Many years ago sometime in the mid-late 90s when I was a junior legal secretary and working part time with the community care crisis team, I was fobbed off and ignored by a psychiatrist whose total disregard for a patient and utter contempt for me, was one of the main reasons I ended up going down the path of safeguarding vulnerable adults / managing dementia care.
I’d been asked to sit with a lady whose family were bereft at her supposedly having gone mad overnight and keep her safe until she was assessed by mental health. For a full hour she described the most bizarre and incredible hallucinations mostly seeing a little girl in Victorian dress, sunflowers that would grow and completely surround us both and a little black and white dog I seemed to think she saw in the form of a springer spaniel.
“Ethel” was an intelligent lady and said she knew the girl and dog weren’t real because she’d been leaning to try and touch them both of which would disappear as soon as she did. Once or twice she went “Ooh the little dog’s there – can you see him?”
“I can’t see him no… what is he doing though what can you see?”
“Well he’s just sat there lovely thing but look when I lean to stroke him. Gone. He’s gone again they always go when I try to touch them that’s why I know they’re not real”
Even then as a very young and inexperienced teenager, I knew she wasn’t “mad” in the sense. Her vivid descriptions of what she saw were by far the most bizarre thing I’d ever heard and reminded me of experiences with LSD but she seemed lucid and clear as a bell. Ethel herself even suggested the hallucinations she was having might have been linked to a recent operation she’d had and was still wearing a patch from. “My son thinks I’ve lost my marbles he’s the one that rang for you to come here and see if I’m doolally but I’m not love.. honestly I’m all there it’s just my eyes playing tricks”
Consultant psychiatrist arrived speaking in a very thick Asian accent and broken English (Ethel was Scottish too so you can imagine how that one went!!) but despite me trying to explain the conversations we’d had for the last hour, he wasn’t about to have a kid tell him his job and in one quick scribbled signature, she was admitted to the secure mental health unit for older people. I have never nor will I ever forget that lady and how she pleaded and begged the psychiatrist (and me) to believe her and she wasn’t going mad. I doubt she will ever have returned home to her flat and will probably have lived out the rest of her days in care pilled up the eyeballs to keep her quiet and manage what was nothing more than her eyes playing tricks.
The long, short and horrible truth is that very few people gave the tiniest toss for older people. It’s what set me down the path and how / why I ended up working specifically in dementia care and safeguarding vulnerable adults
When I read about “Charles Bonnet Syndrome” some years later it broke my heart to realise that’s what Ethel was suffering from and even she knew it was linked to her sight but back during the 90’s we lived in a very different world when it came to care of older people. I have known people being very close to misdiagnoses due to CBS as recently as last year however so we’re still in urgent need of educating those that think they’re beyond the capacity to learn anything more. *Never trust anyone that really takes the view they know all there is to know or can’t learn something from a mere member of public, younger person or unqualified carer. That’s the height of stupidity and ignorance right there.
The video and TED talk with Oliver Sacks is outstanding and worth setting aside 20 mins to watch with a brew.
I later began teaching staff in dementia care and used my own little way of getting points over acting out roles to really emphasise the point which everyone loved and said was so much better and they found much more useful than other training sessions / tutors (former actress with national youth and musical theatre don’t you know luvvies!!) For a while I reserved that teaching style for staff I worked with and knew well not expecting the wider world to understand or find remotely amusing but then I discovered the brilliant “Teepa Snow” whose style and methods are very similar to that of mine. Again another longer clip but if you get comfy with a brew and a biscuit, she’s well worth the 20 mins talking about dementia here here
Anyway for years I been using this this toolkit published and available to download by Alzheimer’s Society – a brilliant organisation with whom I have been working, helping and don’t intend to appear like I’m ripping on with this. Far from it they have my utmost respect but can only work with what they have so don’t have the luxury of being able to chop and change the way I have during assessments. I only make variations to some of the questions based on each person and my understanding of their general knowledge, abilities and limitations.
Nevertheless the toolkit is outdated, irrelevant in many ways and doesn’t always take into account the huge differences people with dementia have – indeed a few professionals don’t even have an understanding that there are many types of dementia – the word being a general umbrella term to describe many types. It’s like someone being diagnosed with “cancer” of which there are countless types all requiring specific treatment.
You can’t write “has cancer” and expect it to offer a clear, accurate diagnosis or even adequate level of care, support and treatment.
