Dyscalculia in childhood talk
Age 9 (5th grade) is when my dyscalculia really showed its head. That's the point in which numerical concepts became too advanced for me. It makes sense because in all my tests to determine what math level I was at, always always it came to a 4th grade level. Even at age 16, I was at an 8 year old's level.
That was the first year I got bullied for being, as they said, "stupid." Stupid for my inability to comprehend any of the math which they intepreted as a general stupidity. I can't multiply fractions so obviously I can't even spell my own name, right? I kept failing all the tests and getting bullied so then I frequently faked sick to get out of math class.
My math teacher hated me. She didn't have any compassion or patience. I was kept afterschool every Thursday for math tutoring. But it didn't work. I just couldn't understand. After a certain point, every session onward began with her saying, "Just do it with a calculator" which I often still didn't do right bc I didn't understand the very concepts themselves.
And then I still failed my tests bc I wasn't allowed to use the calculator anyway 🙄
The next semester, they placed me in a sort of trivia game type club with a bunch of students I never met before. I still had the idea in my head that I'm stupid. But all of the sudden I was the smartest kid in the whole world. I got everything right, always elected team captain, everyone wanted me on their team, everyone kept calling me smart. The whole rest of the week I was stupid and I was bullied. I held out for the one half-hour a week that I could feel good about myself.
