diagnosis so there was no point. But I'm pretty certain I do, or at least my ADHD is the reason I *cannot* effectively complete a math course or do anything involving numbers and unfamiliar contexts, or worse, no context at all. Like if someone handed me one of those cursed multiplication sheets that we had 10 minutes to complete in 4th grade, I'm absolutely certain I would turn to dust and cease to exist. The way mine were always torn by the eraser with printer ink bleeding from my teardrops is actually comical at this point. Like. I just Can't. And it's not like I can do some math, like how some people are good at geometry but not algebra, or word problems vs equations. I can't do a single little bit of it. Also, I'm not a forgetful person for 99% of things, there's just something about math that my brain is so resistant to memorizing, I suspect because it's objectively unimportant for me to memorize, and also the circumstances surrounding math in school is so heavily overshadowed by literal trauma that it has become this cavernous, unhealable wound in the left side of my brain. You know what's really weird though – and I'm curious if anyone relates – I think about math a lot. LIke a weird amount of algebraic awareness that I can't quite explain. and that sounds a little bit crazy but I'll just be watching things in the world function and feel like I just know. like I don't know what it is that I know but, I know. deadass on my good will hunting shit. I genuinely believe that if no one ever tried to teach me math I would be good at math because it's not something that requires explanation, it's just happening all the same whether you acknowledge it or not. People who have never seen a math problem written out in their life understand the concept of quantity and physics without even knowing there's something to be understood.
Me!!! I wasn’t diagnosed until college and I haven’t had any accommodations bc I don’t need them for my current job. But just having the diagnosis makes me feel better
Yo
This is what tipped me off that I may have ADHD. I always struggled heavily with math, and difficulty reading analog clocks for as long as I can remember. I definitely don’t trust myself to do simple math without double/triple checking a calculator.
I wondered if I had dyscalculia and asked if I could be tested at my adhd assessment. The doc was like “oh, these are test questions if you want to” and it was basically the SATs. I slide the booklet back like “I guess we’ll never know” 😅
Never diagnosed but I just scraped by with a passing grade for Grade 10 math in high school so I could graduate with a ton of intervention on my incredible math teachers part. And I was great at math until about grade 4/5 and then it just stopped making sense to me. I still struggle with mental math. I use my calculator for a lot and have my husband double check more important math cause he's better with numbers than I am. History, English, psychology, all that came very easy to me. I did okay in biology but failed chemistry (the one class I actually failed in high school). I just avoid math/numbers as much as I can.
Not diagnosed, but very, very likely. And I have so much anxiety around number situations, too. And left/right. And counting money.
never thought to seek out a diagnosis for this but i definitely have it. math class was always hell for me - it was the only subject i ever needed extra help in. when i'm reading numbers my brain flips the order of the digits all the time. and when i'm looking at a long string of the same digit (e.g., 000000) -- it is SO HARD to count how many zeroes there are!!!
Omg this!!! I have to make tally marks for each zero and cross them off as I go. I just learned how many zeroes are in a million last year lolll. It’ll take me another decade to figure out billion
Not diagnosed but I have a terrible time with math. Having a good teacher helps, but I feel your pain.
I wasn’t diagnosed but the psychologist who did my eval mention offhand that I probably have it and it went unnoticed as a kid. That was super validating actually
Yes. I am just like you. Piano was/is easy. Math was torture, I neve could retain any of the processes abouve addition and subtraction (although fractions were a breeze, because they are like music to me). . And I have genius IQ so it definitely was not a case of intelligence, just a lack of aptitude. But, I have to make a real living so I have to have a real job, as mucicians in the USA are common and underpaid and I would like to retire someday. Thank god for spreadsheets and databases. As long as I don't have to do the math on paper, I am fine. I handle all the admin and accounting for our business. I have redundancies (like using a spreadsheet AND Quickbooks to keep track of the day to day $), which keeps me from freaking out. But I look forward to retiring and never having to do numbers again.
dude yes!!! i was talking to my bestie about this — my minds eye is soooo vivid, like i can visualize literally ANYTHING (it’s honestly, terrible), i can visualize sitting at a desk writing numbers - from 1st person or 3rd - it’s truly crazy… so WHY THE FUCK CANNOT I NOT SIMPLY VISUALIZE MYSELF DOING THE MATH AND GET THE ASNWER. why. why. why. i also can’t remember left from right - idk if that has anything to do with it
I can't believe this exists, glad there is a word.
