Oh yeah. I was terrible at math, until I got to calculus. Stuff like calculus and math proofs I really enjoy.
But I will never be able to do 6 * 7 in my head. Addition over 10 is really hard for me.
this post was submitted on 09 Jun 2023
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Neurodivergence
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I used to think I was good at math. It turns out I was good at memorizing multiplication tables, but I am very, very bad at formulas and word problems.
I deal with this and its a pain, like if I'm not using my fingers to keep track when doing simple maths or having a calculator to aide me, then it becomes a bigger slog than it ought to be ughhhhhh
I do!
I still get teased as an adult (30s) because I can't remember phone numbers, addresses or passcodes people tell me, have a lot of trouble reading analog clocks, and constantly mix up left and right.
In school, it was frustrating because I would understand concepts much of the time but actually doing figures for math/ science problems I would switch numbers around and end up with the wrong answers. It was discouraging.
As an adult, I've found tricks that help me and I've successfully done plenty of jobs that revolved around numbers and counting. I just wish there had been more support around it when I was younger.
No official diagnosis, but I'm pretty sure I have it. My eldest was actually diagnosed with it recently though.
I've learned some shortcuts that let me do math in my head, albeit incredibly slowly as compared to others. If I'm at a computer then I just use that for math instead though whenever possible. It wasn't until I took calculus that I really became able to do any of the basic math operations in my head as anything beyond memorization though. I have to break up the simplest of math problems into an algebra equation to solve it, and doing that just takes time.
I only wear an analog wristwatch now, because I've realized if I go about a week without having to read an analog clock face, I have to re-learn how to read it. It's never a quick glance and know the time though. The hour hand close to the next hour throws me off about 100% of the time.
I also just can't track the month and day of the month in my head. Tracking the day of the week works fine, but the date doesn't just update for me. I have to look up what the current date is and then just remember it as best I can for the rest of that day. If you ask me on the following day what the date is, I will just give back the prior date unless I've looked it up again though.
I'm also hopeless with directional navigation. North, South, East, West? I've memorized the directions some roads run in, but it's taken me years to have any chance at all of going the correct direction on the road without* GPS navigation running.
I also recently learned about hyperlexia, and I suspect I have that as well. Super great at reading/literature stuff. Super bad at math. Everyone flabbergasted. heh.
Edit: fixed mention of GPS navigation to correctly reflect that I can't drive much without it running.
This sounds like me so much. I was one of those kids who loved reading and was reading way above my level but couldn't write for shit. Same with the analog vs digital, doesn't matter how much I practice it still takes me a solid 30 seconds to do all the "math" in my head to read analog unless I use it regularly. I swear the more I hear from other neurodivergents, the more I go, wait a second...
hah, yep. Very much sounds similar.
It was a bit disheartening that when my eldest was diagnosed with dyscalculia, they were just like: It sounds like you've already taught her some workarounds for it, and that's basically all you can do. It's not as well understood yet, so we don't really know what else to do to help still. The linked article kind of implies there something for young enough children, but doesn't go into details at all. The clinic we saw though, just makes it sound like those one on one treatments are just learning these workarounds...
I've never been diagnosed with anything myself, but hearing all the things that were pointed out as symptoms for my child, and it's all the same stuff I did/do... I imagine I probably could get diagnosed, but I don't think it would help with anything at this point.
Pretty sure that I do! Since there's very little way to get a diagnosis for it as an adult, I haven't tried to, but it definitely matches my experience.
This is definitely making me go hmm. I am diagnosed with dyslexia (and so many other things), but I struggle so much with math. Weird part is it should have been picked up with testing, then again uh my very obvious autism and ADHD was missed so who knows.
Reading others comments here too helps since I really do struggle with math it feels like trying to juggle. I can do fine with a few, but some concepts just take out everything. It's to the point where I'm a computer science major, and I dropped down to a Bachelor's of Arts because I'm trying to avoid math as much as possible (I'm planning on doing web work so less heavy math)
Thank you for this post, maybe this was the last push I needed to see and go research more