Experiencing Dyscalculia

One useful analogy that helps us get a taste of the struggle that people with dyscalculia face is given by psychologist Helmy Faber in Code Green on Dyscalculia (2021). It goes something like this:

 

Here are the first nine numbers in ancient Greek (using the letter names):

 

Αʹ alpha .

Βʹ beta ..

Γʹ gamma ...

Δʹ delta ....

Εʹ epsilon .....

Ϝʹ digamma ......

Ζʹ zeta .......

Ηʹ eta ........

Θʹ theta .........

 

Take a minute to memorize them and the quantity of dots they each go with.

 

Now calculate in your head (and answer in Greek numerals):

 

A' + Γʹ

 

Ϝʹ + B'

 

Θʹ - Z'

 

Γʹ x B'

 

H' / B'

 

Individuals with dyscalculia experience a similar degree of processing overload when attempting to solve problems with our number system. At young ages the issue can literally be with the encoding and decoding of numerals as you experienced with the Greek. At higher grade levels, what is a mental reflex for most students (multiplication tables, for instance) can seem nearly impossible to the student with dyscalculia.

 

Though Faber's example only covers one aspect of dyscalculia (the "Triple Code" phenomenon), it is easy to imagine how this feeling of frustration can surface across many domains of fundamental mathematics, with crippling effects.

 

Fortunately, there are proven methods to helping students with dyscalculia feel better and perform better.