My DD and Discalculia.....

[imcold]

Not really an AIBU, sorry!
My DD age 10 is about to undergo testing for discalculia. Just wondered if anyone else had experience of similar?
She really struggles with maths and it's really fine to light how bad it is now that she's at home and I'm trying to teach her.
She struggles with basic maths and can't grasp patterns or times tables.
Her spelling is awful too but she reads fine.
I feel so awful for her.

[GreenTulips]

Dyscalculia


Could also be dyslexia (dyslexics can read and large per portion are diagnosed in uni)

The severity will determine the help she receives

Look at buying a numicon set for visual maths

Look at the New Zealand website for information. Worth every penny.

[66redballons]

Feeling awful won’t help. Support her to find things she is good at. Build her confidence in other areas. Not everyone “gets” it, it’s not the end of the world. Unless she wants to be a statistician.

[imcold]

I know it's not the end of the world. To see her failing daily is hard though. Pretty gutted (and annoyed with myself) that I've let her get to P6 and not pushed it.

[Scuzzymummy]

Sometimes dyscalculia and dyslexia display the same traits. Rather than thinking of these as one issue or another think of them on a spectrum and depending on your child's particular difficulties will depend on the support they require. Having worked extensively with students with dyscalculia and dyslexia, I would say support repetition. So start with three counters or objects, ask them to add one more and tell you how many. Then split into two groups, they do not have to be equal, they tell you how many in each group. Then add one more and repeat. If they make a mistake start right back at 3 counters again. It's a bit like learning to play music. Don't try do the work set by school if it's stressful. Go back to absolute basics. But do also look at processing issues and overlays for writing these can have a huge impact

[imcold]

Thank you @Scuzzymummy
My mum is a primary teacher but shielding due to cancer. She is FaceTiming daily and her advice was also to strip it back to basics.
I suppose I needed a wee rant x

[Scuzzymummy]

Rant away!! Often children at a young age become very adept at hiding these things without realising, they find their own way of coping in class- some of the most intelligent students I have worked with have been identified as dyscalculia and dyslexia, their ability to adapt and cope us astonishing and should be praised!! However there does reach a time when they need support and guidance on more efficient methods and strategies.

[DexyMidnight]

I didn't get diagnosed with dyscalculia and dyslexia until I was 25! (Work paid for a test when I was struggling with basic computations in tax exams).

I am a lawyer now and honestly, my dyslexia does not affect me (although my spatial awareness is very poor and it took me a long time to ride a bike, to tell the time, and I took a long time to learn to drive a car!)

My examiner told me it's very common for state school children to only be diagnosed at university level / beyond (or just never get diagnosed) because as long as they are bright and coping well schools aren't worried and/or wont' get funding.

Anyway you've spotted the issue now and I think she's still quite young. If you can afford a maths tutor (once every two weeks, more before exams) that will help.

Pre-diagnosis the way I got through maths it was just to learn things parrot fashion. I didn't understand why a problem question required me to do A, B, C but I just learned to spot the issue and I did it. To this day, I still don't understand why 1 x 0 is not 0 and I can't deduct (for example) 7 from 41 without first deducting 6 for 40 and then taking off an extra one, but I ended up getting As in my GCSE equivalents and then dropped all the subjects I hated and studied english, arts subjects and music.

Honestly she will be fine. You don't know, maybe if she gets support at school now her spelling might improve. Encourage her to read books, take her to the library, let her choose a new book from Waterstones once a month, read the book then 'watch the movie' etc. And as she gets older it will become clearer where her genuine weaknesses that can't be remediated are, and where her skills are, and you will be able to help her choose further study or career paths accordingly.

Don't write off her academic skills yet (if she gets support she might improve beyond recognition - that's the point of getting her tested!) but if she doesn't she might make a fantastic plumber, electrician, apprentice, wedding photographer, florist, chef, instructor (sports) etc.

[DexyMidnight]

*6 from 40

[DexyMidnight]

Sorry this is not relevant but I realised my explanation above doesn't make sense. I can deduct 6 from 48 no issue because that still leaves me with a 40-something number, but I can't 'drop a band' without doing it a long-winded way. Similarly I can add 2 to 21 no issue but if I need to add 12 to 21 I need to add the 2 to get 23 and then do the 10. I just cannot process it all in one step. Don't know if that's of any interest but it's just the mind of a dyscalculic!

[imcold]

Thanks @DexyMidnight it helps to hear of someone who has gone through it. What you are saying sounds exactly like my daughter.