Metamorphosis- Growing up with Turner Syndrome

5. Dyscalculia ?- (Not) struggling with numbers

In my case, thankfully, when I got the diagnosis of TS in my early teens, my parents and I already knew, that I was not by any means "struggling with maths". In fact, I was even back then before receiving estrogen, and have mostly been since, top of every maths class. (Estrogen is supposed to improve some areas of cognitive function, most notably visual spacial perception, in TS- others like processing speed not so much). One could argue, that I do occasionally tend to need a little more time to complete my tasks, than some of the other outstanding math students. One could argue, that I do tend to make some unnecessary, easy mistakes on tests due to not focusing enough, or that my test paper can sometimes be a pain in the ass for any teacher, because of my scrawly handwriting and countless lines crossed out with a pen. That especially geometry, at least in the cases, where visual- spacial intelligence would come in handy- does not seem to be as intuitive for me, as for some of my classmates. All of this is true, and I would never ever claim to be some kind of Math genius. My brain does not work mainly through numbers and visual patterns, as some other's do, my brain primarily seems to work through language. It does nevertheless do numbers, and most of the time it does them quite well. 

See, that is exactly the point I am trying to make. I am complaining about little, insignificant things, just because I know, that these specifics tend to come with Turner Syndrome- but never would I label them as a learning disability, nor would anybody else who knows me. They might even be a normal variant, not at all related to TS.  Whatever problems I might experience with Maths- at the very least, I am well above average, even in geometrics, which is the one part of Maths I loathe. A- level Mathematics is by no means an unsurpassable problem for all girls with TS- since first writing this text, I just as an example have gotten 15 points in my written A- level exams in Mathematics, which is the best possible mark you can get on that test. I even chose Maths over German, when after 10th grade, I had to decide in which subjects I wanted to write the A- levels and in which subject I wanted to take more lessons (5 a week instead of just 2) in the upcoming two years- and although German might have been the more boring, easier choice for me, I decided on Maths and loved that challenge. 

Anyways- "real" Mathematics is not just about numbers. Even Mathematics on a highschool level  is all about UNDERSTANDING a LOGICAL thought process, when hearing your teacher explaining it to you. It is about REMEMBERING your teacher's words, when he tells you what steps to take to come to your solution (e.g. most of the students with a pretty impressive visual- spacial intelligence in my experience tend to forget those and therefore cannot do well on regular geometry tests at school- in contrast to IQ- test. On the other hand, anyone putting in the necessary time and effort for the rode learning of ways to solve certain mathematical problems can at least expect to improve their grades significantly, even,  if they are still struggling to understand the underlying logic). If you are lucky, even a calculator can do the "working with numbers" for you in the end. Mathematics is so much more than that. Especially, if you look beyond the basic mathematics taught at schools and to the ground-breaking discoveries of theoretical mathematics, these mathematical geniuses will mostly need CREATIVITY, and INTUITION i.e. some kind of feeling for what could be the right answer (at least that is how I interpret a quote by Albert Einstein, "creativity is more important than knowledge, because knowledge is limited". Although something tells me Einstein did not have NVLD or Dyscalculia). I completely get, why people with NVLC or/ and TS might in general perform worse than others on a Mathematical IQ- test – anxiety, difficulties with working under time -pressure and poorer visual- spacial recognition (in questions concerning geometry) being the most obvious reasons. This does however not necessarily mean, that people with those conditions cannot even grasp the more complex theorems of theoretical Mathematics, as none of the important qualities needed I listed above is affected significantly by NVLD, as far, as I am aware of. In fact, NVLD can give you an advantage, when it comes to describing Mathematical concepts verbally in class or even recalling tips your teacher gave during a written examination. Let me tell you, over the years I have seen countless students, all probably with forty- six healthy chromosomes, fail spectacularly at the most basic Maths. Nothing is ever as simple, as black or white. There are parts of Maths, that some of them can do without trying and I struggle with. At the same time, there are just as many, if not more, aspects of Maths I can deal with easily, while they cannot, maybe even BECAUSE of some mental peculiarities, that at least sound similar to symptoms of TS to me. I even twice won the Mathematics Olympiad in our- admittedly rather small- region. (I also won two third prices in the Physic Olympiad, on a federal state level, so with students from all over Thuringia competing. These might be my biggest achievements during my school time, and obviously, a deeper understanding  of Maths is crucial in the Physics Olympiad, aswell). These Olympiads, as you might guess, empathizes logical thinking and creative solutions for a few quite difficult mathematical problems far more, than time- efficient working with numbers. Which once again shows, that, although one can hardly argue with the fact, that girls with TS tend to have weaknesses in the area of visual- spacial recognition and maybe performance IQ, the Mathematics you come across in real life might sometimes require a whole different skillset of mainly rote learning and, particularely if you are aiming for outstanding achievements, logic and  creativity. The only general piece of advice I can confidently give to you, is, that through hard work and determination everyone will be able to achieve a level of Math skills they never dreamed possible- albeit everyone on their very own level of proficiency, reflecting everyone's  individual strength and weaknesses. Mathematical skills, especially on a school level,  are highly, highly trainable, which is exactly, why e.g. Asian students spending hours a day on rehrarsing and training them will as a result across the board be able to deal with an incomparably higher level of Mathematics, than most Americans or Europeans ever manage. So who do I compare myself to? I personally always compared myself to whoever is the best student in any given subject (except for maybe in PE), not to some guy with zero motivation who is for some reason diagnosed with "Dyscalculia", and hence is granted more time to write down absolutely nothing during Math tests. The simple reason is, that, because Math skills can so easily be improved by training them, you will never be able to realize your full potential in that specific subject once you have given up on yourself and gotten used to getting less than optimal marks- maybe even blaiming them on your genetic makeup.