Dyscalculia

Dyscalculia or number blindness is a learning disability, which has to do with math. Dyscalculia is congenital, so you've had it since birth. People with dyscalculia have difficulty with numbers and math skills. Dyscalculia is a tricky disorder, as math is done in multiple areas of the brain. For example, in math, not only the language center is used, but also the areas used for solving and planning. Dyscalculia should not be confused with dyslexia, which has to do with language. Both disorders present problems in learning school skills. This difficulty is not due to a low IQ or poor math education, but to an underlying disorder.

The problem for people with dyscalculia is that math skills are very difficultoms cannot master these skills and have difficulty with basic skills (such as calculation rules and clock-watching). As a result, they also have difficulty with larger and more difficult sums. Research has shown that dyscalculia is as common as other learning disabilities. About 2.3% of the Dutch population has a mild or severe form of dyscalculia. This makes dyscalculia one of the most common learning disabilities.

name

Dyscalculia is also called number blindness. People with dyscalculia have difficulty with arithmetic, insight and numbers, but not with letters. Because of this you can say that these people are, as it were, blind to numbers. This has given rise to the word "number blindness". In the past, it was also really thought that people with dyscalculia were blind to numbers and did not see them. It was also thought that people with dyscalculia were stupid or did not feel like calculating. Today, we know this is not true.The word "number blindness" is therefore also a wrong name, since people with dyscalculia just see numbers. They only have difficulty with arithmetic, so they need more time for this than people without dyscalculia.

characterize

People with dyscalculia continue to count on their fingers for a long time when calculating sums. For example, at 5+8, they don't immediately know it's 13, because they haven't stored it in their memory.

They find all types of addition and subtraction sums very difficult to calculate.

They make a lot of mistakes in step-by-step calculation assignments, because they have trouble remembering that.

In addition, they do not remember how to take steps.

They also often have problems placing numbers in the right place. An example is that they do not know that 9 comes after the number 8.

People with dyscalculia often also reverse numbers. So 65 suddenly becomes 56 and 56 and 65.

People with dyscalculia have difficulty with digital clock watching. Analog clock watching and assignments with clock watching are also difficult for them.

People with dyscalculia have difficulty memorizing the calculation tables. Their processing speed is quite low, which means that they need a lot of time for timestamps.

They often have trouble automating and making something their own

They often have trouble automating and making something their own.

They have difficulty planning, because they often have no sense of time. Because of this they do not know how long something takes. This causes problems when leaving and saying how long something takes.

They often don't see the difference between a plus and minus sign or between a time and part sign, so they don't know when to add, subtract, divide, or multiply.

Not good at estimating quantity

Not good at fractions and percentages.

Difficulty calculating money.

Difficulty measuring, weighing, the metric system, content, area and circumference.

Difficulty learning new math skills and memorizing them.

Difficulty with the learned basic knowledge of arithmetic.

Difficulty with the order of operations.

Difficulty squared and root pulling.

Difficulty calculating partial sums.

Difficulty calculating stories.

Difficulty learning formulas in high school math and applying them.

Not knowing the difference between left and right

You don't have to have all the characteristics to have dyscalculia. Often it's about how much guidance you've had and how much you've progressed. If you have been supervised for more than six months and have made little progress, you probably have dyscalculia. In that case, you can get tested by an orthopedagogue or psychologist. When you have dyscalculia, you get a dyscalculia statement. This entitles you to additional aids, for example for exams and tests.