Dyscalculia is wildly under-recognized/ understood/ diagnosed, so it gets talked about a lot less than it should. That said, having a DD with both dyscalculia and dyslexia, I would guess the main reason for the paucity of attention is that in our modern society, not being able to read is a life-and-death issue in a way that being weak in math just isn't.
(Also, dyslexia is highly remediable is ways that other LDs aren't, which means immediate appropriate action is critical. And culturally, we are comfortable with the idea that lots of people are bad at math - and they live fine lives doing other stuff. We still mostly don't believe that anyone of normal intelligence should struggle with reading, and our society is pretty destructive for people who do.)
In my experience (with two 2E kids of opposite "persuasions"), verbal children are far easier to support academically. Even in an unsupportive system, they can self-enrich - read, write, research, analyze - to the depth they crave. Without acceleration classroom discussion may not be very interesting, but teachers don't usually consider it a problem for the child to do more than needed.
The situation can be really different in math, where a child can't go a lot further than they've been taught (especially in younger grades), so acceleration is needed to be able to work at that depth they crave. Otherwise, the child just doesn't have the basic tools they need to do math. (In an anti-acceleration system, it seems to be a lot harder to be a mathy kid than a verbal one.)
However, *socially* is another story. Math strengths are specific and noticeable, which makes tribe-finding easier - courses, camps, on-line resources, there's tons out there virtually, and often locally. I know how to find math and mathies for my math monster. It's way harder to find like-minded kids for my novelist.
It was quite noticeable recently when both kids were filling out applications related to their passion. DS could list a plethora of math/ science extracurriculars and chose his references from among those teachers. DD was applying to an art high school, but simply doesn't have a reference for her art. She writes fantasy novels at home, alone. There's never been a course or mentor available to her.
Verbal strength - like reading weakness - is a fairly global capacity which affects almost everything. It's easier to deal with because it's everywhere - but like so many things, if it's everywhere, that often ends up feeling like it's nowhere.
Long-winded way of saying, I hear you!
Last edited by Platypus101; 02/17/20 07:17 AM.
