Is this my dyscalculia or am I being a d*ck?

[Yerroblemom1923]

Trying to arrange some holiday activities for my dd for the following weeks of the school hols a)so she's not bored and b)so I can go to work.
I phone up to book and the woman on the other end of the phone takes my details (all well and good) but then when she checks my mob phone no it all goes t*ts up!
And it was all in the way I say my number and the pauses inbetween. She was effectively saying the same number but to me it sounded totally wrong!! And yet she was probably saying exactly the same number! I got so exasperated I had to hand phone to dh. I feel like such a loser in life! What is wrong with me?! Anyone?!
Generally I'm a fully functioning adult but numbers and maths really make me feel ill!🤢

It's not just you 🤣🤣🤣

Anyone should read a landline out as 5digit area code then 2 sets of 3 numbers 01248 678 890

(Liverpool/Manchester etc being the exception of 0151 or 0161 then 3 digits then 4 so 0151 867 8890 or 0161 867 8890)

Mobiled should always be 07775 111 999

My gosh how involved now.

It's not a numbers problem it's a sequencing and or a processing disorder.

I'm dyslexic amongst other things which encompasses the above and can only remember my mobile number in a certain visual pattern which is not the standard 5 digits gap 6 digits so I give out like this
077902 •••••
And they repeat it like this
07790 ••••••

My brain just won't process the different pattern unless I write it out to check; doesn't embarrass me though I'm great at other random stuff

I have dyscalculia (undiagnosed, but sooooooo obvious). I can remember phone numbers or short sequences, but I can be completely bamboozled when someone reads out a string of numbers to me. I have a responsible job and deal with money, but it takes me twice as long as everyone else and I can still count wrong using a calculator! Frustrating and most people don't seem to understand how stupid it makes me feel. I am not an idiot, but I simply can't do more than very basic maths - and I struggle at that. When I was at school, there was no word for Dyscalculia and that made it very hard for me.

Calling out individual numbers isn’t doing maths, anymore than spelling out a word is reading

and yet spelling is a huge issue for dyslexics in the same way strings of numbers are an issue for dyscalculics? whats your point with that statement?

and yet spelling is a huge issue for dyslexics

Not always, no.

I never understand why people don’t repeat back a number the way it has been delivered. My phone number is* 078 1234 1235. It repeats with only one digit different, but people insist on reading it back as 07812 341 235 which has no pattern or rhythm.

*obviously not

This is one of my issues too. I can only read out a phone number to someone if its written down and I can hide the whole line with my finger, revealing only 2 digits at a time. Any other way and I'll transpose at least 2 digits.

I'm envious of people who can remember sequences of numbers or repeat them back in groups of three.

I get it my Dd 16 is dyscalculia and she struggles with numbers like this even if it isn't maths, her brain just can't do numbers at all

YANBU - tbh I thought most people struggle with this?

Have your phone number written down in front of you any time you might need to give it like this. Dates of birth maybe as well. I speak another language badly, and if I need to make phone calls in that language the chunking thing throws me off completely. But if I have the number in front of me I can read it while they recite it to me and its much easier.

I work in a call centre and most of the calls don’t have a caller id so I have to get their numbers. I can’t read it back the same way they say it unless they give it in the format 01234 567 890. I always read them back like that and if they’ve said it differently it confuses 90% of them 😆

No dyscalculia here either.

I say my number as : 07 83 84 48 38 6

They say back as : 078 384 48386 or 0783 844 8386 or whatever.(my actual number has even more repetition).

Confuses the fuck out of me. My number end with 6, not 48386, not 8386 , definitely not 386! It's 6.

I have discalculia too but my difficulties are reading numbers. So i can listen and write numbers down, but I'd really struggle to read a number back visually.

Confirming my phone number, until I had learnt it by heart (took two years) was always a struggle. I now say 'can I read it back to you to confirm?' And get in quick before they say it first.

