Dyscalculia-Math Challenged

[snazzlefrag]

Differences of opinion, and discussion of those differences are allowed on this board. Discourse is usually healthy when it involves a legitimate meeting of the minds; polite give-and-take; and the clear, well thought-out expression of opposing arguments.

Let's just try and keep it civil, friendly, and avoid personal attacks. Then we can all learn something from each other's views, without slipping into something that is combative and less than useful.


Thanks,
Snazzlefrag

[Alaskan]

I am a spreadsheet kind of guy. A lot of my work is done in Excel and such. My job has me doing advanced routing concepts (EIGRP, OSPF, etc.), CIDR, subnetting, IP addressing, and whatnot, but I've recently found that I have to take some of the basic math courses to refresh myself on Algebra and the like. I reckon that with the proper amount of work, most folks are able to succeed at what they put their minds to...motivation and intestinal fortitude are wonderful in that regard.

Some folks are blessed to find math concepts easy to grasp, while others struggle at it. What makes the difference is the motivational aspect...why am I doing this? What are the benefits? What do I have to do to get from Point A to Point B? Finally, we should all be asking, "Is there a way to make this interesting and make it apply to my life?"

'Nuff said.

Alaskan

[spazz]

Finally someone!

[Alaskan]

Spazz,

I wouldn't say I totally agree with you but I think that a lot of it has to do with what motivates us. Throw in a bit of tenaciousness and most folks can struggle through a course...which might be different than actually getting a full grasp of all materials in a course. For some folks, math just clicks. Unfortunately, I am not one of those people....I have to bust my rear to get through it.

[spazz]

Originally Posted by Alaskan

Some folks are blessed to find math concepts easy to grasp, while others struggle at it. What makes the difference is the motivational aspect...why am I doing this? What are the benefits? What do I have to do to get from Point A to Point B? Finally, we should all be asking, "Is there a way to make this interesting and make it apply to my life?"

'Nuff said.

Alaskan

Yeah, but this argument you made here is the point I was trying to get across. I am glad atleast one person agrees . I understand about the math thing clicking with certain people, this is true. But for the ones that math does not click with, it just takes a bit more effort, and it will click with them also. It is all about how much time and effort one puts into learning the actual material.

Some concepts will click with some people very fast based on past experiences, and some concepts will take more time and effort for one to learn.

[beckysharp]

Wow, what a firestorm I created. Since myself and others are struggling with that required college math class, I thought we'd all have a chuckle. But as Librevore so aptly demonstrated, this has nothing to do with motivation.

Since the Mental Health community recognizes dyscalculia in the same way dyslexia is recognized as a learning disability, we can safely say dyscalculia is not opinion but research.

Enjoyed the discussion.

[spazz]

Originally Posted by beckysharp

Wow, what a firestorm I created. Since myself and others are struggling with that required college math class, I thought we'd all have a chuckle. But as Librevore so aptly demonstrated, this has nothing to do with motivation.

Since the Mental Health community recognizes dyscalculia in the same way dyslexia is recognized as a learning disability, we can safely say dyscalculia is not opinion but research.

Enjoyed the discussion.

Not to put a damper on this conversation. But I have never seen objective physchology research, since nothing can be proven mathematically. So technically even if its research, doesnt mean its factual. If its factual, it doesnt mean it applies to you, because that is subjective, there is no way to prove that it applies to you, because it is based on relativity. It remains opinionated, even if you make generalizations that happen only by chance.

[Urbannaja]

Originally Posted by spazz

Not to put a damper on this conversation. But I have never seen objective physchology research, since nothing can be proven mathematically. So technically even if its research, doesnt mean its factual. If its factual, it doesnt mean it applies to you, because that is subjective, there is no way to prove that it applies to you, because it is based on relativity. It remains opinionated, even if you make generalizations that happen only by chance.

Well, I'm sure your own "expert" opinions on the matter are safe however, just for the record, here are quite a few reputable published objective research papers on the subject:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...&dopt=Citation

http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/...ct/123/11/2240

http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Hom...accno=EJ730248

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...&dopt=Citation

http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=3510847

http://www.uth.tmc.edu/clinicalneuro...Gross-Tsur.pdf

http://taylorandfrancis.metapress.co...lts,1:102428,1

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...&dopt=Citation


The controls for alot of these studies are quite good if you read up on it.

In reading up on the subject (I can't sleep, and this topic is interesting) I can note that out of a good 25+ articles in reputable journals, developmental dyscalculia is a very real, studied, objective learning disability. All of the articles that detailed causes pointed to the disorder as gentically-based and specifically ruled out conditions such as IQ, gender, teacher quality, student volition (such as laziness), and surprisingly age. I tried to specifically find research to de-bunk developmental dyscalculia as well, but found none.

There are of course, other ways to acquire a math-learning disability such as through brain trauma or psycho-somatic issues, or alzheimers, but I focused on the developmental path.

Anyways, it's all interesting reading if you've got the time.

[ShotoJuku]

"Dyscalculia is a term referring to a wide range of life-long learning disabilities involving math. "


Holy crap - now I know what's wrong with me!!!

Is there a pill I can take Doc??

[spazz]

I have skimmed through some of those papers listed and what I have gotten out of it is that this is a disorder for children learning arithmetic. If this is true, then one would hope you would not have problems with arithmetic if you have graduated highschool. Obviously in society some OLDER people still have problems with arithmetic. Good example of this and happens all the time to me, is when I go to mcdonalds and practically everytime they either give me more change or less change then I should get back.

One would hope to assume that no one on this board has problems doing arithmetic, since everyone here graduated from highschool.