I’m 39 years old and have always struggled with math. Took me way longer to learn than everyone else and often I’d just have no idea what the teachers were talking about. I did well in every subject but math so no one seemed to care as long as I passed and I only ever just passed. I often read or write numbers in the wrong order. Word problems and anything more than basic math is just gibberish. Forget algebra or geometry. I apparently keep writing numbers down at work and it’s been causing some headaches for everyone. I struggle with paying my bills and keeping a budget no matter how strict I am I often seem to go over even when I leave a cushion for safety. I’m a terrible driver, can’t remember directions or judge distances. I have no other learning disabilities and I read a lot just for fun so I definitely do t have dyslexia or anything. Do I sound like it could be dyscalculia?

Person with severe dyscalculia here. I’ve taken my Maths GCSE three times and failed each time. As someone who struggles to even read numbers, I worry that the chance of getting a Maths GCSE is a lost cause. No amount of willpower or studying makes it easier to deal with numbers. It makes me sad because in the UK there’s a lot of jobs I won’t be able to get due to not having this qualification.

I’m 26 and I don’t know my times tables, I don’t know how to read analog clocks. I don’t know anything about place value, fractions, decimals, algebra, measuring or left and right.

I remember actually crying in class when I was in year 6 thinking why am I so stupid why can’t I just know my times tables. And it wasn’t for lack of trying. At my school we were required to do our times tables EVERYDAY for 30 minutes yet I still never got it.

A few years ago my sister said she’d help me with analog clocks. I got it finally. Then I went to bed, woke up and completely forgot everything about analog clocks. Almost like it was completely wiped from my brain! Does this sound exactly like dyscalculia?

TLDR: need solutions to learn enough to pass a placement test.

Hi there! I’m going back to school, starting with junior college. I need to take a math class but I’ve been out of school too long and now I need to take a placement test - the Aleks (which requires the answer to be typed). I just need to relearn enough math to be able to pass the test. If I can’t pass the test, my college requires three in person remedial classes for no credit and as I’m a mom of three with two jobs, that simply isn’t going to work. All that to say, does anyone have any ideas on how I can learn just enough to pass or if maybe there’s a way I can get special assistance? 🥴🥴

I couldn't find my way out of a paper bag with both hands and a flashlight. 😂

But I can drive you from Milan to Reggio Calabria with no problem! Just don't ask me for directions because I have no idea!

I was diagnosed at 14 with dyscalculia after being evaluated at school. They noticed a significant pattern in my report cards over the years (typical excelling in all other classes while miserably failing all of my math classes). I'll 100% need accommodations for when I enter uni since I'll be in STEM. Who in the district/school should I contact to start the process of recovering my proof of diagnosis?

I was diagnosed with dyscalculia when I was in fifth grade in middle school, but the process itself was extremely long and miserable. I had to meet with many different healthcare workers (at some point I stopped trying to remember their names), undergo many different tests and examinations - all of them equally humiliating. It wasn't until I was put into a psych ward when I learned that only five other people had been diagnosed with dyscalculia in my country. I was then treated like a zoo animal by the specialists who could work with me, trying to understand how my brain and my thinking process differs from the rest. My middle school was quite forthcoming and I loved my math teacher. Once I had been diagnosed she made her own little tests for me, but only to further understand at what point math becomes an obstacle for me. She was the first, and sadly the only, math teacher who'd take me seriously and not blame my shortcomings on laziness.

In 2016 I enrolled into high school that specialized in art, and I was delusional enough to think that it would end well. The school system was not exactly forthcoming, but I did finish 10th grade, receiving a diploma - however, it did not have math grade on it, and chemistry and physics were far below average as you would imagine. In 11th grade I would often have arguments with my math teacher, every time I would explain what is dyscalculia and every time she would say: "That's not a real thing" even though I had my documents with me, she refused to read them. At some point I gave up and dropped out. After that I enrolled into few other schools, but every time it ended the same way.

