How Dyscalculia Can Affect Teenagers

Whether you have dealt with dyscalculia for a few months or many years, you probably have questions. After all, for people who don’t struggle with learning disabilities, it’s often hard to understand the viewpoint of people who do. Even worse, teens who aren’t “typical” often experience even greater struggles while planning for their futures than their peers do. With that in mind, what can we expect of dyscalculia in teenager?

In short, many of the challenges that teenagers face are common to all of them: discovering people that they are attracted to, hanging out with friends, planning for work or college, and expressing their independence. However, some things are more difficult to navigate when you have dyscalculia in teenager. In this article, I’ll look at what dyscalculia is. Then, I’ll examine the ways it can affect children as they navigate their teenage years.

What is dyscalculia?

Dyscalculia is a fancy word that gets thrown around frequently in the world of education. And like many fancy words, it has many synonyms or common terms. If you are a parent, then the chances are that you first heard something like “your child may have a learning disability.” This leads us to a good basic definition of dyscalculia: a math-related learning disability. To put this in simple terms, the term means that someone has difficulty learning mathematics. However, there’s more to this.

Dyscalculia causes a variety of symptoms or struggles.

Naturally, the first thing in people’s minds when they hear dyscalculia in teenager is that they struggle in math class. While this is the primary trait associated with dyscalculia (and the one which typically results in your child being evaluated), it is far from the only one. In fact, learning disabilities aren’t the only cause for learning trouble. However, any of the following symptoms can help obtain the right diagnosis.

Trouble keeping track of time.

One of the traits of dyscalculia in teenager is that they often lose track of time. While many people crack jokes about the fact that many teens need to be dragged out of bed in time for school, if a teen has learning disabilities this is no laughing matter. In fact, getting to school on time is often just one example of how people with math disabilities struggle with time awareness. Estimating how long it will take to complete a task can also make life activities difficult.

Difficulty managing money.

Most of us can take a short list of items with their prices, add up the total, and decide if we can afford to buy everything. Unfortunately, things aren’t so easy for people with math learning disabilities. While ability levels vary, many of them struggle with this everyday task. Similarly, it’s often hard to balance a checkbook. This means that many people with learning disabilities must work harder to master these important life skills.

Avoidance of math tasks.

No matter their grade level, children with dyscalculia often avoid doing math as much as possible. Especially for dyscalculia in teenager, this can involve skipping certain homework tasks. After all, hanging out with friends or pursuing a hobby is much more fun. Besides choosing more desirable tasks than math homework, you might see your teen avoid buying things at the store. In this case, they’ll often get a friend to buy something, then pay them back. Or they’ll nag a parent to take it out of an allowance.

Difficulty remembering important information.

Finally, let’s look at one of the less obvious signs of dyscalculia in teenager: difficulty with memory. In particular, young children and teens alike often struggle to remember important information. Younger children might struggle with remembering their home address and phone number. For dyscalculia in teenager, there may be problems with getting lost when driving, even in familiar areas and to common locations.

Dyscalculia often leads to uneven academic achievement.

For many parents, one of the most baffling problems that face their children is uneven academic achievement. As we’ve already discussed, this is a problem regardless of grade level. Even after learning coping mechanisms and getting accommodations, math will never be as easy as it might be for “typical” children of similar intelligence. At the end of the day, not being able to achieve according to their expected abilities is often quite frustrating.

Not only is it frustrating that dyscalculia in teenager causes uneven academic achievement, but the failure to achieve at a level reflected by their intelligence is one of the diagnostic criteria. Although professionals will need to determine whether or not other things are causing these achievement deficits, if it only affects math-related tasks then dyscalculia is the most likely diagnosis.

So what is uneven achievement, exactly? Simply put, it’s a phenomenon where a teenager does great in most subjects, and poorly in others. With dyscalculia, this often means that a student does much better in language arts or history than they do in math and (often) science. If a child or teen gets especially high grades in certain subjects, it often indicates that this person is intelligent and capable. This mismatch between intelligence and achievement is especially frustrating.

How does dyscalculia in teenager affect your child?

As I mentioned above, dyscalculia is more than just a struggle with math. Rather, the symptoms and side effects of this learning disability are far-reaching into the everyday lives of people with this condition. Typically, the challenges persist throughout their lives, although they do change over time. For teenagers in particular, it can be much harder to socialize and do “typical teenager” things.

Discomfort with math in social situations.