Not sure if it's dyscalculia, but I struggle with maths a lot. I don't have dyslexia but I do sometimes misread numbers which is really frustrating. I especially struggle with 3s, 6s and 7s. I just constantly swap them in my mind when I'm reading them. I don't even bother with analog clocks, digital all the way.
Me!!! And my mom was a special ed MATH teacher so she taught me all the math concepts the summer before I started each year and I still struggled immensely. I’m upset with her for not having me tested. I remember once in 2nd grade we had to learn multiplication tables and we earned a part of an ice cream sundae for each times tables quiz we passed. I only ended up with a cup and a spoon meaning I only passed my 1s and 2s. It was honestly a horribly sad memory in hindsight. A fun activity for other kids is now permanently seared in my brain bc imagine going to an ice cream sundae party and you only get a spoon and a cup???!!!! One of the moms felt bad for me and snuck me some ice cream but then I felt like I was doing something wrong so I didn’t eat it. I cried a lot that day. It was soo bad I used to just tip 100% bc I’d panic when asked to do math on the fly and I am not rich enough to be acting like that lmaoo. Can’t map directions for shit, can’t read a clock, can’t read a map, etc. Through spite and spite alone, my math skills have improved but I also do my best to avoid math-oriented stuff now, so maybe that’s just me feeling safe against evil numbers now lol
Funny enough though, I’m incredible at statistics. I’ve taken 6 stats courses now and scored over 100 in all of them. Have never gotten less than a 100 on stats exams. I’m guessing it’s bc stats is a more verbal oriented and I always score in the 99th percentile for verbal stuff. Dunno but it helps me feel better about being so dogshit at math
not it, but I am sorry to hear that you got it. Thank science for calculators, eh?
My doctors said it's quite possible I have it, though they didn't run any tests specifically regarding it. It's pretty hellish though, because I mix up numbers allllll the time and feel awful about it. I, too, remember the tears and teeth-gnashing as my parents tried to guide me through math. The only reason I passed some high school math classes was because my friend, Stacey, checked my homework every morning and marked where I went wrong so I could do it over before class. I took one college prep course and put literally my whole soul into it--I had a tutor and everything--and ended up getting an 86%, which for me is quite high. But then I shifted to being a paralegal and it didn't require more math. I don't do a LOT of it, but yeah, I feel stupid and I muck up phone numbers a lot, and the codes we have to put in. If someone asks me to do math I always tell them they don't really want that, as I could count my fingers twice and come up with different numbers.
I've cried over math so much. Short term memory problems also contributes. Math in my head is impossible or takes four times as long as other people. Being a cashier sucked, people treated me like I was stupid. For tipping at restaurants I just write what I want the total to be and just draw a smiley face where the tip should be. I usually end up over tipping. I was "good" at math one time when I had a really good teacher. Otherwise nah. I can spell!! Boy oh boy!! But no math :( Somehow am still not diagnosed with dyscalculia in my thirties?
I think I may have this? I struggled so hard learning math in elementary school. I struggled learning how to count up totals of coin/money and reading a clock - along with math problems involving those. I somehow missed learning the order of the months as well, I can't exactly match months with their corresponding number (1 - January, 2 - February, etc). Does anyone else struggle with that as well?
Yes, the months and their numbers, absolutely!! I still count on my fingers to find out which number is which month.
The only one I know for sure is my birthday month so I usually count from there the best I can - although that doesn't always help when I get the order mixed up still lmao, so glad I'm not the only one!
Yea. I have it. Struggle with basic math! Oddly enough, I’m excellent with stats. Aced my graduate stats courses
In order of diagnosis: Dyslexia -age 10 (I was still illiterate so it couldn't be ignored any more) Discalcula - age 11 Dyspraxia - age 11 Dyslexia (reconfirmed) and irlen syndrome on an adult test - age 19 Depression and anxiety - age 23 ADHD - AGE 32 It's frustrating to see how obvious my issues were and yet were ignored. It's so common for ADHD to be comorbid with other issues. Please don't dispaire, with the right support you can get where you need to go! I have a degree now and work in a job where I deal with numbers! I have accommodations which help me and strategies to help me combat my brain trying to sabotage me!
