Dyscalculia Test
If the answer to the majority of below questions is YES for either yourself or your child, then you probably do have Math Dyscalculia.
After you have taken this Dyscalculia Test your reactions could be either :
A.“OMG I’m disabled, I’m never going to work again”
B. “That is absolutely rubbish - who the hell wrote these idiotic questions”
C. Complete and utter denial - That was the one I went for!!
Once the news slowly sinks in and you are ok with it, all sorts of REALISATIONS will start to happen :
“Maybe I’m not stupid after all!!! Thank the lord.”
“Maybe if I was taught in a different way my Dyscalculia (Number Dyslexia) brain might actually be able to understand maths and do mental arithmetic.”
“How do I beginning to grow that part of my brain.” - Yes your brain is like plastic and can learn NEW things at ANY AGE.
OK the moment of truth the Dyscalculia Test :
Do you get inconsistent results with mental arithmetic eg addition, subtraction, multiplication and division?
Are you slow to perform calculations?
Do you have poor memory (retention and retrieval of facts)? You might be ok at something one day and then the next completely forgotten. “Oh hell I can’t remember what how I did it yesterday?”
Do you still use fingers to count? “Fingers are very useful for counting, why can’t I use them??”
Can your children often do math homework as they have more time to work things out but completely fail under the pressure of exam situation?
Does anything to do with maths or mental arithmetic make you feel anxious?
Is time keeping an issue? Are you or your child always late or rescheduling?
Do you have difficulty counting backwards? Have a go now or ask your child to count backwards?
Do you or your child have problems learning to tell the time on an analogue clock?
Did you or does your child do anything to avoid maths homework?
Difficulty remembering a sequence of directions?
Do you find working out change, restaurant tips and taxes are a real issue?
Are you bad at financial planning and money management - mainly because you don’t want to look at numbers and try and work it out?
Do you find writing, reading and recalling numbers problematic? Eg when someone says a telephone number do you find it impossible to recall and write the numbers down.
Do or your child find maths concepts impossible? Eg rules, formulas, sequencing and basic maths facts (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division)
Do you or your child avoid keeping score in a game or avoid anything to do with remembering numbers tricky?
Games to beat dyscalculia with the family
Dyscalculia is not easy to diagnose, and most schools do not have any type of early detection system in place to identify this disorder in the classroom and help children get the tools they need. For this reason it is often up to parents and families to be alert and identify the early symptoms. If you think your child has dyscalculia, a cognitive assessment may also be useful, which can be done using CogniFit's cognitive stimulation exercises for children with dyscalculia. Deficits in cognitive skills such as: focus, divided attention, working memory, short-term memory, naming skills, planning, or processing speed may be indicators of dyscalculia.
Once you have the diagnosis, it is important to motivate your child and show them that they can be successful with patience, practice, and effort. They need to be reminded that they have other gifts, and to know that dyscalculia does not have to negatively affect their work. This is why it is also important that you work with them at home. It will help to visualize math homework and give them the necessary time they need so that they understand the exercise. Here we will provide some fun games and activities so that you can play with the family while you beat dyscalculia at home:
Cook together
Both of you look at a recipe that you are going to make and ask them to be in charge of getting the ingredients together that you'll need to cook. For example, we need 250g of lentils, 3 carrots, 2 onions, 6 pieces of meat… We have to cut the vegetables into 5 pieces...
Play with the clock
Tell the child they are in charge of telling you when it is a certain time, celebrate how well they did and how responsible and how smart they are.
Go to the supermarket
Have them help you go shopping, you can play games like them being responsible for how many things you have to buy, identify what and how many things there are on the list and have them get it themselves.
Ask them questions about prices
If we want to save, how many yogurts should we get, the ones that cost £1, or the ones that cost £1.30? Celebrate the great “steal” you both made together.
Play guess the pile
Make little mountains out of rocks, peas, or change and you have to guess which pile has more or less. You can also try to guess how many rocks there are in the pile. You count them together, and whoever guessed the closest number, wins.
Play counting something
Count, for example, all the red cars you see, count the number of people you see with white shoes, count how many stairs you go up...
Find numbers
As you walk around, you can play “finding numbers”, suggest that they find the number “7”, and you both look for the number on the street, license plates, etc.
