Dyscalculia; The Beginning.

 Dyscalculia is usually inherited and can be inherited even from, as in my case, family members who are math geniuses or have a lesser form of Dyscalculia. My Mom is an ICU nurse, my Dad has his B.S. and Master's degree in Engineering and a PhD, my Grandfather was Dean of Engineering at Purdue University/University of South Carolina, accomplished much in his career, and still writes out trig problems for fun, my Grandmother retired from nursing, my Uncle is one of the top nuclear physicists in the world, my Aunt is a gifted math and science teacher, and the list goes on and on. So how and why did this happen? I have no idea besides inheritance, but I developed a form that is much more severe than the people in my family who have it to a lesser degree.  I am the only one out of the three cousins to have this (I do not have any biological siblings), but from observations within my family, it seems to effect those of us that are the first born of a new generation. I am the first born out of the three of us.

Here is my story.

It really all started with my extreme preference for Barney v. Sesame Street as a toddler. I couldn't follow the sequential order of Sesame Street, but Barney always exhibited creativity, motor skills, and general movement. Little did I know that this was just the beginning of something that would be an obstacle that I would have to push through for the rest of my life.

"Sarah, please, distinguish between your left and your right hand," a preschool teacher asked me at the vulnerable preschool age of 4 after six or seven times.

"No." I said as I shook my head in utter defiance.

 I knew that this very nice lady was trying to make me pass a test, but I knew, even then, that I did not know my left from my right, even though I'd gone over it a billions times with my preschool teachers. After struggling with me for the past couple of tries, she gave in and checked the "passed" box. I thus progressed to kindergarten.

It was nap time in kindergarten, which I hated; not because of the sleep, but because I was always too cold to sleep on the mat, despite my blankets. My kindergarten teacher knew this, so she would always make me take my tests during nap time. I distinctly remember one afternoon when she called me up to her desk and asked for me to count to as high as I could.

"1....2...3...4...5....6....7...8..9.........10. 11. 12." I recited.
"Keep going. I want you to stop when you think you can't go any further," she said.
My eyes glazed over.
"That's how far numbers go. Those are the only numbers that my Daddy tells me when I ask him for the time," I replied, completely puzzled.
"Sarah, you need to be able to count higher before the first grade. You should at least be able to count to 100."

 One hundred? Huh? What's that?
Right after me, another nap time insomniac was called up to take his number counting test. I remember sitting up on the mat, legs crossed, and listened to him count, as if he was the one teaching me.
"1.....10....60.....100.....120.....130.....200.....210..," and he kept going, filling in every number in between. 

I didn't know what to think. To be honest, I was really sad because I felt that the numbers that Daddy used to tell time had their own personalities; their own colors, really. My mind suddenly stopped when I heard other numbers past 12.

First grade went by pretty smoothly, besides having a tonsillectomy, a ruptured tonsillectomy, strep throat 21 times in 6 months, and the chicken pox. I had an amazing first grade teacher that was always willing to help. Most of my math problems were word problems, therefore I did not have that much trouble with them. However, there were times that my sister, a math wiz, would have to sit down and help me after school.

I remember sitting in my second grade classroom, looking at addition and subtraction timed tests, wondering which symbol was which and what rules applied to what. My second grade teacher was also an amazing lady who really taught the material in a very understanding manner and would help me any time I asked. However, this would be the beginning of my acknowledgment of my problem that would also turn into a reoccurring night terror following my high school graduation.

Stay tuned for The Beginning Part 2 where I will discuss when Dyscalculia really started to show through.

Once again, Happy Dyscalculia Day. Speak up and Raise Awareness!

Sarah

3/3: Happy Dyscalculia Day!

Before I start giving a personal perspective, I wanted to acknowledge the holiday! Today is a day to spread awareness, since this condition is not known and honestly, kind of shoved aside.

According to Nick Jones from dyscalculiaforum.com, these are the following symptoms; Please note that I do not take credit for the following.
http://www.dyscalculiaforum.com/viewpage.php?page_id=1

• Normal to accelerated language skills in verbal comprehension, reading, writing, and poetic ability. Visual memory for the printed word. Decent in science until a level of math is required.
• Tend to accelerate in the creative arts.
• Poor name recollection.
• Extreme difficulty with abstract time and directions. Usually have difficulty with sequence of events and keeping track of time. May be chronically late or extraordinarily early.
• Extreme difficulty with mathematics. Numbers tend to flip or become unrecognizable shapes, unable to comprehend symbols at times, inability to grasp mathematical concepts.
• Inability to grasp and remember math concepts, rules, formulas, sequence (order of operations), and basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts. Also have poor long term memory, especially with retention & retrieval and concept mastery- may be able to perform math operations one day, but will draw a complete blank the next! May be able to do book work but fails all tests and quizzes, especially if extra time is not allowed.
• May be unable to comprehend or "picture" mechanical processes. Tend to lack "big picture/ whole picture" thinking. Poor ability to "visualize or picture" the location of the numbers on the face of a clock, the geographical locations of states, countries, oceans, streets, etc.
• Poor memory for the "layout" of things, such as buildings, directions, etc. Gets lost or disoriented easily. Tends to have a very poor sense of direction, loose things all the time, and seem absent minded. 
• May have difficulty grasping concepts of formal music education. Difficulty sight-reading music, learning fingering to play an instrument, etc. However, this is not always true.
• May have poor athletic coordination, difficulty keeping up with rapidly changing physical directions. Difficulty remembering rules for playing sports.
• Difficulty keeping score during games, or difficulty remembering how to keep score in games, like bowling, etc. Often looses track of whose turn it is during games. Limited strategic planning ability for games, like chess, and limited ability to grasp the concept or process of the game.

This professor in London has a really amazing grasp on part of the testing process and different symptoms for Dyscalculics. Please check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=p_Hqdqe84Uc

I will share my own story following this post, however, it may be broken up into chapters. This, like dyslexia, doesn't just effect people during their school years; it effects them for the rest of their lives. One thing to keep in mind for all; We are not stupid. We are not lazy. We do apply ourselves, in fact, we probably apply ourselves 50% more than other students in math classes just to get a C or D.
To top it all off, most of us have average to above average IQ's.

Raise the awareness and speak up.

Happy Dyscalculia Day!

It's Time to...

Well, here is my new endevour, so welcome. As an individual who has two learning disabilities, I feel the need to start a voice, if you will, to aid future and current teachers, employers, and students. With this blog, I intend to give the above mentioned a first person perspective of what it is like in a classroom, at work, communicating with others, tips to help communicate and educate, and what the general public can do to help. While I realize that every student is different, I feel that this is a start for advocacy and a necessary step in helping individuals with any form of disability, physical, learning, or mental,  in a classroom, work, and/or social setting in the future.

Stay Tuned.