At the moment I'm in a high school that is meant for adults (while in 11th grade also retaking 10th math, chemistry and physics) , teachers there like to repeat: "High school education is not mandatory" and that's that. Over the years I've kept touch with a place that offers guidance for students who have learning disabilities, and I'm thankful for them - they helped me through the middle school. They have found a way to help me again, but this time it simply wouldn't be enough. You need only one point to pass the math exam here, but to get to the exam you first have to succeed all the tests and for me it's not possible. To get a positive score 50% of your test has to be done right, last test I took I barely got 10%. My guidance counselor said that all she could do was to make my tests slightly shorter - and to make that happen she has to walk through a war zone of "high school education is not mandatory", meaning that the high school system is not obligated to make that happen for me. I'm quite bitter as a person, so I'm thinking about it - I know that I will fail, but I can make their lives a living hell before I drop out. It's not like I can go anywhere else.

Before I enrolled into school again I was working twelve hour shifts in different restaurants as a waiter, grinding, to afford to breathe. You can't do much with middle school education, that's the reason I went back to school. Dyscalculia is enough disability to not get a high school diploma, but not enough to get pension for it - so, you're in this gray area and doors are closing in a calm manner. Next year I will enroll into industrial school, but I won't be getting a high school diploma once I finish it, but I'm thinking better that than nothing at all.

So I was wondering if there was anything I could do to become better at math and to become good with numbers I was diagnosed with dyscalculia and have allwas been bad at math and want to become better at it where should I start

Hi, I was diagnosed with ADHD last year as an adult, and since then have been discovering I have several other issues like auditory processing disorder. I was recently complaining to someone about my math skills and they think I have this disorder, but I have never heard of it. As I child I was "gifted" and in more advanced classes. I have always excelled in reading, writing, history and other similar classes. I never had issues with math until I got to high school and had to take geometry and trigonometry. I got my first ever B's and C's and was so confused. It was like I suddenly didn't know anything and I started to develop a lot of anxiety about math. Now I am in college (in my 30's now) and I am a senior. I have to take this required class called epidemiology and biostatistics. It includes equations like standard error, standard deviation, z score and confidence interval. I am having an impossible time with the math component and my teacher is a raging b**ch who won't help me, even after I complained to the accessibility office (I have accommodations for ADHD). It's especially difficult because with ADHD I fixate on things, like the fact this math is worthless to me and I will never use it in my job, so I am just getting more and more mad about even having to learn it. Do you think I have this dyscalculia? If I can answer any more questions about my background to help, please ask. Thanks.

I got diagnosed with dyscalculia last year in April, and i’ve never good with basic math, i dry heave, cry, and have panic attacks just by thinking of studying for math, i don’t know what i’m gonna do when i react so badly just to studying math, i’m trying to flee my country and family because of religious reasons, i don’t know what to do or how to believe in myself because of this.

I tried to get my private pilot’s license and realized very quickly that not being able to easily tell my left from my right was going to be a problem. Since I lack hand-eye coordination, I had a lot of problems navigating both altitude and speed at the same time. Air traffic control literally yelled at me when I landed because I was doing the wrong way on the run way.

I got an interview with the AA Cadet Academy and it had basic math. Algebra. I failed. I forgot the order of operations…but mainly I panicked as soon as I saw the equations.

I was an aircraft mechanic in the Air Force and flight attendant. I love airplanes and aviation. So that was a dream I had to let go of.

Now I work in corporate and I’m working on my doctorate in education. Quantitative research is the final boss. I will be called “doctor”…but all I ever wanted to really do is fly.

I’ve been diagnosed with dyscalkulia since early childhood and managed (barely) to graduate Highschool. Ever since I don’t have to use math much in my life and have been succeeding in basically everything I do. I am studying to be a teacher (bc of my bad experience, trying to make a difference) and actually work at my university as a research assistant. Succeeding in academia has been a huge confidence boost for me after always feeling like I am not smart enough. I have recently started my drivers licenses practice and it’s been an absolute nightmare experience which has taken a toll on my mental health and has triggered me a lot. I’m in my mid 20s and for years I just did not feel like I could even think about starting to get my drivers license.

I explained to the staff that I was very scared to drive, which was not taken seriously at all. I did not explain my dyskalkulia because I did not expect it to be taken seriously anyways. My first driving instructor (specifically assigned to me due to my stress levels) completely overwhelmed me and made me drive difficult routes in crazy traffic which was a lot. After the first three lessons I was so proud of myself. I definitely didn’t do a very great job but I managed and it was okay. During the feedback session afterwards he only said negative things and it crushed me. Ever since I am terrified of driving.

