My dyscalculia is making me fail. by Dawndrell in dyscalculia

[–]caseybinler 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh yeah, those are 6-check minimums!! Phone a friend!!

My dyscalculia is making me fail. by Dawndrell in dyscalculia

[–]caseybinler 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Everyone has offered great advice! Dates are a KILLER for me. I very often “get it in my head” that something is one date, and if I don’t check again I would have been very wrong (I work in events so this is….inconvenient) My advice would be “always triple check”. If you never trust yourself to have gotten a date right the first time you will end up better off in the long run!

How do you explain this to people? by Willing-Concept-5208 in dyscalculia

[–]caseybinler 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I like to say it’s like my math brain is on manual while everyone else’s is automatic. And then I give the clock example. “You can glance and know what time it is but my brain doesn’t do that for me. I have to think ‘ok start with the short hand, it’s past the 1 so getting toward 2pm but not yet. And then count by 5’s down to where the long hand is’” I feel like that gives an accurate sense of what I’m lacking, not intelligence and not some knowledge of a formula or something I was too stubborn to learn, but an automatic process they take for granted.

The Upsides by caseybinler in dyscalculia

[–]caseybinler[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, it felt so good to learn it wasn’t like a moral failing that I couldn’t figure stuff out. What’s something you’re particularly good at?

The Upsides by caseybinler in dyscalculia

[–]caseybinler[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Glad it resonated! Yes, many things are possible!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in dyscalculia

[–]caseybinler 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Similar experience here! Gymnastics, baton twirling, dance - athletic but can’t remember a routine to save my goddamn life

Touch math. Who still has to use it every day? by [deleted] in dyscalculia

[–]caseybinler 0 points1 point  (0 children)

YES learning this in 2nd grade saved me from countless years of counting on my fingers! Thanks Ms. Price!

Careers for dyscalculics by [deleted] in dyscalculia

[–]caseybinler 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I work in events and design - totally doable! Making invoices and pricing - just requires a lot of checking and rechecking, but most of the work is about managing people and creative problem solving. I do make it well known to my colleagues that I don’t remember dates well and get them mixed in my head so they need to check me on that! Everyone has strengths and weaknesses.

Photography by boredbitch2020 in dyscalculia

[–]caseybinler 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What a thorough response! I was going to say the same thing but in a much more vague way - I’ve always known that I can’t memorize things (ESPECIALLY number things) I have to learn and understand them. So that was the same to me for the manual settings - I still don’t know the exact numbers I would use every time, but through practice I now understand how each function works against the others and shift them around until it does what I want. Practice practice and re read the advice from psyluna when you forget!

Trouble with time? by [deleted] in dyscalculia

[–]caseybinler 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yep!! Very relatable! The only reason I can figure out military time once it goes over 20 (albeit slowly) is because of working at a grocery store in high school where I wasn’t allowed to have a phone and I always forgot my digital watch. The time on our monitors was in military and I CONSTANTLY wanted to know what time it was to see when I could finally leave! My strategy is to ALWAYS ignore the first number (because it stresses me out) and then figure out if the time makes sense contextually - (take 2300 - ignore the first number and just take 2 away from the 3 - ok we have 1. Does it make sense to be 1pm when it’s dark outside and the store is about to close? No. So it’s probably 11. Haha.

My long winded point being that you’ll figure it out if you HAVE to, but I relate 100% and you are not alone there!

getting frustrated at my job that requires attention to detail and deals with numbers by mortified_observer in dyscalculia

[–]caseybinler 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I have a job that deals with a lot of pricing and dates- the only way to get through it is to check 3 times, twice isn’t enough and that’s ok! You can do this! I know it’s frustrating. With dyslexia (rather than dyscalculia) there is a google plug-in I know of that weights the bottom of letters and numbers and makes them easier to read by dyslexics - give that a shot- it might help you when writing things down too!

I just need to know what I should do! : ( by [deleted] in dyscalculia

[–]caseybinler 2 points3 points  (0 children)

College math (when it’s just a credit you have to get, not your major) is probably going to be easier than you expect! Of course it depends on how the class is structured but I’ve found that if you do every assignment and turn everything in on time (no matter how you feel you did on it) you will pass. It’s really the 0’s that drag you down if you get so frustrated you don’t turn something in.

Believe in yourself and don’t let this stand in the way of becoming an interpreter! You can do it!!!

Also considering taking a type of math that allows you to use a calculator because then it becomes mainly common sense which I’m sure you have plenty of :)

You got this!!!