So within reason I have been making minor adjustments to how I assess and sad thing is we’re not supposed to improve or change things on the hop but it’s so unrealistic and unfair.
There is little room for error – even correct ones and I question whether it’s appropriate for external professionals to be calling it based mostly on just their very brief period of time with someone they may have never met before and without consultation with family, friends or carers.
One lady “J” I used to look after suffered from severe Parkinson’s and was being written off something shocking by a GP who came out to see her, decided to do an on the spot assessment and was scoring her down like he was being paid a tenner to fail her on each question.
“J” was difficult to understand at the best of times but once you knew her, you could understand and converse without any problem. She was a nervous lady and at just 61yrs of age was very young and one of the first and few people to be fitted with an apomorphine pump. Having an impatient doctor she could barely understand looming above her didn’t help (not sat informally he literally stood over her as she lay in bed stiffened from seizures)
He asked what year it was and she slowly stuttered “Twenty…. two thousand” and he interrupted with a loud scribble on his papers muttering “OK so she is confused as to time and place” and I went “Whoa whoa hang fire – she knows what year it is let her finish” and he said “But she answered that it was the year twenty and then two thousand”
I smirked and went “You’re kidding right??” then leaned in and said to a really terrified looking J “It’s OK sweet don’t worry we’ll do that one again. What year are we in at the minute?”
“Twenty seventeen… or two thousand seventeen… not sure which is the right way to say it” I gave her the double thumbs up and went “Nailed it”
He asked her to “point to the one which is a marsupial” and she went “A what?”
The term “Marsupial” was one she’d never heard of before – not everyone will so again I chipped in “Which might you associate with the word “Skippy” and without missing a beat “The kangaroo”
“Which two objects are musical?” (Harp and accordion straight away)
Which object is nautical?” (“What? What’s Nautical?”)
“Linked to the ocean – ”
She answered before I could finished with “Penguin” which technically wasn’t wrong – ocean and penguin do go together so I re-worded the question and asked “Which is linked to sailing / the Navy” and straight away “Oh – Anchor”
Bearing in mind this assessment has been completed with vascular dementia many of whom can’t take in and process information that way. I have Dyscalculai (number dyslexia) and get major brain overload if hit with information I neither need nor can work with. I like it short, sweet, simple and for that reason understand how horrible and frustrating it is to be bombarded with lengthy complex instruction.
One of my all time “favourite” residents (even though I’m not supposed to have favourites but it’s impossible not to with people like her) was Phyllis who had vascular dementia and like many would get flustered and flummoxed. I used to joke that when she got herself wound up she sounded like Mr Jelly all “Lloobboooblbooo!!” thinking the world’s going to end when a leaf brushes the window which had her in fits of giggles because she knew I adored her and agreed she did “get my knicks in a twist”
I’ve been in the job a long while and like to think I get the best from people by approaching things in a way that works best for them. I couldn’t joke and banter with everyone the way I could with Phyllis and vice versa but if you molly-coddled her too much it made her worse and the bawling gave way to actual tears and distress so you had to stop her in her tracks before she go run away with herself.
Ask if she wanted to wear a blue jumper because it will go nice with the tartan skirt and necklace or the pink top that will match her beige skirt and pearls… She’d never answer that in a million years without collapsing into tears.
Quite often she’d start telling you she doesn’t know anything anyway so you’d need to stop her – pick both tops up and in a nice loud and clear voice “Phyllis!! Which one? Blue or Pink?”
“Pink”
So when Phyllis had a visit from the same impatient GP I made sure I was there during the assessment. He visited with a young OT who was pleasant enough and very nice towards but got her in a pickle from the from the outset reading long paragraphs of text directly from the page and confusing me as well.
“Phyllis I am going to give you a name and address. After I have said it, I want you to repeat it. Remember this name and address because I am going to ask you to tell it to me again in a few minutes: John Brown, 42 West Street, Kensington”
Phyllis burst into “I can’t remember anything I’ll never answer that I don’t anything me I just don’t – “
Me – “OK stop stop stop. Phyllis. Remember this – “Mr Smith, High Street, Town” Say it with me first (she said it with me no problem) “OK try and remember I’ll ask you in a tick”
She said tearfully she’d never remember (always did) but I chipped in and with very little prompting save for gestures with my hand to indicate she was right and could keep going she recalled the name and address.
