Dyscalculia or math disability is a specific learning disability or difficulty involving innate difficulty in learning or comprehending mathematics.
It is akin to dyslexia and can include confusion about math symbols. Dyscalculia can also occur as the result of some types of brain injury.
Dyscalculia occurs in people across the whole IQ range.
Symptoms
Frequent difficulties with arithmetic, confusing the signs: +, −, ÷ and ×.
Difficulty with everyday tasks like checking change and reading analog clocks.
Inability to comprehend financial planning or budgeting, sometimes even at a basic level; for example, estimating the cost of the items in a shopping basket or balancing a checkbook.
Difficulty with multiplication-tables, and subtraction-tables, addition tables, division tables, mental arithmetic, etc.
May do fairly well in subjects such as science and geometry, which require logic rather than formulae, until a higher level requiring calculations is obtained.
Many of those who suffer from dyscalculia may have parents who perform well to excellent in Mathematics-related fields (such as architects, engineers, or math teachers), though this connection has yet to be genetically linked.
Difficulty with conceptualizing time and judging the passing of time. May be chronically late or early.
Particularly problems with differentiating between left and right.
Might do exceptionally well in a writing related field- many authors and journalists have this disorder
Difficulty navigating or mentally "turning" the map to face the current direction rather than the common North=Top usage.
Having particular difficulty mentally estimating the measurement of an object or distance (e.g., whether something is 10 or 20 feet (3 or 6 metres) away).
Often unable to grasp and remember mathematical concepts, rules, formulae, and sequences.
An inability to read a sequence of numbers, or transposing them when repeated, such as turning 56 into 65.
Difficulty keeping score during games.
Difficulty with games such as poker with more flexible rules for scoring.
Difficulty in activities requiring sequential processing, from the physical (such as dance steps or sports) to the abstract (signaling things in the right order). May have trouble even with a calculator due to difficulties in the process of feeding in variables.
The condition may lead in extreme cases to a phobia or durable anxiety of mathematics and mathematic-numeric devices/coherences.
Inability to concentrate on mentally intensive tasks.
Low latent inhibition, i.e., over-sensitivity to noise, smell, light and the inability to tune out, filtering unwanted information or impressions. Might have a well-developed sense of imagination due to this (possibly as cognitive compensation to mathematical-numeric deficits).
Mistaken recollection of names. Poor name/face retrieval. May substitute names beginning with same letter.