I have passed my theoretical exam on the first try and have been driving with my dad. It has been okay but I definitely struggle a lot more than others would. But the more I drag it out the worse my anxiety gets. I am now at a point where I am so stressed even thinking about doing lessons even tho I found a nice instructor but his availability is very limited and I am a full time student and work part time. At this point it feels like something I won’t be able to do. I know I can because I have managed to do everything I set my mind to even if it takes me a lot longer and includes a lot of crying. I’m considering explaining my situation but I am already very triggered by teachers not taking my very real and diagnosed learning disability and anxiety because of it seriously. I am already an ESL teacher and I get very angry at teachers doing a bad job as I literally know better and spent years learning how to do it properly.

I’m feeling a bit lost. Does anyone have experience with getting a drivers license with dyskalkulia? Any help is welcome!

Please give me all of the recommendations for a synchronous special education school, we live in time zones ET or AT. Also, any curriculum or online programs specifically for those with learning disabilities would be helpful in the interim.

My kiddo has been physically sick and refused to attend school on his better days. His recent evaluation shows he has ADHD (we knew that from the last eval) AND newly diagnosed dyslexia and dyscalculia. He also has an adjustment disorder with anxiety and depression. I will homeschool him starting this marking period since we have many appointments, and he refuses to attend school.

He can read and was doing the OG reading curriculum and Math U See at school. He doesn't have good reading comprehension and is really behind in math. He is third grade, 8-9 years old, but he scored 1st grade in math and related concepts - he is still mastering subtraction and doesn't do well with understanding the value of coins. We have a visual timer to help with telling time and to combat time blindness.

I may try to get him in a pod taught by a special education teacher when he is well, but I want to help him catch up and need him to participate in a class virtually to get him on track.

Thanks!

Hello everyone, i need some help. I have a math exam in about 2 and a half weeks, the main topic's are Algebra and Geometry, im in the 9th grade and struggle alot mainly with Algebra, any resources that can help me understand these more? I would greatly appreciate it.

Also excuse me if this post is written wierdly i barely write posts haha

I’m a math teacher, but I primarily teach high school students (or college or gymnasium students, depending how you call it), so ages 16-19, preparing for their final exams and university.

A close friend of mine has an 8-year-old daughter who is struggling with math and asked me to help her. I agreed, but I mentioned that I might not have the right teaching tools for someone that young.

We’ve now had about ten sessions, and I’ve noticed difficulties that I don’t think are typical for a child of that age. However, I could be wrong, as I don’t have experience with students that young.

1. First, she doesn’t seem to grasp that numbers have value and that some are greater than others. For example, in a subtraction problem like 13-4, she might give a result higher than 13 without realising there’s an issue. Even when counting on her fingers, she often doesn’t give me the correct answer, even when it deals with very small numbers (<10).

2. Next, she sometimes forgets the names of numbers. For instance, she once counted "13, 14, 15… what comes after 15 again?" Or she might call them incorrectly, such as saying "ten-five" instead of "fifteen," similar to how we say "twenty-one." Or, if asked to do 50+13, she might say "fifty-thirteen" instead of "sixty-three."

3. She doesn’t understand the meaning behind the names of numbers. For example, it doesn’t make sense to her that 22, called "twenty-two," is a "20" and a "2." If I ask her to calculate 20+2, she might give a bunch of different answers before landing on 22. This seems to be improving with tens, but not yet with hundreds. For example, for the result of 100+16, she would write 10016.

4. Today, we did an exercise where she had to solve 50-37. I told her to first deal with 50-30 and then handle the remaining 7.

For 50-30, she first told me it was 2. I think she did 5-3 and didn’t add the 0. Then she said 1, and later gave me other numbers. Seeing her struggling, I told her to approach the problem in reverse and figure out, starting from 30, how much was needed to reach 40, and then 50.

She said that between 30 and 40, 1 was missing… then we counted together, and she eventually said 10. The same thing happened between 40 and 50.

