Looking back, now that I know I have dyscalculia, there are things I did when I was young that were early signs of my condition. Obviously at the time I had no idea it meant anything.
One particular thing that sticks out, which I have to stop myself from doing these days (especially as I'm doing a GCSE in history now), is how whenever I was reading a piece of text, if a date came up (for example 1892) I would completely skim over it because in comparison to reading the words, reading a number, especially such a big one, was a much harder task. Nowadays I stop myself and think it out: right, eighteen-ninety-two. I then carefully think about where that date is on a mental time line, so I fully absorb the information.
Now, in history we have to learn a lot of dates. I have surprisingly become quite good at this (for a dyscalculic), but only because of one thing: I remember the shape of the number and then I associate that with the event, for example, the German hyperinflation of 1923. It may sound strange, but it works for me (although I cannot remember birthdays of friends and family to save my life, i might add)! This association with words helps because I love words and language. this is where, like many dyscalculics, I find my area of expertise. i have managed to excel in French at my school, achieving an A at GCSE two years early. The only real trouble I have is the French numbers (it gets very complicated when you get to seventy)!
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