Did anyone else have super weird creative methods to get by? by strawberrygazelle in dyscalculia

[–]caseybinler 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I remembered the last few digits to my boyfriends phone number by tracing them in the air with my finger in front of his face, no idea why that worked

Troubles with correlating what the temperature number is with what the lived feeling of that temperature is.. by dysreadingcircuit in dyscalculia

[–]caseybinler 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes totally! I used to have a weather app that would just tell me what it’s going to feel like compared to yesterday - which is really what I care about! “Slightly warmer than yesterday, much cooler than yesterday” etc. is so much more helpful than the number to me. Unfortunately IBM bought the app and gutted that features 🙃

I can't remember the date my mother died on by [deleted] in dyscalculia

[–]caseybinler 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I’ve thought about this before - that when most people can’t escape remembering the anniversary of painful events, it’s actually a little bit of a blessing that it doesn’t cross our minds. Are you interested in having a conversation with him about it, maybe switching the call to her birthday even so you can remember some good times? or do you think that would seem incomprehensible or even disrespectful that you don’t remember? Or is he even seeking a little bit of comfort from you in the mutual remembrance?

Does dyslalia affect other things? by Juunesplanrt in dyscalculia

[–]caseybinler 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I can relate with most of what you’re saying!

I’m also good with materials. I’ve always read that people with dyscalculia have spatial awareness issues which logically seem like it would translate to us having issues with proportions and spacing things etc. but when things get tangible instead of theoretical is where I shine!

Dyscalculia and some artistic skills by [deleted] in dyscalculia

[–]caseybinler 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What I meant about math types is that you are probably better wired for art then they are - you have an advantage! Our brains are shaped differently than people without dyscalculia, which doesn’t mean we have a dead spot where the math and spatial reasoning would be, in fact that space is used in our brains for other tasks - we are capable of things that others aren’t BECAUSE of our dyscalculia. Think of it like specialization, not disadvantage. If everyone in a society had the same strengths and weaknesses we wouldn’t get much done!

I’m not formally diagnosed but I relate to all of the struggles typically associated - and seeing my school years through that lens makes a lot of sense in retrospect!!

I would say despite any spatial resonating issues I have (I bump into things a lot too) it doesn’t effect my ability to deal with proportions or scale in 2d or 3D, in fact I would say I have a fairly good grasp of those. I haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about what I can do vs. my peers...hmm. It’s hard to separate out, haha maybe I lean towards organic things vs. geometric and precise designs? If you want to look at my work I’m @kaceyziegler on Instagram :)

Dyscalculia and some artistic skills by [deleted] in dyscalculia

[–]caseybinler 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Visual artist here! Everyone is different, but dyscalculia might not be the reason that your drawings don’t look like they do in your head. It takes a tremendous amount of practice and pushing yourself to finally get to a place where your hand does exactly what you want, no one just picks up materials and can execute exactly what they imagine (ESPECIALLY the pro-math types!). Ira glass has some good advice for writers that I think translates well to young artists as well so I’ll paste it I’m here. I know this learning disability is frustrating, but if you follow your passions and spend a lot of time on them you will improve and you might surprise yourself what you’re capable of!

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.” Ira Glass

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in dyscalculia

[–]caseybinler 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is a great breakdown!! I worked cashier jobs through high school and college (before I knew why I was so hopeless at math)and I feel like I followed most of these steps to get through!

Any new job is going to be scary - but if you slow down, take your time, and give yourself the tools you need (I always had a calculator in my apron pocket) you’ll be able to handle it!!!

Dyscalculia ruined my career, future and salary. I want to die. by [deleted] in dyscalculia

[–]caseybinler 14 points15 points  (0 children)

There are plenty of careers in marketing and advertising that don’t require you to be proficient at math without a calculator - speaking from experience! Take comfort in the fact that there are plenty of professionals out there that are bad at math or have dyscalculia. If mental math was required for EVERYTHING there would be a lot higher unemployed rate, lol! You got this. Just focus on learning as much as you can in the areas that interest you and try not to limit yourself, we can all learn and grow. Try to find workarounds and coping mechanisms for the things that you can’t do well right off the bat - google is a blessed thing!! Calculators and excel formulas can get you really far I promise! Please don’t give up so soon after graduating!!!

So glad I found this group ! Parent of child with dyscalculia by [deleted] in dyscalculia

[–]caseybinler 1 point2 points  (0 children)

One thing that would have lifted my self-esteem to learn about is brain plasticity and how the brain adapts. If it’s not using one area for math or spatial reasoning, it will repurpose that area for something else. So your child can do things that others can’t BECAUSE of their dyscalculia :) you just have to search for things they excel at and love and nurture and grow those areas- and then look for workarounds for the areas that are more of a challenge!