September 18, 2006

I have Dyscalculia

I have decided that it is time to own up and say even being an Accountant, I am poorly chosen for my career as I have a mild form of Dyscalculia. ( This could be one reason why I would prefer to be a writer as I do not have Dyslexia, which is spelling and letters ! )
 
My own form of Dyscalculia manifests when dealing with storing and sharing numbers in the short term.
 
When taking numbers from one spreadsheet, or page, to another I very frequently get the input them down in the wrong order.
 
This is especially noticeable when dealing with a long list of numbers that have simply to be added up, as I almost always screwed up when I just used a calculator.
 
Whenever I have a group of more than about 5 numbers I will always open up an excel spreadsheet as then when I type them in so when I do make several mistakes I do not have to start again, as I don't trust those <clear> and <clear all> buttons.
 
It is strange that I can verbalising a large number, of say phone number size ( even breaking it down into neat clusters of numbers ) but when I then write or type it elsewhere the problem occurs again.
 
It is good in a way that I often verbalise the numbers as I am transferring them as I often spot my own errors, but not always.
 
The other major way that I help myself is that I set up extra "redundant checks" that cross cast everything I do and have it flag up when things do not agree.
 
These flags are not displayed or printed out on the final copy, but I find them essential for ensuring that all my sums add up as I am working through a job.
 
The third way that I cope is to also round up or down and then take an estimate of what it should be and then look and see if the final figure agrees to my estimate.

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