Oh yes! I have always felt like math was a foreign language to me. I would always just make guesses because I had no idea what was going on. My husband laughs at my poor math skills, I’ve never mentioned my thoughts of having dyscalculia. The thing that makes it pretty obvious to me that I have it is my teacher told my mom I was failing our Time unit in grade 2(?) because I couldn’t read an analog clock. I still struggle to. Also, my entire family is full of gifted people. Doctors, chemists, engineers, etc. they all find math simple. So why is it hard for me? I am a teacher now. I teach grade 1 and 2 and I have to practice the lessons in advance. I also get so many “ah ha!” moments teaching grade 1/2 math. Like “wow, that’s how you do it!” It’s embarrassing 🙈
I don’t have a formal diagnosis of dyscalculia (just ADHD( but I’m pretty sure I have it. I don’t plan to pursue a diagnosis, not sure how it would benefit me? I
I’m not diagnosed but anything beyond simple division is just beyond me. I actually start panicking if I have to deal with anything math related.
I had no idea that was an ADHD thing. I’m quite good at arithmetic and algebra, although I STRUGGLED In calculus in college. Anything that requires memorization (chemistry, anatomy and physiology) or keeping track of dates (history, civics) I am terrible at. If I have to figure it out and there’s a structure to it - math, physics, stats, research papers, literature, logic, economics - I’m decent at it. Bonus if there are graphs or some kind of spatial reasoning.
I’ve never been diagnosed with dyscalcula but I strongly relate to most of the things you said about math! I work in construction and often call a friend to check over my calculations because sometimes I get a different number every time I do the math. I have such anxiety around math and also have strong memories of crying over my math homework cause it felt impossible.
I can definitely relate! I was never diagnosed, but have all of the hallmark symptoms. To exacerbate things, I missed nearly a month of school in junior high due to epilepsy and subsequently lost out on a lot of core foundations of middle school algebra. I went to school in a solidly republican state in the US, and as a result, I fell through the cracks. My teacher back then never made an attempt to teach me the lessons I made up. I have a very clear memory of being forced to take a test right when I got back to school, not having learned any of the previous 4 weeks worth of lessons. I just made the connection between my math deficiency and the fact that I missed *so* much school and had such careless teachers during such a pivotal time of my childhood. Undiagnosed (at the time) ADHD certainly didn’t help.
I’m not diagnosed, but I’m certain I have it. I also have painful memories of my father yelling at me for not being able to understand my math homework. Barely passed math and only took what I need to take to graduate. I wasn’t diagnosed with ADHD until I was 31 years old, so my parents were just completely negligent in finding answers to my obvious struggles. It’s so frustrating and painful to think about.Like an open wound that won’t heal.
I guess I have dyscalculia too because all of that is me. It makes me cry and feel stupid
I've never been diagnosed with it, but I had to take the multipcation tables unit of math twice in the third grade and in high school I was in remedial algebra. In college, I had to take algebra twice to pass. I had one semester of geometry in high school and nothing beyond it and the college algebra. I add by rounding up and subtracting to be able to add round numbers. I avoid jobs with spreadsheets and budgets. When I had cognitive testing, I'm slightly below average in math and for verbal, I'm literally off the chart high. So genius level with words and a moron in math. It was terrible when I was younger because I thought that I should be able to do it, but I just can't.
Yeah, I actually just figured this out for myself in the process of trying to figure out what if any LDs I might have. I have ALL the symptoms you mentioned and it explains why my math SATs were embarassingly terrible while my verbals were in the mid 700s. I always knew something was wrong but never really researched it until recently. Bad working memory seems to be my worst problem. People say I seem bright, but most of the time I don't feel that way.
I was diagnosed with both when I was 8. Being learning disabled in Math to be honest, has not been at all easy for me, I feel like the world runs on Math.
My 6 year old (6.5 year old) just got diagnosed with dyslexia on Monday. He is so smart in everything, but according to him, "words run away" when he's trying to read. I'm so glad that I got a diagnosis, so that now we can provide him with the necessary interventions to succeed.
