Dyscalculia??

[eastkygal]

I'd like to hear from anyone who has any experience with dyscalculia.  My DD1 is going through her kindergarten year and is having the worst trouble grasping numbers.  She can count verbally, but identifying the numbers sends her head through loops.  She confuses 6 and 10... 8 and 9.  She cannot count by tens no matter how much we have tried.  I know the goal for most kindergarten math curriculums is that children identify, write, and count numbers 1-100.  Right now, on the identifying and writing part 1-10 is still giving her trouble.  We've been working with 1-10 since before we were doing any kind of formal school.  I have taken many different approaches.  A mama on the kindergarten thread suggested dyscalculia, and today after a very frustrating day, I looked into it.

DH and I both have worked with her and on some days it seems like she is misbehaving... like there is no way she doesn't know because I have repeatedly told her over and over again.  But, it continues to happen even with correction and explaining.

I looked at the symptoms of dyscalculia and she meets many of them.  There are things her 2 1/2 year old sister does physically that she does not.  Like readily dress herself, climb, and do physical things.  I am wondering now if maybe I might have had similar issues in school and still do.  The plan was for me to get her basics and either learn as well as she progresses past me, or have DH take over her math education. 

DD1 knows all her letters and sounds, ahead of my teaching.  Writes them all.  She is very very artistic.  Loves words.  Loves art.  Can do really focused activities on her own - imaginative play. 

Ok, so my issue is this.  I don't like labels.  We are all different, and it may be she just inherited the math insufficiencies from me. :(  I don't want to over-react, but I have honestly considered putting her in public school for brief minutes because I feared that somehow she was acting out because I am her mother.  But it is only for math and calender reading that she does it.  Something is wrong.  She isn't far enough along in her math for me to assess her skills at +, -, etc...  Any advice?

[AAK]

I linked to this from your other post.  I know that a lot of the moms on the yahoo group (for dyslexia) are also dealing with dyscalculia.  They might be able to point you in a helpful direction.

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/dyslexiasupport2/

Amy

[TAKLinda]

My son had the same problem recognizing and sequencing numbers when he was in kindergarten. I used dot patterns for letter and number reversals.

[MittensKittens]

I have dyscalculia. In school, it was frustrating and caused a lot of problems. No amount of remedial teaching or "great math teachers" help with that, because it's in the brain. How grateful I would have been for being taught at home and not being made to try and understand things I can't, actually, learn. Perhaps you should try and get an official diagnosis? That would put your mind at rest that your DD's math skills are not affected by the way in which you are teaching them, and also get some ideas on how to move forward.

For instance, to be a fully functional adult, one does not need to know multiplication tables. On the other hand, knowing how to use a calculator to get answers is necessary. One does not need to understand the government budget deficits, or think up strategies to eliminate them, but knowing how to manage household finances is pretty essential. If only the teacher would have accepted my diagnosis and handed me a calculator instead of forcing me to calculate in my head, which I can't do, I would have still learned so much! I think recognizing what your DD can and cannot do asking her to tell you as soon as her head feels like exploding from the incoming data she doesn't understand, is valuable. You don't need to stop teaching math altogether, but there is no point in "torturing" someone who is not capable of certain things to try and do them anyway, day after day.

The person who diagnosed me likened making children with dyscalculia attend math classes, especially without access to a calculator, to forcing a wheelchair user to run.

Anyway, good luck!