If anyone has dyscalculia can you tell me how it affects you.

[Theogpinkponyclub]

I have struggled with numbers my entire life much to frustration of parents, teachers, tutors etc but it has only been in the last 5 years that I have realised that it was dyscalculia and only in the last 18 months it’s also effects other areas of my life like computer screen outlays and also how I process information.

I wondered if Im unique in this or if there are others who struggle.

I think I have this

I can not do anything with numbers at all. I do not know my times tables, could never learn them, tried adult numeracy classes but they just baffled me
I can add a bit using my fingers but have no clue about multiplication or division

All I can say is thank god for calculators, otherwise I would be buggered, I can use one for adding and subtracting, multiplying and dividing, nothing else

I got no Maths qualifications at school

I tend to ask DH a lot of things, such as on The Chase say if 4 people win £25000, I do not know how much each that is, I THINK it is either £4000 or £5000 but not sure which and cannot work it out

If I see any sums I kind of zone out and it feels like I am looking at a foreign language and do not know where to begin

just tried to do my sum on a calculator and got a completely different answer, so am just more confused now!😂😆

one of my DC has this. Beyond doing maths GCSE it has not impacted their life at all really, have done a degree, now a professional in a client facing role.

I have dyscalculia and I struggled so badly through school - I often got into trouble with teachers shouting at me that I wasn't trying (even though I was excellent at English - ironically, my siblings, dad and aunt all have dyslexia but are good with numbers).
I did pass my Maths GCSE but not at a great grade and resat Maths in college (again passed but only one grade better, despite me really trying hard).
I also really struggled with my times tables etc but over the years I've managed to learn things like percentages and basic maths so that I can quickly work out offers in supermarkets etc but I honestly feel so thick at times and feel ashamed that at 48 years old, I'm still pretty rubbish at maths.

I really think that if the teachers at my primary school had tried to help instead of shouting at me infront of the whole class and smacking my legs (and one particularly vile teacher yanked my head around by my ponytail when I was only 6), I may have been better now.

At secondary school, I had an amazing maths teacher in my second year there and she realised what was going on and actually really helped me to get to a manageable level where I can work out my percentages etc.
I owe her so much as she was the only one who has ever helped me and without her, I honestly don't think I would have ever passed my Maths GCSE.

Even as an adult, I bought some maths text books online to try and practise but it just frustrates me - I "see" the numbers but I just can't "work" the numbers if that makes sense.

Yes, mine manifests as a complete mind blank with mental arithmetic, even the simplest sums. I can manage measurements OK but struggled with map scales (used maps a lot in my work), now sew and make clothes but have to be very careful and triple check all calculations for pattern making on my phone/calculator.

Scraped maths O level as it was then, thanks to an understanding teacher who realised my difficulties just in time, as I was failing maths exams right up to that point. I actually liked things like trigonometry and algebra but would get the sum at the end wrong.

When travelling I write out a little chart of currency exchange values on a slip of paper for easy reference and to avoid sums!

My mum very probably had dyscalculia (never diagnosed because it just wasn’t a thing back then) but I only realised how bad it was when she couldn’t add up two numbers beyond 10 - so she could do 5 plus 5 but not 8 plus 6, for example. Minus, times or division was an absolute no-no. She was fine with reading numbers or telling the time, she just had a whopping problem with ‘maths’ as an abstract concept.
In her case I suspect it was made worse by what she experienced in junior school with massively unsympathetic maths teachers - from what PP have written she wasn’t the only one. So the problem with numbers was objectively there, but being screamed at for being ‘stupid’ gave her a real fear and horror of anything mathematical, whereas with some sympathetic tutoring she could have probably achieved a decent basic level of numeracy.
In later life I persuaded her to do adult education courses and she was doing a degree in English literature - she was very much not stupid. Incidentally, she probably had dyspraxia too, couldn’t drive a car, always cutting a finger open etc.

yes I can do 5 + 5 but not 8 + 7 for example unless i count on my fingers

my teachers could not have cared less, they just ignored me and concentrated on teaching the cleverer pupils

You are definitely not alone. There are lots of resources on www.dyscalculianetwork.com and we habe an adult meet up coming up in London on 28th July. Cat

I am certain I have this. It wasn't until I was in my 40's [ now in my 60's ] that I realised there was actually a name for it. There was no help for anything like this when I was at school in the 70's.

It was good to find this out as I was always told I was stupid to not understand anything to do with numbers.
I have struggled with numbers all my life, they just don't make sense to me. I failed my school exams in maths. I can't even use a calculator properly as I mix numbers up.

I can do very basic adding up, but that is about it, no taking away or dividing numbers. Now days I just tell people I have dyscalculia and can't do numbers. People are pretty understanding when explained what it is.

I can’t get my head around maths beyond the absolute basics.

I'm positive I have it, I can't do "simple" sums in my head like most people, trying just makes my brain switch off. I used to (and still do) count on my fingers. Can't remember times tables unless it's the really easy ones (2s, 5s, 10s)

I also really struggle to read long-ish numbers, like phone numbers, the numbers seem to swap round so I'm never sure if its 423568 or 432658 and have to really concentrate hard to make sure I read it correctly

I cant do any sums with numbers and sometimes see them the wrong way round if theyre in a sequence like a phone number etc so i have to triple check everything. It gets on my nerves that dp can be disparaging of me needing to use a calculator for basic sums yet I dont comment on his dyslexia spelling and grammar mistakes (if he uses wrong where, we're etc)