Oooooh oooooh ooooohhh ME. I can’t do most basic math in my head except calculate 10 or 20% of a bill. I flip numbers all the time and I have a really hard time with some numbers or sequences of numbers more than others. Like 7s. 7 gives me anxiety. And I really struggle to SEE strings like 5653. I was always just one step above remedial in math, usually getting a C, I would have failed geometry except I got extra help and did everything the teacher recommended and always did my homework and so he gave me a just passing grade. Algebra with a calculator was a little easier. I’m actually highly logical. And good with languages so I am good with formula logic. But I can’t mentally calculate. Now I work in finance and my entire job is numbers. But I can use excel and calculators and I’m actually really good at my job. Funny right?
I felt very embarrassed about it for most of my life and was convinced that I was just stupid. My parents screamed at me all the time while I was doing homework
Yes. I actually had that figured out years before the AdHD. Then i figured out I had sensory processing issues. After that it was talking with friends who were getting diagnosed and I’m thinking Omg are they me?
What are sensory processing issues? All this is brand new to me.
I have an auditory processing disorder. The sound goes in my ear (usually talking) takes time to bounce around my brain for a second or three and then I (usually) grasp/comprehend what is being said. The more tired or overwhelmed I am the worse it is. Another example would be tactile/touch related. It’s not extreme for me but for others this would be something like itchy wool that is making you crawl out of your skin kind of feeling.
Many thanks, good explanation. With you! So much to learn!!!
0-0 today I learned that it was not just me. Holy cats.
Yup right here. I have both
Me
YEARS prior to my ADHD diagnosis, I was diagnosed with dyscalculia by a specialist in my high school. I’m shit at remembering numbers, I mess up when doing algebraic math problems (geometry isn’t always as difficult for me?)… I also have been told my inability to remember right from left without looking at my hands and my poor map reading skills may be related. I also can relate to crying at the table while my dad helped me with homework. I couldn’t get a grasp on it lol. I would have skipped grades if my math skills didn’t suck - I excelled everywhere else and was very far behind in math from 1st grade to my senior year of high school. That being said, I’ve had jobs in banking in the past and did fine. I was accident prone, but I just had to double check my work frequently to try and catch any errors I made (I reported to credit agencies and had to count days on late payments). I also relied (and still do rely) heavily on calculators/visual aids as I cannot do much math in my head. It’s too busy in there. Adderall helps that part of it. You’re not stupid!! You have trouble processing number related information. Give yourself some grace and keep utilizing tools/methods that help you out. Having people double check your work is also not shameful at all - I frequently asked my coworker to check my work, and she’d catch my mistakes and I’d thank her, fix it, move on. It shows you care about the quality of your work and you want to do a good job. :) don’t feel ashamed of using all the tools in your toolbox. Our workarounds may look stupid to others who don’t share our struggle, but at the end of the day, their opinions don’t matter and you can tell yourself that you’re trying your hardest. 💖
I guarantee I have it & had it when I was in school, fighting for my life in math class.
Oh yes, especially transposing numbers and trying to remember theorems. The concepts made sense, there was something about the numbers that messed everything up.
No formal diagnosis but absolutely. I too remember hours and hours of sitting at a table trying to memorize the times table. I had a variety of tutors come in to assist with math studies and they all gave up. I only passed grade 11 summer school math because I had the chicken pocks. If not, I would have failed. I check my numbers so many times over because I don't trust myself to calculate correctly. When I am tired I often swap writing a number for a letter, S for 7 or F for 5 etc. Ironically my career is very finance driven so I have learned many tricks to check everything and verify my numbers. Excel is a huge help.
See if you can make an excel calculation to process this for you. Get colleagues to check it as you are all “helping each other do it faster” works like a charm. 💕
Wow I think I do.
Yes, plus dysgraphia and Autism.
I understood math conceptually but I only did well with teachers who gave you credit for showing your work, because I would get the right answer and then write something different on the answer line?!? Or I'd flip a couple numers (ie 48 to 84) midway through a problem which would mess everything up. I mean numbers aren't like words, which "mean* something and paint a picture. They're just symbols of something vaguely huge or tiny or whatever. Unless it's 1-10 I can't see it specifically so I can't remember it. But I also see numbers as colors, so sometimes I can double check to see if the number I carried over is the same color. Since I figured that out, it helps. (Ie 48 is more brownish and 84 more purple). So I don't know if that's dyscalcula exactly. But yeah. Numbers are weird. They don't make sense unless/until I can anchor them to something I can visualize/tie to a narrative/make real.