There are several everyday tasks that most of us take for granted, and which are expected of teenagers in some circumstances. For instance, let’s say that a teenager with dyscalculia wants to go with a bunch of friends to get hamburgers and watch a movie. To fund this outing, the teen’s parents give him or her $30. The expectation is that dinner will cost $10-15, the movie about $8 and a soda from concessions another $5. This leads to an expected cost of around $23-28, and the teen has a little bit of extra.

For most youth, budgeting that $30 would be easy. On the other hand, someone with dyscalculia in teenager might try and add an $8 serving of popcorn at the concession stand. This would result in his not having enough money to pay for it. Whether the teen is denied the popcorn or “borrows” money from a friend, it’s embarrassing.

Feeling “stupid” at school.

Most youth like to show off in one way or another. For athletic teens, the showing off might involve winning the game for their team. Others thrive on creativity and make incredible pieces of artwork. And finally, there are teenagers who enjoy being the “smart kid” who knows everything. Teenagers with dyscalculia can feel “stupid” or “awkward” in any of these areas.

If someone with dyscalculia in teenager has an interest in athletics, then motor sequencing challenges can sabotage their game. For instance, they might forget when to go right, and when to go left. That can lead to, for example, this person running the wrong direction during a soccer game. These moments of “never getting it right” or “ruining everything” often result in their not getting to play at all. Or in physical education class, where inclusion is mandatory, being chosen last (and feeling embarrassed).

Similarly, creative teens may find their options and preferences limited by dyscalculia. One example might be when a teacher asks them to create geometric designs. With mathematical deficiencies, making these shapes look right can be a challenge. Combine this with peer expectations of greatness, and our student may feel stupid.

Finally, the “smart kid” can also feel “stupid” when dealing with dyscalculia in teenager. In this case, the embarrassment is linked to their difficulties in math-based subjects. So, if this student is the smartest student in English class, and always knows the answers, this won’t be the case in math. However, with a reputation for academic success, our student with dyscalculia may be sought out by peers who want to be study buddies. Unfortunately, he won’t be able to oblige the peer this time.

No matter which area our student with dyscalculia wants to excel in, deficits in math skills or conceptual abilities will make it more difficult. In turn, the chances are that he’ll feel stupid or inferior on some level. Because dyscalculia represents a failure to achieve at the sufferer’s normal level, this person knows that they aren’t doing as well as they should. It’s easy to feel dumb while also being smart.

Reduced self-esteem plagues those with dyscalculia in teenager.

Feeling “dumb” in school and experiencing awkwardness in social settings leads to another problem: reduced self-esteem. As a teenager has one setback after another, it’s easy for him or her to lose confidence. Over time, they’ll think that they “can’t” do something, and they may eventually quit trying. This why it’s so important that parents and other adults encourage the teens to do their best-and realize that sometimes effort is more important than actual results.

Bullying is often a major concern.

Unfortunately, in our success-obsessed society it’s easy for a child with learning disabilities to experience bullying from their peers. Perhaps the biggest reason for this is that other children frequently look down upon those who struggle with routine tasks. In fact, even children who appear to be “different” in some way are at risk of bullying.

The worst part? If someone is bullied because of dyscalculia in teenager, they often think that this mistreatment is their fault. In turn, this feeds into poor self-esteem. Over time, the combination of bullying and reduced academic performance can cause a young person to drop out of school. After all, it’s much easier to avoid school than suffer the bullying. Students with disabilities in general need allies, whether these are parents, teachers, or peers.

They may need extra help learning everyday life skills.

Finally, someone with dyscalculia in teenager may need additional support for learning everyday life skills. I touched on this in terms of basic math tasks, such as knowing if you have enough money to buy things. However, depending on your child’s individual impairments, training in other skills might be necessary. For instance, if they have a tough time remembering important information then they should learn to take careful notes or employ other coping mechanisms.

Another concern is with driving on the road or otherwise commuting to work, school, and other activities. Since many people with dyscalculia struggle with their sense of direction, it’s easy for them to get lost. In addition, if they struggle with knowing how fast or how slow they’re going, then maintaining a safe speed might be a challenge. Knowing how to compensate for these deficits becomes very important, very quickly.

Here’s the thing. For many who suffer dyscalculia in teenager, special education services aren’t the only thing they need. Rather, they need friends and allies who will help them learn how to manage adult life. These can be peers, relatives, mentors, or a combination. At the end of the day, the most devastating effect of having dyscalculia is often a sense of powerlessness. By tackling this assumed powerlessness, we can empower them to live their best lives possible.

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