What is dyscalculia?
Dyscalculia is a learning disorder that affects a person’s ability to understand number-based information and math. People who have dyscalculia struggle with numbers and math because their brains don’t process math-related concepts like the brains of people without this disorder. However, their struggles don’t mean they’re less intelligent or less capable than people who don’t have dyscalculia.
The symptoms of this disorder usually appear in childhood, especially when children learn how to do basic math. However, many adults have dyscalculia and don’t know it. People who have dyscalculia often face mental health issues when they have to do math, such as anxiety, depression and other difficult feelings.
There’s also a form of dyscalculia that appears later in life. This form, acquired dyscalculia, can happen at any age. This usually happens for other reasons like a medical condition (see more about this under the Causes and Symptoms section below).
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What is the difference between dyslexia and dyscalculia?
Dyslexia and dyscalculia are both learning disorders, but they have key differences. In the most general terms, these two break down as follows:
- Dyscalculia: This learning disorder affects a person’s ability to do math.
- Dyslexia: This learning disorder affects a person’s ability to read.
While they’re different, the two conditions fall under the same diagnosis, “Specific learning disorder,” in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5). It’s also possible for people to have both dyscalculia and dyslexia.
Who does dyscalculia affect?
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Dyscalculia can happen to anyone, but it’s common for it first to draw attention when children are in their first few years of elementary school (between ages 6 and 9).
How common is dyscalculia?
Dyscalculia is uncommon but widespread. Experts estimate it affects between 3% and 7% of people worldwide.
How does dyscalculia affect my brain?
People who have dyscalculia are neurodivergent. Neurodiversity is a term that describes how no two people have the same brain, and everyone’s brain forms and develops in a completely unique way. For people with dyscalculia, that means their brain works differently from the brain of someone who doesn’t have disorders or conditions that affect how their brain works.
Solving a math problem like “2+2=?” might seem simple, but it takes several different skills — and the areas of the brain that manage them — working together to do it. Some of those include:
- Visual processing: Your eyes see the entirety of the math problem and send the components back to your brain for processing.
- Short-term memory: You use your short-term memory to hold onto the specifics of the math problem as you work on it. For example, the number amounts, the symbols and the order in which they appear.
- Language: You use this part of your brain to translate the symbols in the math problem into what those symbols mean. That’s how you know what the plus sign, equal sign and question mark mean in this context.
- Long-term memory: You access this kind of memory to remember the process of how to solve a math problem. In this case, your brain identifies that this is an addition problem based on the plus sign and the equals sign.
- Understanding of quantities and amounts: Your brain translates the symbol “2” into the understanding that it represents a specific amount or quantity. Children usually learn this principle by giving them examples like fruits or animals.
- Calculation: This process unites all of the above, helping you solve that 2+2=4.
For a neurotypical person, the above processes all work as expected. Depending on how severe their case is, people with dyscalculia may struggle with certain parts of the process.