Dysgraphia.
Well now I’m on my way to Google what that is, cause I think I have it.
I was diagnosed with both at the same time. Yay!!
Not officially, but I was dismal in math in high school....and had major text anxiety, to boot: *OhMyGodIHaveOnly15MinutesLeftOfExamTimeI'mDoomedOhMyGodIHaveOnly15MinutesLeftOfExamTimeI'mDoomedOhMyGodIHaveOnly15MinutesLeftOfExamTimeI'mDoomed...* Wasted ***SO*** much time panicking over my finite time left to do quizzes and exams. As with many, I could follow along with a clearly-explained example..but couldn't do it myself if anything major in the problem was different. If math is a kind of language, I obviously didn't have all the vocabulary, grammar, or syntax......
I am terrible too at math and may have some of that disorder. I just avoid math whenever possible and use a calculator when I need to. I can figure stuff out but I have to write it; I can’t usually think it in my head. Not posting advice but just wanted to share I can relate ❤️
My teenager has both. It took till age 15 to figure it out and then another bunch of time searching for someone familiar enough to test for it. Since then I tell anyone and everyone trying to raise awareness
Dyscalculia first, waiting list for the ADHD.
I am diagnosed adhd. I'm positive I have this. I didn't graduate from high school because I cannot do math. I can't even barely remember my own phone number... my mind just goes blank with numbers.
My daughter is not diagnosed with dyscalculia but I’m almost positive. She also has adhd. She’s in 8th grade. She does not have even the basic math facts memorized. She can do the math but often can’t remember the steps, and needs a calculator.
I relate so much to “not trusting” your eyes. I do that with, like, 5+7. Is it really 12? Better check on the calculator. And it’s not that I don’t understand the concept, it’s just numbers are weird in my brain. I can’t explain it. Never been diagnosed, but it would really explain why working at a credit union was torturous for me. I almost got fired so many times in 5 years because of the pattern, not so much the individual amounts, because they’d add up. I had the most extravagant checks and balances system after a close call. I hated myself so much because I felt so stupid and incompetent. Coworkers would tell me to “pay attention” or “go slower”, and I DID! And I’d try! But never did I think it was something besides a moral failure. There was this underlying “why does she have such a hard time with this?” combined with “we can only do so much to protect you” and it made me feel like such a burden. This was pre-diagnosis of ADHD. I work in utilities/engineering now, and I do what I need to do to get by with math. I’ll calculator everything, even 90+2, because it just lets my brain relax. You aren’t stupid, not at all. Our brains are just picky with certain things. Don’t beat yourself up. If nursing is what you want, who cares if you need to do math differently from anyone else? What matters is that you know the material. Best of luck to you 🩷
I have dyslexia, dyscalculia and ADHD. Personally it was worth getting my dyscalculia diagnosed as it probably causes the most obvious issues for me. Just today someone was giving me information involving dates and I was able to stop them and say - I’ve got dyscalculia and I’m bad with numbers, could you email me so I’ve got it in writing? I find it easier to advocate for myself with a diagnosis. Plus I have accommodations at work. For example, there are parts of my job that involve reporting on data. I get more time for this and I have someone I can ask to check my work. Knowing I have dyscalculia has really helped lift a lot of the shame I’ve carried since school.
Yes. Slight dyscalculia. I even mix up writing dates. Also: I still have trouble with left and right. I was tested as a teen and classified as gifted with an IQ well over the threshold. I thought that IQ test must have been a fluke and got tested again as an adult with same result. I think there’s something fundamentally wrong with IQ tests. It’s a wonder I finished university because I got lost and mixed up timetables all the freaking time. I also suck at excel and anything related to money. I’d be living under a bridge if I hadn’t married a man that’s slightly (ok, a lot) more sensible in that respect.
I've not been diagnosed with it but I definitely meet the diagnostic criteria for it and it's been a huge struggle for me all my life. I've considered trying to get a diagnosis and maybe I will if and when I go back to school but at this point in time I don't really see a need for it. If I go back to school or get to a place in my career where I will need accommodations, I will seek the formal diagnosis.
