But there are a lot of non-math problems that tend to accompany dyscalculia. We have trouble conceptualizing time, reading maps, dancing, remembering sports plays, learning to read music, [...]]]> Over at the dyscalculia forum, we’re all pretty bad at math.  That goes without saying. If we could do math we wouldn’t have dyscalculia. QED.

But there are a lot of non-math problems that tend to accompany dyscalculia. We have trouble conceptualizing time, reading maps, dancing, remembering sports plays, learning to read music, and playing games. In these areas, it seems that everybody on the forum has their “exception”. Somebody may be able to understand sports pretty well (even football, which is hecka complicated!), somebody else may be a decent dancer, and somebody else can actually play cards.

My “exception” has always been navigation.  Many people on the forum are terrible with maps, directions, and public transit.  An unusually high number of them don’t even drive.  Me, I’ve always been fine with that stuff.  Maps are never a problem for me, and in fact I have a nearly eidetic memory for directions.  If I’ve been a place once, I can get there again.  Back in the days before google maps, when we had to write directions down, I could usually remember them once I was in the car without referring to what I’d written at all — the fact that I had written them and read them back to the direction-giver was enough to get me there.  This was a good thing, because after taking that trouble to write out the directions, I usually forgot them when I left the house.

The only downside is when I get it wrong the first time.

The first time I went to my current doctor, I had a rough idea of where I was going, and I decided to take a “short-cut”.   I figured I’d take a left turn several blocks earlier than google maps directed, avoid a high-traffic street, and just turn right to be on the street I needed a few blocks to the east of my destination.  Unfortunately, it was one of those odd San Francisco streets that does not abide by the grid pattern, and my left turn meant that I was on a street that didn’t intersect with the street I needed.  I was practically in the Bay before I realized that I was way north of where I wanted to be.

It wound up taking me 45 minutes to turn around and figure out where I actually needed to be.  After I got home and figured out my mistake, I vowed to follow the google directions next time.

That was two years ago.

Ever since that day, I have driven to my doctor’s office, promising myself I’d get it right this time, only to go on autopilot and realize too late that I’d gotten it wrong again.  Two years.

That is, until yesterday, when I finally got it right… which turned out to be a good thing, because my clever plan to keep myself from being late backfired horribly …

Awhile back I wrote about a painful muscle strain I’d developed in my shoulder and neck area.  Like many dyscalculics, I have a poor [...]]]> This has been sitting in my editing box for more than a month now.  Since it’s Dyscalculia Awareness Month, I figured it’s only appropriate that I dust it off and publish it.

Awhile back I wrote about a painful muscle strain I’d developed in my shoulder and neck area.  Like many dyscalculics, I have a poor sense of my body in space, and how not to move without hurting myself.  Most of the time I hurt myself in small ways, by running into things.  Other times I develop repetitive stress injuries because I’m not aware that I’m holding myself in an awkward, damaging position.

It started when I was sick, curled up on the couch in a position that didn’t feel awkward at the time.  I was sort of aware of pain and discomfort, but I kept working out, and then I did some work on my car, and then I woke up the next morning unable to sit up.  It seriously took me several minutes to figure out how to get out of bed without screaming.

Since then I’ve had some deep tissue massage, some stretching, some ultrasound massage, more stretching, a lot of advil, more stretching, sports gel, more stretching, hot and cold packs, and more stretching.  The injury seemed to stay about the same.  It would hurt like hell when I woke up, then I would massage the area with sports gel, and it would be much better.  Then I’d wake up the next morning once again in horrible pain.

What finally helped was a trick from the Alexander Technique that I’d learned several years ago — the “semi-supine” position.  The idea is to relax your muscles by lying on your back in a completely neutral position; that is, your feet are flat on the floor, your knees are bent, your head is supported, and your spine is allowed to fall into its natural shape.  By doing this for ten minutes I already felt better than I had in weeks.  This 46 second video demonstrates how to do it.

Alexander Tehcnique, Semi-Supine Position

Since My New Year’s resolution was to improve my proprioception with the precise goal of not doing this crap to myself anymore, I had already checked out some books from the library about the Alexander Technique.  One of them introduced me to the “prone position”, in which you lie on your stomach, your chest supported by a few books or a yoga brick, and your forehead on the floor.  In this position, your spine bears no weight at all; and according to the book, it was a good remedy for tightness in in the shoulder and neck area.  After doing that for ten minutes, following ten minutes in semi-supine, I felt almost normal.

So, at last, my shoulder and neck are feeling a lot better.

There are a lot of Alexander resources out there.  This video is pretty informative, though I get a bit of a “dear leader” vibe from it.  The book I found to be the most useful was called How You Stand, How You Move, How You Live. It’s free of a lot of the pseudoscience that plagues these sorts of books.  In fact, it goes a step farther, with the author explaining in basic evolutionary terms why humans have trouble with movement and injury while other animals don’t.  Basically, the issue is one of neuroplasticity.  Whereas other animals are born knowing how to walk, humans have freed up that brain space to enable us to learn.  The upside is that we’re really adaptable.  The downside need to be taught almost everything that we know and do, including movement.

Dyscalculia is a math disability, similar to dyslexia. A lot of people joke about having “math dyslexia” without realizing that it’s quite real. In addition to effecting a person’s number sense and ability to [...]]]> March 3rd is World Dyscalculia Day.  Celebrate by learning about this disorder, and helping to get the word out!

Dyscalculia is a math disability, similar to dyslexia. A lot of people joke about having “math dyslexia” without realizing that it’s quite real. In addition to effecting a person’s number sense and ability to work with math concepts, dyscalculia can cause difficulty telling time, reading a map, learning the rules to games, remembering dance steps, or dealing with formal music education. Also called “math disability” or “math disorder”, dyscalculia is recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV (315) as well as by the World Health Organization.

There are plenty of places to learn about dyscalculia on the web. To meet other folks with dyscalculia, check out the Dyscalculia Forum. For a basic introduction to the disorder, the wikipedia article is pretty thorough. LD Online has a description of the presentation of dyscalculia in different developmental stages, from early childhood through adulthood. Last but not least, there’s my own article at Squidoo, What The Heck Is Dyscalculia?, which is a humorous look at life as an adult with math disorder.

Happy World Dyscalculia Day!