Finally, once we did the steps separately, I asked her, "So, how much is missing to go from 30 to 50?" and she couldn’t tell me 20. I had to walk her through the reasoning again for her to see it.

Two exercises later, there was another almost identical subtraction problem, 50-32 or something similar, and we had to start all over again. She didn’t apply what she had just done two exercises earlier.

5. She tends to write some numbers backward, like sometimes writing a 5 as a Z or a 3 as an E.

6. If there’s an exercise with a list of additions and subtractions, she frequently mixes up the signs, subtracting when she should add or vice versa.

I’m summarising this to give you a general idea.

Is this a case of dyscalculia?

Have you ever had students with this kind of difficulty?

She's on a waiting list to see an expert. In the meantime, do you have any tools that I could use or send to her parents to help her?

Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone,
I'm the tutor from last time struggling teaching students with dyscalculia.
We had another tutoring session this week and it went really well. The advice you guys gave me was incredibly helpful.
I think the key points I focused on doing was:

• being really patient with her to ensure she was able to follow everything we were doing.
• Getting her to repeat back exactly what we did afterwards (because many people here told me one of the big challenges was with learning large sequences of steps, so this was a way of rote learning through memorisation).
• Creating a real scenario for each problem so that she could think about the problem without as much abstraction.
• Creating easier questions to help her understand the concept first before doing harder questions.

Thanks a lot everyone!

I know I'm dyslexic. I know I have number anxiety. But what the heck is this?

I'm sitting here entering stuff into a checkbook app because I am trying to do this right this time. I haven't been able to keep a checkbook balance in 35 years! At this very moment, I'm having an anxiety attack trying to figure out whether one month in 2023 is before or after the months I need to stop at which is where my business account begins. Is this weird? I am totally stalled and almost unable to breathe trying to think of it.

So I (21) was diagnosed with a learning disability regarding math in 9th grade, I don't remember the exact wording the diagnosis used, but I’m pretty sure it was Dyscalculia considering I match with most of the symptoms.

What's always been troubling for me though is that besides doing poorly and being a slow learner in textbook math, my sense of direction has always been pretty awful as well. I orient myself just fine, and can get around, but when directions get even mildly complex I’ll immediately get lost without (and sometimes with) Google Maps. So I was wondering if anyone else here has struggled with this? If anyone has any advice on how to improve it, or just some words of encouragement, I would be more than grateful!

I want to learn to drive eventually, and I feel like if I put my full mind and effort into math or directions, I can learn them. :)

I'm not seeking help or advice, so I apologise if this is a bit too light for the subreddit. It's just a curiosity. It has a minimal impact on my life (other than making silly mistakes if I'm not careful and being quite annoying).

I struggle a lot to do basic mental math when it involves the numbers 15 and 17. I need to constantly stop myself for up to a minute and sometimes more when doing basic math that involves those numbers. It's quite disorienting.

I don't mean numbers that include those digits, like 2015. I mean those specific numbers. And I know this is entirely due to mixing them with hours (24 hr clock), because I sometimes also fumble with the other numbers between 13 and 19, but not to the same extent as those two. On the other hand I have no issues with the numbers between 20-24 or below 12.

In my head, 17 is the middle number between 10 and 20 (because it's 5pm, and 5 is the "middle"). And 15 "feels" closer to 10 than 20 (because 3 is closer to 0 than 10).

My brain "knows" that 17 is the middle number. And it "knows" 15 is somewhere between 10 and this middle number. And every time I need to do simple math that involves these values, it's like I'm struggling against what my brain is seeing. And I often need to pull the calculator to make sure, and do the math more than once because it's like my brain can't believe that the result in the calculator is correct.

On top of this, 17 and 15 also feel like the same thing. Which I know it makes no sense, but 15 is at once closer to 10 than 20 while also being the same as 17. They sort of have kind of the same... color or something, I can't quite explain it. It's not actually a color, more like a sensation.

I don't recall having these issues as a child. But I remember having them for over a decade now (I'm 35).

Just wondering if anyone ever came across someone else reporting something identical. Thank you.

I recently was informally diagnosed with dyscalculia by my psych, and it made a lot of things make sense.

One thing that it didn't make sense though, is mathematical proofs. I'm a CS PhD student, and it has taken me the past 7 years to actually understand the things that students here are learning as freshman undergrads.

