"A World of Difference: Embracing Neurodiversity" Demystifying Dyscalculia | S4E5

Beacon College's "A World of Difference: Embracing Neurodiversity" The Podcast

“I HATE math!” It’s a common refrain uttered by many a young student taxed with solving for X or computing the hypotenuse of a triangle.

Or if they don’t hate math, many students fear it as though it was a scholastic Freddy Kreuger. One study found that for 11% of American collegians mathemaphobia was so intense that they turned to counseling.

But for some who get cold sweats, anxiety, or depression when tackling math, their struggles aren’t based on hate or fear, but neurology.

One of the more uncommon learning disorders, dyscalculia, affects one’s ability to comprehend numerical-based information and mathematics. The good news is that kids who have this learning difference can learn skills and workarounds to succeed in math.

On this episode, we visit a Pennsylvania school where students with dyscalculia get a feel for math … by touch …and the use of their other senses.

Next, our panel of national experts shares strategies that add up to math achievement for students with dyscalculia.

Later, you’ll meet our latest Difference Maker, a workforce futurist for whom a past discovery ignited her accomplished present.