Hi, i was just wondering if there were any other Aspergers adults totally rubbish at maths and not exactly very creative, or is it just me? I'm beginning to think i can't be an Aspergers being, i feel totally thick compared to reading some of the very intellectual comments!!!!
I had to have private tuition for over a year just to get grade C in maths at GCSE. Funny thing, I'm now considered the office mathematician where I work. Insane right? Impossible right?
Wrong
It wasn't that I was bad at maths, it was that the education system was (and IS) bad at autism and helping children with Asperger's Syndrome!
Many people with Asperger's (though not all as mentioned) tend to be technically oriented whilst also relentlessly pragmatic. This includes me. So how then - can we be bad at maths? Surely technical people are all great at maths with no exceptions?
Also Wrong
There are two issues with the education system here.
1.) The education system doesn't try to provide children with real-life examples of mathematical deployment which the children should care about. Don't say: "...you'll need this for your taxes when you get older" *KA-SNORE!* - Do say: "Alright kids, if you want to play World of Warcraft MMO and you don't want to get ripped off when you trade your gold for rare items - here's the low-down..." - Oh snap!
As I've just pointed out, the current way maths is taught sucks major balls for neurotypical children, but people with Asperger's really really need to see the POINT in what they are doing before their brain can commit to learning. For us (Asperger's people, sorry I don't use the term Aspie! lol) this is even even more important - and the education system doesn't care. The education system factually and demonstrably does not cater to a 'pragmatic' mindset (that's us!). It caters to 'academia' (*snore*), grand theories and "learning for the sake of knowledge". Sorry. Pass. Prove it's worth it! If I were looking at this politcally and culturally I'd say that the education system is like Europe whilst people with Asperger's are much more pragmatic (British or American) in mindset.
2.) The education system has foolishly lumped MA (Mental Arithmatic) and Maths together, into one subject. They're not the same subject stop saying that they are OMG!
Mental arithmatic is the art of juggling numbers in your head with a great degree of accuracy. Maths is the ability to follow step by step instructions (or equations) through to their final, deep, correct conclusion.
Technical people (and people with Asperger's) are good at maths but we suck total a** at MA. You might be sitting there saying "but James I suck at MA and Math" well that is due to the way that both are taught together. MA is taught first and finding that hard, you will then lack confidence and thus are fundamentally undermined when learning the rest of maths. This is a factual and known problem with international and national education systems (UK and USA in particular).
Once I got away from mental arithmatic which I had / have no aptitude for, I discovered math in the more accessible forms of web-coding, programming and Excel formulae. I am the freakin' don on Excel formulae. VLookup? Try grid-lookup, n00b. "IF" formulae? Try cascading IF formulae which launch other formula on resolution, or even pivot tables. Excel formulae are demonstrably highly adaptable mathematical equations with pragmatic, actual useful output(s).
Excel really speaks my language and I'm pretty sure if I went back now to re-do my GCSEs my understanding of simultanous equations would be much improved. Probably still wouldn't get Sin, Cos and Tan though. Whatever, f**k Pythagoras in his proverbial hypotenuse. It's not useful information to me, I'm not an architect and I still don't care.
People now come to me in my office to:
I have become the tecchie' number person. I only scraped by with math at GCSE and never looked at it in college or university. Seems contradictory doesn't it?
Learn math on your own, your way. Education won't help you. That doesn't mean ignore math (it's very important) but find ways to focus on learning long-math (algebra, other places like Excel where math crosses over with 'logic') on your own terms, without MA hassling you.
That's what I did and I now earn significant sums in digital (web development / design + web marketing + being the office Excel genius). You can get there - but it will have to be YOUR WAY
I had to have private tuition for over a year just to get grade C in maths at GCSE. Funny thing, I'm now considered the office mathematician where I work. Insane right? Impossible right?
Wrong
It wasn't that I was bad at maths, it was that the education system was (and IS) bad at autism and helping children with Asperger's Syndrome!
Many people with Asperger's (though not all as mentioned) tend to be technically oriented whilst also relentlessly pragmatic. This includes me. So how then - can we be bad at maths? Surely technical people are all great at maths with no exceptions?
Also Wrong
There are two issues with the education system here.
1.) The education system doesn't try to provide children with real-life examples of mathematical deployment which the children should care about. Don't say: "...you'll need this for your taxes when you get older" *KA-SNORE!* - Do say: "Alright kids, if you want to play World of Warcraft MMO and you don't want to get ripped off when you trade your gold for rare items - here's the low-down..." - Oh snap!
As I've just pointed out, the current way maths is taught sucks major balls for neurotypical children, but people with Asperger's really really need to see the POINT in what they are doing before their brain can commit to learning. For us (Asperger's people, sorry I don't use the term Aspie! lol) this is even even more important - and the education system doesn't care. The education system factually and demonstrably does not cater to a 'pragmatic' mindset (that's us!). It caters to 'academia' (*snore*), grand theories and "learning for the sake of knowledge". Sorry. Pass. Prove it's worth it! If I were looking at this politcally and culturally I'd say that the education system is like Europe whilst people with Asperger's are much more pragmatic (British or American) in mindset.
2.) The education system has foolishly lumped MA (Mental Arithmatic) and Maths together, into one subject. They're not the same subject stop saying that they are OMG!
Mental arithmatic is the art of juggling numbers in your head with a great degree of accuracy. Maths is the ability to follow step by step instructions (or equations) through to their final, deep, correct conclusion.
Technical people (and people with Asperger's) are good at maths but we suck total a** at MA. You might be sitting there saying "but James I suck at MA and Math" well that is due to the way that both are taught together. MA is taught first and finding that hard, you will then lack confidence and thus are fundamentally undermined when learning the rest of maths. This is a factual and known problem with international and national education systems (UK and USA in particular).
Once I got away from mental arithmatic which I had / have no aptitude for, I discovered math in the more accessible forms of web-coding, programming and Excel formulae. I am the freakin' don on Excel formulae. VLookup? Try grid-lookup, n00b. "IF" formulae? Try cascading IF formulae which launch other formula on resolution, or even pivot tables. Excel formulae are demonstrably highly adaptable mathematical equations with pragmatic, actual useful output(s).
Excel really speaks my language and I'm pretty sure if I went back now to re-do my GCSEs my understanding of simultanous equations would be much improved. Probably still wouldn't get Sin, Cos and Tan though. Whatever, f**k Pythagoras in his proverbial hypotenuse. It's not useful information to me, I'm not an architect and I still don't care.
People now come to me in my office to:
I have become the tecchie' number person. I only scraped by with math at GCSE and never looked at it in college or university. Seems contradictory doesn't it?
Learn math on your own, your way. Education won't help you. That doesn't mean ignore math (it's very important) but find ways to focus on learning long-math (algebra, other places like Excel where math crosses over with 'logic') on your own terms, without MA hassling you.
That's what I did and I now earn significant sums in digital (web development / design + web marketing + being the office Excel genius). You can get there - but it will have to be YOUR WAY