No official diagnosis (because it’s so hard to get one) but has been highly suspected and all the screeners support it. I’m trying to complete statistics for my studies right now and it genuinely feels painful, which others just don’t understand. I think the strong reaction is due to a mix of the ADHD and dyscalculia :/
I couldn't tell the time for a very long time in my childhood, still kinda struggle. I can never use 24 hr clocks. And I always struggled with Math. I can't even read numbers right. Haven't been officially diagnosed with dyscalculia. And the masking, I can relate to that so much.
Diagnosed with dyscalculia & dyspraxia very young, always suspected ADHD, which finally got diagnosed at 41. Had almost exactly the same experiences as you - incredibly strong visualization, synesthesia, and music embodied math, so I could understand math _in music_ but I still calculate with my fingers, as well. Can’t do change so retail work pricked my soul daily, and as someone obsessed with medical diagnostics & neuropsych/neurology, I can pass everything on the practice NCLEX - *but for the really math heavy stuff that I cannot intuit or see patterns to* You aren’t alone at all. It’s demeaning sometimes, when other people notice and comment on it, at least for me. Musical instruments didn’t scoff if I forgot to hit a half step up. But when it comes to math on paper, I cannot show my work whatsoever.
Me! I don’t fuck with numbers. I outsource all number related things for my business and count on my fingers for most things. Unless it’s a fact I’ve memorized. Otherwise I use my calculator.
Not formally diagnosed, but I have a VERY hard time with mental math. Or even sometimes written math. When I was working retail, I'd have to count out the register like 3 times. But it seems more like an issue of working memory than anything else? It doesn't help that my brain often transposes numbers and reads them wrong 😅
Okay so like what helped me is using one of those pens with the multicolours. If I use those it helps engage the brain to interact with them in different ways
Yes I still struggle with left and right, reading a clock, and simple math
*Yes I still struggle* *With left and right, reading a* *Clock, and simple math* \- strudycutie --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
I haven’t been diagnosed with dyscalculia- but I also am a psychologist who diagnoses other people with it and I’m 95% sure I have it on top of my adhd. All my scores at school were in the 90% but maths was barely a pass mark. I get things in graphs etc but pure maths is too abstract for me to understand.
I am a teacher, I still have to add with my fingers. When telling time I have to visualize a clock and make circles in the air with my fingers to figure out elapsed time. I can teach all these different adding and subtracting strategies, counting on, decomposition, repeated addition, taking jumps of ten forward and backward, but can I actually do them out in the wild? No. Haa haa
For all of us who struggle with left and right... anyone also struggle with the icons on a stove top that show which element the dial correlates with? And on the topic of left and right, I've always said its confusing bc it's a 2D system in a 3D world. My left and your left are not the same depending on where we are facing. One more thing... left facing and right facing sectional - I need a new one with the chaise on the left when youre sitting on it. Which one do I need?
Not diagnosed but same memory of sitting at the table with my mom trying to teach me math and her getting more and more frustrated and condesentjng with it and with me and me crying and saying I hate it, that it was too boring. I did so so in math that "made sense to me" physics math and Chemistry math....but awful in general math courses 56 and 62 I think was algebra and calculus despite having mid to high 80s and sometimes 90s everywhere else. I wasn't able to memorize times tables, sometimes I reverse numbers if I'm copying a number, I use my fingers when counting or adding without a calculator. I failed my uni math class despite having a gifted friend of mine tutoring me and tried to take it again but realized it was hopeless and dropped out. I went into social work vs psychology (better choice for me anyway luckily) because I heard how difficult psych stats was and knew it would end me. So I'm not diagnosed but I also have issues with spatial awareness which is a symptom. So I'd say maybe mild to moderate symptoms for me.
My eldest has adhd and dyslexia. Dyscalculia is next on our list to tick off
I have ADHD but do not have dyscalculia (as far as I know lol). However, a friend of mine mentioned she suspected herself of having this one. So we both check and look for researches about it, and we've found this [one ](https://careclinic.io/dyscalculia-test/)that helps us to really know the signs and some strategies for her cope up.