Play remember telephone numbers
For example, you have to call grandma, ask them if they remember the first three numbers and you remember the rest. Call together and if they did it well, you celebrate.
Have them help hand things out
There's four of us, how can we cut a piece of cake into four equal parts?
Play setting the table
Hand out the plates, cutlery, cups, napkins, and bread plates. Make sure they realise that it's important that each person must get a full set.
Play SHOPS
Imagine the child owns a shop, they must choose between all the products you have at home and decide on what they want to sell in their shop. They must give each item a price and a tag. Later, you go in as a shopper. With this game, you'll practice quantity, addition, subtraction, and even how to manage money. It’s a fun way to spend family time and learn together.
Characteristics and symptoms of dyscalculia
Dyscalculia has an ample network of difficulties associated with mathematics, and its characteristics and symptoms will vary depending on the age of each child. These symptoms may be combined and present themselves differently from child to child.
It starts to become noticeable during pre-school years, when the child begins to develop mathematical learning skills and continues into childhood, adolescence, and even adulthood.
As the children continue to grow, their difficulties become more pronounced, so it is essential to seek help early on. The most important thing in dyscalculia cases is early identification, and for this reason parents as well as teachers should be alert in order to detect the difficulties and symptoms as early as possible.
The earlier we can offer these children the intervention tools necessary to help them adapt to school, the more likely they are to optimize their mental resources and learning strategies.
Symptoms of dyscalculia in pre-school aged children:
It is also important to mention that not all children have trouble doing mathematical equations have dyscalculia, and it is essential to identify the frequency of symptoms. Moreover, dyscalculia is not always related to mathematical equations, children may also have trouble with everyday activities or common games.
Types of dyscalculia
Although the symptoms that present themselves in dyscalculia are usually common in different types of dyslexia, dyscalculia usually presents itself in 5 main types.
Verbal dyscalculia:
This type of dyscalculia is characterised by a difficulty naming and understanding the mathematical concepts presented verbally. Children with this type of dyscalculia are able to read or write numbers, but have a hard time recognising them when presented verbally.
Practognostic dyscalculia
This type of dyscalculia is characterised by a difficulty translating an abstract mathematical concept into a real concept. These children are able to understand mathematical concepts but have trouble listing, comparing, and manipulating mathematical equations.
Lexical dyscalculia
Trouble reading and understanding mathematical symbols and numbers, as well as mathematical expressions or equations. A child with lexical dyscalculia can understand the concepts when spoken, but may have trouble writing and understanding them.
Graphical dyscalculia
Difficulty writing mathematical symbols. Children with this type of dyscalculia are able to understand the mathematical concepts but do not have the ability to read, write, or use the correct corresponding symbols.
Ideognostical dyscalculia
Difficulty carrying out mental operations without using numbers to answer math problems and understand mathematical concepts. They may also have a hard time remembering mathematical concepts after learning them.
Operational dyscalculia
This type of dyscalculia presents itself with a difficulty to complete written or spoken mathematical operations or calculations. Someone with operational dyscalculia will be able to understand the numbers and the relationships between them, but will have trouble manipulating numbers and mathematical symbols in the calculation process.
There is one main link with dyslexia, both are genetic and show common cognitive deficits that make it more difficult to learn to read and do math.
References
Horowitz-Kraus T, Breznitz Z. - Can the error detection mechanism benefit from training the working memory? A comparison between dyslexics and controls- an ERP study - PLoS ONE 2009; 4:7141.
Peretz C, Korczyn AD, Shatil E, Aharonson V, Birnboim S, Giladi N. - Computer-Based, Personalized Cognitive Training versus Classical Computer Games: A Randomized Double-Blind Prospective Trial of Cognitive Stimulation - Neuroepidemiology 2011; 36:91-9.
Thompson HJ, Demiris G, Rue T, Shatil E, Wilamowska K, Zaslavsky O, Reeder B. - Telemedicine Journal and E-health Date and Volume: 2011 Dec;17(10):794-800. Epub 2011 Oct 19.
Preiss M, Shatil E, Cermakova R, Cimermannova D, Flesher I (2013) Personalized cognitive training in unipolar and bipolar disorder: a study of cognitive functioning. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00108.