I'm just entirely lost whenever I need to write proofs still, however. Programming makes sense to me and I've been "good" at it since I was a kid, I'm finally starting to be able to follow the math in the papers I'm reading, and even linear algebra is finally starting to make sense after 7 years, but dynamic programming, writing mathematical proofs, and optimization just keeps me confused.

How can I actually learn these things? I refuse to just continue to be bad at them forever. I need to get good at them.

I really need advice right now. I'm 18F, and my mum took me out of school at 11 because I was being bullied. I have no GCSES, qualifications, nothing. Just a primary school education to my name.

Maths is so difficult for me that even level 1 maths makes me cry. Stuff like 41 + 38 or something, I cannot work it out in my head. I try but it's as if my head shuts down. I don't know fractions, division, anything.

I am fine with everything else, been told i'm brilliant at english etc etc but I need gcses or fundamental skills in at least maths if I want to get a job or even an apprenticeship making minimum wage. If I want to study anything I have to do maths alongside it. It's so fucking cruel. I value people on so much more than their education but society doesn't care about that.

My boyfriend is in law school as one of the smartest young people in the UK and i'm stuck here having to look at jobs at Tesco's or something. I tried to go to college at one point and I was okay but it was just maths. I knew I was going to fail as everybody else on the level 1 course, that was literally for people like me who had no education, could do level 2-3 maths easily and I was doing sheets for 6 year olds.

It makes me so upset, I could had been somebody if it wasn't for this. I know I could had been. I just want to study and do something but it's maths that ruins all my chances. I resent my mum too for taking me out and not even trying to homeschool me. She would get angry at me and call me stupid for not understanding. I still can't even tell the time.

What can I do?

I’ve failed my contemporary math class despite tutoring and several tricks I’ve used for elementary and middle school kids I’ve helped. It’s so frustrating but I think I know what I need to do for next time. Does anyone know where to find a bunch of formulas and how to use them and for what situation? I have the hardest time with financial and probability. But it’s all difficult. Every other subject I’ve ever taken I can pass with minimal effort but my mind just won’t math.

I’m almost 99% sure I have dyscalculia. I am formally diagnosed with dyslexia but I have always struggled incredibly with math all through elementary school, high school and so on. I never really got any good math foundational teaching either. After I didn’t get a new math subject after a couple tries my teachers would just skip the subject all together for me and move on. I basically skated my way through a graduation in high school because I went to a tech school. Even through I was bad at math I was wonderful at other things. Now I’m in college trying to get my degree. I’m a CJ major in a police program concentration.

I am currently in the lowest math course there is at my college and I struggle with that significantly. I was recommended to get diagnosed by my disability office at my college but other then that there are not much accommodations they can give me except the basic ones. I have 2 classes back to back and this makes up a 3 hour span of math. (I had little choice in my schedule because I’m a transfer) everyday I come back to my room from this math course and I cry. I have tried talking to my professor about this but they do not understand unfortunately. My professor just thinks I can get through the course if I try hard enough. The course is completely online but I have to show up to in person class and the professor does not teach just monitors us do we can complete the online course. I need certain grades on each module or else I can’t continue the course. It’s a pass fail course but I have already withdrawn from a very similar course last semester.

I am trying to go to tutoring with a tutor that works with my schools disability office but so far nothing has worked. I absolutely dread the class and consider not going some days even to save my mental health. I am currently in quantitative preparation and I believe i have to take statistics as well since my major is more science based. In order to get tested i would need testing that would be covered by my insurance since in a low income, first gen student. I don’t know what to do, the only way i can see myself ever passing a math requirement is if my college substitutes it. :(

If anyone has any youtube videos, articles, pdfs or ANYTHING that helped you with your dyscalculia & will aid me in math please recommend them down below. please and thank you

So I (30f) had a late diagnosis of ADHD at 28 and learned about dyscalculia recently.

It made me think back to a moment I had in grade 8 math class. I was a pretty good student, wasn't the best for completing homework/assignments on time, but I made up for it with my tests. (I was always one of the last students to finish, but tests weren't complicated or long enough in those grades for me to run out of time.)