Numbers move on the page and twist and turn. It's impossible to decipher them quickly. Ironically I'm quite good at patterns of numbers. Not sure how, it must be a slightly different part of the brain that processes patterns.

It does throw you off.

As long as you don't treat the person reading it back as the idiot...

In slightly different vein, the number of times I've clarified an s or f in the phone as "is that f for foxtrot" to be snapped at "no, f for freddie".

I didn't realise those words were spelt differently....

Not even mentioning people getting annoyed you couldn't tell the difference....especially when its multiple "bad" letters so m and n, p and t, s and f, a and k, plus the occasional "j-eye" (is usually a J though"

People with Dyscalculia have issues with their auditory and visual memory. They use strategies such as chunking numbers to help them manage memory. If these chunks are different to what they remember then this will mess up the memory of that number in their head.

Chunking is a strategy I have taught for auditory memory as part of Dyscalculia teaching and it often goes hand in hand with other strategies such as visualising these. If in your head you are chunking and visualising 07 52 and someone says 075 2 then that isn't what you are seeing to help you recall the number. This is when maths anxiety would become an issue and once that takes over the stress will consume you and the whole situation becomes a nightmare for you.

I'm due to be tested for Dyscalculia and Dyslexia. I have the same issues with people repeating my phone number back to me. I also cant visualise numbers in my head or do simple sums in my head and often have to use my fingers for things like 7 + 4 etc. I also cant do my times tables and often get number sequences mixed up/ back to front etc. Dont even get me started on spelling 😂

She should have repeated it back how you said it to her. Not surprised you were confused!

If anyone spells a word for me I. E. An unusual surname, I cannot write it down at all. I just hear it, rather than processing it. So I have them write it for me instead.

I have dyspraxia and totally relate.

Like a PP, my number has a repeating pattern, only mine's in two's, so that's how I give it. Because it's so striking, 99% of the time, people pick up on it, comment on the unusual pattern (or ocassionally, geek out at me), and give it back the same way.

The remaining 1% who repeat it in threes really do make it difficult to recognise.

I'm like this too, I suspect a lot of people are as call centres etc never seem surprised at the odd repeat it back in a different order exchange I always seem to have!

A practical solution for the future might be to have a pen and paper handy. When they read the number back to you write down what they say in your pattern regardless of how they say it. Then you can read it to check it rather than trying to piece together what they are saying which just sounds all wrong to you.

For example they say; 01 23 45 67 890 and you write it as 01234 567 890 so it's the numbers they say but pattern you recognize. This way you should be able to see any discrepancy.

I struggle with this now, I used to have a brilliant memory for remembering phone numbers & long strings of numbers, but now if I have to ring a business or someone I don't know & have to google to get the phone number, it takes me several times of looking at the number, flipping to my phone screen, typing in some of the number, then flipping back & repeat. I put it down to the brain fog of having ME/CFS.

That thing where some call centre operators say "I've got a mobile number here ending in 4567" completely throws me because as far as I'm concerned my number ends in 567 (not really) and the addition of the extra number makes me struggle to recognise it. I've had the same mobile number for almost 20 years and can rattle it off no problem, but say it back to me differently from how I recite it and my brain refuses to acknowledge that it is the same number. So weird.

It's not just you, it's the exact same for me when someone repeats my number to me. Unless they say 07xxx xxx xxx then in my head I'm like what? It's the pattern I'm used to.

Another one here who has to repeat a number back if someone says it in a different way to how I would. I guess it's all about patterns. If you are used to a particular pattern and someone says it in a different way, you don't instantly recognise it and need an extra second or two to process it. (Well I do, not great at maths either!)

I have no problem with maths but struggle in exactly the same way if my number is read back in a way that I didn't say it

Trying to tell someone the extension no. for the office: 5 5853 and they said it back to me as 55 853. I couldn't understand what they said, and they couldn't understand what I said. We were there for ages