Strengths Found in Students With Dyscalculia

Dyscalculia is a condition that causes someone to have difficulty completing certain kinds of math problems, and may be attributed to inherent brain abnormalities. Approximately six percent of children have this disorder, and 20 to 30 percent of students with dyscalculia also suffer from dyslexia. Dyscalculia.org states that symptoms include difficulty grasping the concept of time, sequence of events and basic math. However, students with dyscalculia often have strengths in verbal, written and visual areas.

Verbal

• Students with dyscalculia who don't also suffer from dyslexia typically test average or advanced in verbal skills, according to Dyscalculia.org. These students often also have the ability to visually remember the printed text. They can reason verbally as long as it does not involve mathematical concepts. They read at an average to accelerated level with good understanding of what they read if it does not deal with math or numbers. They tend to do well in science until math skills are necessary.

Written

• These students also excel in their writing abilities as long as it does not involve numbers, according to Dyscalculia.org. They often have poetic ability as well. Writing essays and even books is easier than performing addition, subtraction and multiplication for students with dyscalculia. They find it easy to express themselves using the written word as their advanced skills provide them with a large vocabulary.

Visual

• Dyscalculia.org states these students are good at geometry since it is visual and does not use formulas. While they find it difficult to visualize math concepts, they can create masterpieces in the creative arts field. Drawing, sketching and painting come easier than numbers. Graph paper and creating pictures for mathematical word problems takes advantage of their visual abilities to aid them in their understanding of math.