My Mom recently dropped off some file folders of papers she'd saved throughout my schooling. As I looked through I found a test from grade 3 math class marked (100% best in the class! Great work!), and right underneath that a scoring sheet for the EQAO exams (Education Quality and Accountability Office - a test on the school system by the Ontario government grades 3,6,+9 of Reading, writing and maths, that doesn't count towards the students grades). I had average/good scores for reading and writing, but for the math portion it states 'not enough information to score'. Which means I did not have enough time to answer everything in time, not even half of it. This on top of all of my report cards saying I'd do so much better if I applied myself and stopped looking out the window should have been a sign to get me tested for learning disabilities. I never got tested for anything. My two younger brothers with a lot of the same disabilities as me both had IEP's (Independent Study Program) in highschool to give them extra time on tests and extensions on assignments etc. I was so good at masking I guess and my grades were good enough that no one saw my cries for help. They both were diagnosed with APD (Auditory Processing Disorder) which I also have. Ever since my realization and diagnosis, I can't help but wonder what if...What if I had a diagnosis, and I had help and resources to work my brain to its advantage. Where would I be in life? What would my career be? I usually kept a pretty steady 75-85 average up into about grade 10 when I hit my first heavy bout of depression.

Anywayyyys... Grade 8 story time... We are writing a math test, I write my name at the top. I go to write the date. I don't remember what date it was, but I do know that it had the number six in it. I.....I can't write a six. What does a six look like again? I couldn't possibly ask my teacher, what would she think of me? Would she tell the class? How embarrassing that would be.

So I will just keep trying to write a six. What on earth does the thing look like?! How could I be so stupid? Six.... six? ..siX? $ix.....SIx? Shit. Shit fuck shit.

45mins go by and my page is covered in squiggly

b p d 9 q h P d b 6 9 q

god knows what silly shapes and maybe even a couple actual 6's in there...but we're they really 6's? They couldn't be trusted.

The bell rings. The students that had not yet already turned in their tests walked up and handed them in before going out for recess.

Just me and my teacher left now.

Well, I have to ask.

"Excuse me Mme.____, I don't know what happened but I... I forgot how to write a six."

My teacher so graciously held in the snicker that I could see sneaking through her teeth and shining in her eyes. I bet she had a great laugh on it in the teachers lounge later that day. But she was kind, and she held in any laughter and said so calmly "That's ok OP, this is a 6, and I can let you write the test tomorrow."

Then I trauma blocked and forgot this ever happened until I had a deja vu later in life.

If you made it this far, thanks for listening to my hop all over the place rant.

Has this ever happened to you!? Tim Robinson voice

I’m a psychology major and I’m literally taking the easiest math at my school and I’m still failing it. I absolutely cannot keep up with the pace and I do not understand fractions for the life of me. I feel so much pressure from my family and I come from a cultural background that doesn’t understand learning disabilities or really any mental illness. I want to be a psychologist I’m great at literally everything else related to my major but I just can’t do math. I’m scared to try tutoring because I just feel like it’s a waste I have no hope. My college doesn’t waiver either so I’m screwed I feel like my only option is to drop it which I really don’t want to do also my family would be furious and I’m already a disappointment to my father I don’t know what else to do.

I have a sister who I suspect has this condition because of the symptoms of dyscalculia hit close to home from me with my sister. Growing up I used to see my sister get whipped because my parents thought she was lazy and stupid I know my sister can do better in other curriculums because her reports cards came from A,B,C but when it came to math is was bad.I’ll never forget my sister coming home crying and saying she’ll never do anything in my life because of not understanding math and if she did she told me she can’t visualize it .And told me she wants to become a nurse because she likes helping people but my parents always talk behind her back and speak bad about her basically giving up on sister is there anyway she can improve this ?

I have been trying to get my GED maybe 3 years. The problem is, I have passed every single test except math. I have studied so many times, have gotten in person tutoring / help. But it’s still not enough. I have been having problems with mathematics for basically all my life. I have failed the math test probably like 4-5 times. In middle school I was in a special class for math. In high school I just always had bad grades.

I need help on how to pass my math test with this issue. I don’t know if there is a formal diagnoses with dyscalculia but i pretty much have all the symptoms.

Thanks