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Average Mental Math Ability
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| Kamali |
Posted on May 03 2012 02:01 AM
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Member
Location: Canada
Posts: 5
Joined: 2012-04-08
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I just completed all my testing yesterday! I don't have the results yet, of course; but for the mental math section of it the psychologist said that my mental math ability was average for my age. I was using my fingers the entire time, haha. Do I have to have a below average mental math ability to be dyscalculic? |
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| justfoundout |
Posted on May 03 2012 04:25 AM
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Member
Location: Texas USA
Posts: 6102
Joined: 2008-05-25
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5/2/12
No, but it helps. The same thing happened to me, and it did keep me from getting the MLD diagnosis the first time I was tested. Nevertheless, *I* knew what my problem was, and I went to bat for myself, insisting on being re-tested by someone else. My math score showed as above average, so this had to be overcome by having a huge disparity between my math score and my other scores. Well, there was a large disparity, but not large enough to automatically render the LD diagnosis. This cost me time and a lot of frustration. It delayed me getting to substitute my math credits by at least a semester. And I used my fingers, too, the entire time. Even if you don't get the diagnosis this time, if you 'know' what's wrong with you, don't give up. Plan to get re-tested by someone else in that case. - jus' |
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| RottieWoman |
Posted on May 03 2012 01:24 PM
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Location: No value
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I'm glad you posted that for Kamali. 'jus.
It shows that people can carry on and have a result that helps, in the end. In my testing, I used my fingers, too and one thing it showed was that my math level is at about 6th grade, which for a college student wasn't so great.
The combination of my testing and my history < problems my mother had carrying me, pre-mature birth, Speech and Language disabilities and other things> showed the learning disability after the initial testing series but I know that not everyone has that experience. |
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| Kamali |
Posted on May 03 2012 09:02 PM
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Member
Location: Canada
Posts: 5
Joined: 2012-04-08
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Thank you for the replies and advice. |
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| CheshireKat |
Posted on May 04 2012 02:11 PM
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Member
Location: United States
Posts: 1860
Joined: 2008-11-14
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Kamali,
When I was tested, I only had slightly below average mental math scores. Average is 100, and my score was 90. Lower than average, but less than one standard deviation (a standard deviation is +15 on these tests) away from normal. If it's less than one standard deviation away from the normative average (100) then it's not even considered statistically significant.
So in short, my mental math skills were a little low but still statistically considered average. However, I do count on my fingers, and I also use other mental "tricks" to try and hold numbers in my head (like memorizing them phonetically, the way they sound when you say them out loud instead of the actual string of numbers, for example). They don't take that into account when they're taking your mental math score, they just want to know if, one way or another, you are capable of doing it.
I was still diagnosed with dyscalculia despite my mental math scores being roughly average. For me it was more of an issue with visualizing numbers and manipulating them on paper. I don't see them properly, somewhere in my brain the symbol gets lost and I often end up omitting numbers, switching them, counting too many of them, flipping them around, basically doing all kinds of things to the numerical symbols that severely impedes my ability to do calculations. Ditto for math function symbols (+ - / * etc.) If I see 8 x 5, half the time I will see it as "8 + 5" or "8 x 2" or even "3 x 5."
My brain just won't read the numbers the way it's supposed to, and that plus a few other odds and ends here and there has all added up to a dyscalculia diagnosis. Mental math is only one small part of dyscalculia, there are a lot of other factors that go into a diagnosis.
Good luck!
"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings." - Eric Hoffer |
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| justfoundout |
Posted on May 04 2012 08:45 PM
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Member
Location: Texas USA
Posts: 6102
Joined: 2008-05-25
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5/4/12
I'll mention on other thing that was in your favor, Kat, is that you were given the Woodcock Johnson test from the beginning. While I like the Wechsler because it provided me with an IQ score, I had to be re-tested with the WJ before I could get my diagnosis. - jus' |
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| CheshireKat |
Posted on May 04 2012 09:25 PM
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Member
Location: United States
Posts: 1860
Joined: 2008-11-14
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Jus, yes, that was definitely a big advantage for me. The second time they did my LD testing (when they renewed it at the university) they gave me just the Wechsler, but also the TOVA test for ADHD (which I also have and was finally formally diagnosed with). Since I'd already have the Woodcock-Johnson test, they didn't feel the need to repeat it, they just gave me the IQ test to show that yes, I'm still dyscalculic, nothing changed.
"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings." - Eric Hoffer |
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| justfoundout |
Posted on May 04 2012 09:49 PM
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Member
Location: Texas USA
Posts: 6102
Joined: 2008-05-25
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5/4/12
I'm not witty enough to pull this off, but I'm trying to say something extremely clever and funny (a zinger) about your last post. Maybe someone else here who is good at that will help me out. Here's the closest I can get: It would make the Guiness book of records if you weren't still dyscalculic.
What hit my funny bone was the similarity to a line in an old movie. Someone tells the 'old man' that he's "not getting any younger", and he responds that he'd "be in a freak show" if he was. hahaha - jus'
Edited by justfoundout on May 08 2012 08:28 PM |
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| CheshireKat |
Posted on May 04 2012 10:20 PM
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Member
Location: United States
Posts: 1860
Joined: 2008-11-14
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Haha, I definitely hear what you're getting at! I still question why they need me to update the paperwork every 4 years. If I have a learning disability, do they really think it's just going to go away? As lovely as that would be, it's just not gonna happen. I even asked my disability advisor why I had to repeat it, and he just sort of laughed and shook his head. I guess we're not the only ones who think repeat testing is a little pointless!
"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings." - Eric Hoffer |
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| RottieWoman |
Posted on May 05 2012 12:42 PM
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Location: No value
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does anyone happen to know when the 4-yr. updating requirement started? or if that's state-specific? I'm curious since I never did that. I was in college for 6 years and not re-tested. |
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| justfoundout |
Posted on May 06 2012 06:32 PM
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Member
Location: Texas USA
Posts: 6102
Joined: 2008-05-25
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I'd heard that it was a 3 year requirement, which would be really awful for someone gettng a 4 year degree. So far, no one has mentioned it to me at that college. - jus' |
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| eoffg |
Posted on May 08 2012 07:21 AM
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Location: Australia
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The 3 year updates were introduced, as the timeline for the way that the brain develops began to be understood. Where for example, the final connection to the frontal cortex, which is the brains manager. Doesn't fully develop until around the age of 20.
But the problem is that brains don't all develop at the same pace.
So that in childhood, what appears as a 'disorder', may in fact just be a slower development. So that a 3 year update helps to identify whether this is the issue.
But updates are of little value after the age 20. |
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| thinkerED |
Posted on September 04 2012 11:46 AM
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Location: No value
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You have not mentioned your age. If your age is not like an teenager and than also you use you fingers always. Than I think you have dyscalculic. |
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