Hi
There is a family of disorders referred to as acalculia, which
can involve quite specific dysfunctions. I think it would take a
neuropsychologist or clinician with specific training in this
area to be very specific about what is going on. McCloskey and
his colleagues have done much work on the topic (although there
are controversies about the specific processes involved ... see
articles below).
Campbell, J. I. D., & Clark, J. M. (1988). An encoding-complex
view of cognitive number processing: Comment on McCloskey,
Sokol, and Goodman (1986). Journal of Experimental
Psychology: General, 117, 204-214.
Clark, J. M., & Campbell, J. I. D. (1991). Integrated versus
modular theories of number skills and acalculia. Brain and
Cognition, 17, 204-239.
I haven't kept up with the area and do not know the current
state of theories and assessments, but there is much out there in
the cognitive, neuropsychology, and educational literatures.
On Wed, 26 Feb 2003, Jean Edwards wrote:
> One of my students described a rather unusual problem and
> asked if I had any information, and I didn't but am hopeful
> some of you do.
> The student reported that when she is looking at numbers and
> then writing them, she doesn't write down what she sees. For
> example, she sees 41, will repeat it to herself, but by the
> time it reaches paper she will not just reverse the number
> (which she sometimes does), but more often will write a
> totally dissimiliar number such as 671. Needless to say this
> is posing problems in all math and math related activities
> from algebra to writing out checks, figuring her bank
> balance, etc. It's not a calculation or reasoning problem
> with math as she performs these tasks correctly, but of
> course gets them wrong because of the number substitution. By
> the way, she does not do this with letters/words, only
> numbers. She also reported that after it happens she
> sometimes recognizes the error but more often others have to
> point it out to her.
> The student in question does wear glasses and has a SEVERE
> astigmatism in both eyes. However, she says she sees ok.
> Something happens, however, between seeing the numbers and
> putting them on paper. She indicated this has occurred since
> childhood (she's now 45).
> Does anyone have any ideas as to what is going on with her?
> Any suggestion as to how she can accomodate? She is becoming
> terribly frustrated and fears this is going to compromise her
> math grades, not to mention some pretty horrible mistakes
> with her checking account.
Best wishes
Jim
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James M. Clark (204) 786-9757
Department of Psychology (204) 774-4134 Fax
University of Winnipeg 4L05D
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
CANADA http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/~clark
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