Onhandiscute is a new part of @talentEgal where every month we take a look at a different disability or illness. As part of our plan to raise awareness, in these articles, we’re giving you some background information on each of them.
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Before the holidays, @talentEgal told you about dyslexia, one of the most well-known dys disorders. We spoke about a platform of writing tools to make reading – and learning how to do it – easier for people with dyslexia. But did you know that dyslexia isn’t the only trouble some people have when learning, and now that we’ve gone over letters, it’s time to talk about numbers! Were you aware that dyscalculia affects around 20% of people with dyslexia?
People with dyscalculia aren’t able to see the link that exists between a figure – the symbol – and the number to which it refers. Dyscalculia can also affect mathematical logic and understanding of the space around you. In reality, it’s complicated for people with dyscalculia to understand the price of something in a store, to master digital systems, to compare two values, to estimate distance or even guess the size of an object or amount of something in front of them.
diagram showing the difficulties of dyscalculia and its consequences
Make no mistake, people don’t have dyscalculia because they’re just bad at math or have trouble with their multiplication tables. As with every other dys disorder, dyscalculia is a persistent and long-lasting problem with a neurological basis that affects our capacity to learn and has nothing to do with the intellectual capacity of the person who has it. To see the difference in people’s brains who suffer from dyscalculia and those who don’t have any trouble with numbers, just take a look here!
Make no mistake, people don’t have dyscalculia because they’re just bad at math or have trouble with their multiplication tables.
As with every other dys disorder, dyscalculia is a persistent and long-lasting problem with a neurological basis that affects our capacity to learn and has nothing to do with the intellectual capacity of the person who has it. To see the difference in people’s brains who suffer from dyscalculia and those who don’t have any trouble with numbers, just take a look here!
As you can see on the diagram, there are lots of consequences for everyday life. Just like the other dys disorders, early intervention should be prioritized and, as with dyslexia, a speech therapist can help with retraining how the body reacts. How does it work? They work step by step, ensuring that children with dyscalculia understand each and every stage. For example, before working with more complex three-digit numbers, they should be able to master the basic multiples of 10 (10 units makes 10, 10 of those makes a hundred, and so on). When dealing with dyscalculia, as long as something remains unfixed, nothing more complicated can be attempted.
Links need to be built every single day so that things will be understood, that’s why approaching learning as a game is particularly effective among children. But to make life easier for those with dyscalculia, some tools that are already part of everyday life can be a great help, like calculators, electronic diaries, reminders on our smartphones and GPS systems with voice guidance.
For more information: http://www.ffdys.com/