Dyscalculia = foreign language problems? - Learning Disorders Message Board

happypidgeon · 07-25-2005, 02:12 PM

Hi! I have a question for all dyscalculics out there: have any of you experienced/heard of a connection between dyscalculia and extreme difficulties learning foreign languages?

I feel like I should explain that while I have not been *officially* diagnosed with dyscalculia, though I was diagnosed with a math LD and short-term memory problems when I was a girl. This was sufficiently long ago that I feel this may have been the best way my evaluator could describe the problem. I didn't even know dyscalculia existed until my first year of college (I would get tested now, but it's too expensive). Since then, I've spent a considerable amount of time researching it and I fit virtually every one of the described symptoms. No kidding -- it's like someone followed me around for a week and took notes. And now, in my fourth year of college, I'm wondering if trouble with foreign language is an as-yet undescribed symptom. I've been taking Italian for a few semesters now, and it's like math classes all over again -- hopelessly lost. This confuses my instructors because I have no such problems with my native language. I am actually an english major with plans of grad school down the line. However, I have good reason to believe that there is no significant connection between one's performance, manipulation, and understanding of their native tongue and their ability to learn a different one. Am I just crazy, or is this legitimate?

Getting by but just barely,
Kris

swbluto · 07-27-2005, 02:45 PM

The only link I could think of is if you had a hard time learning which depends on your problem solving ability. If you have a hard time seeing the connections in a foreign language compared to your own, and in the language itself, it would be hard to learn as language is somewhat about rote memorization(and remembering the link to the objects) and being able to manipulate the ideas and words.

So, what exactly kind of problems do you have in foreign language? Is it in memorization, remembering words and not remembering the meanings, or just not remembering the words.. or just not knowing how to use the words? Describe it.

happypidgeon · 08-04-2005, 12:19 PM

Thanks for your reply!

I'm not sure how to describe the trouble. I don't have problems picking up the vocabulary or anything like that, it's all the grammar I can't get a handle on. I understand each concept as it is presented to me, and if I work on it for a while it sticks pretty well, too. Just as soon as I have to take a test that combines as many as two of these concepts, however, the whole thing turns into a jumbled mess. This is what confuses me (as it did with math not so very long ago -- still does when it comes to calculating tips

), if it was just something I didn't understand, I could learn it. I HAVE learned it, though; my brain just can't seem to figure out how to sort all the information and retrieve what I need when I need it. Incidently, even though my abilities with the english language (I'm a native speaker) have been evaluated at well above average, I've never learned the specific grammatical concepts for that, either

. None of it sticks.

This is the best description I can come up with, I hope it's useful.

Thanks,
Kris