To satisfy the GP and OT we did the name and address from the assessment – same way allowing her a bit of extra time and patience – she nailed it.
They were about to score her down for being unable to recall the last year of the second world war until I gestured for them to give her a minute or so. The second world war ended a long while ago she’d slept since then and her brain wasn’t up to pulling facts and figures out the back so easily.
She correctly answered but here’s the interesting thing.
The question directly after is “Who is the present monarch” and Phyllis – as others have done answered “King George” which to be honest impresses me every time.
I’d struggle to answer that without a few mins and a quick search on Google so when she was being marked down, I chipped in and pointed out she’d just had her brain go digging in the back of the store room to recall info from WWII so with the question straight after relating to the monarchy, it’s not completely unreasonable for her to have answered the monarch back then rather than now. The OT got what I meant and nodded “Ahhh yeah of course” so allowed me to reword it.
“It was King George you’re right but who is the present Monarch – who’s on the throne now?” “Oh ermmm… Elizabeth”
So later this year one of my oldest and closest friends and I are going to sit down and look atthe assessment toolkit from scratch.
She is a highly esteemed clinical psychologist and therapist, one of only a handful qualified to teach a very unique form of intensive therapy and assistant professor at a university in Canada.
I have formed alliances with friends and colleagues (past and present) many of whom are in a great position to help get things brought right up to date – three are OT’s, two physios and the rest a nice mix of social workers and registered managers. Without collective clout, qualification and expertise anything put forward to give clinical toolkit a revamp will be worth minus four jack-diddly-squats.
That said without the hands on, direct care experience of health care assistants, friends, family and others not considered to be knowledgeable enough to be worth listening to – changes to assessment toolkit aren’t worth diddly either.
I volunteer as a dementia friend, champion and offer informal training to care home staff so have already invited people to bombard me with their views, thoughts and opinions whatever they are but there are always going to be things missed and not even give a thought unless and until. Those not already familiar with or following Kate Swaffer should pay her a visit as it was a recent post of hers that prompted this.
Much is based on individual experiences but that’s what counts. I would love to hear from anyone that has a thing or two to chip in with – even if it’s just to vent and release similar stories.
I’m all ears and can only promise everything will be given due time and attention to see how we an work it and at the end of this year, I’ll bring everything to what will be long weekend sat pouring over the assessments and trying to drag it kicking and screaming into 2020
The good thing is we’ve come a long way since back when I escorted Ethel to the mental health unit as an unqualified “bit of kid” as was the term used to describe me.
Minimum care standards and safeguarding policy stepped things up and the more recent introduction of mental capacity / deprivation of liberty safeguards came into play and have at least made sure we don’t see more cases of Ethel or young, unqualified carers ignored as standard.
Still having some problems with MCA / DoLS assessments and such but we will never have perfection nor the need to stop doing everything to improve.
My son has many health and learning disabilities including sensory processing disorder which affects the way his brain “sees” and processes information to the extent the lead Occupational Therapists asked for permission to use his assessment and results as part of training. She had never seen anyone whose brain processed information the same way and it was so unique I understand his task of copying the Olympic rings is currently rolling around on handouts given during training.
Sam spent ages drawing an outline of what looked like a flower and then filled in curves and lines inside of it. Took him ten minutes after which he was asked to describe the shapes and asked if he recognised the image as circles overlapping. Only when it was pointed out did he go “Oh yeah… I didn’t see it like that until now”
Sam was failed miserably and referred to specialists so late the OT went nuts and said he was too old for therapy and the best she could offer was support for him in the shape of extra time and use of laptops, aids and adaptations to make his life easier whilst studying and whilst she diagnosed severe dyspraxia when he was 11yrs old, he was only formally diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome at 16yrs following five years being home-schooled because the local authority refused to accept the level of difficulty he would have being placed in a failing secondary school with nearly 2000 pupils about thirty of which had already bullied him relentlessly throughout primary school.
I knew Sam would struggle with a considerable part of the cognitive assessments used for older people so got him to complete the tests with me.
His score was dire. He’s absurdly intelligent with a daft high IQ but were he not 17yrs of age and a borderline genius he’d have been misdiagnosed for sure.
The questions regarding the former female prime minister and current prime minister caught him out because the current PM is female. He also tripped up re: name of US president and the one assassinated during the 60’s – initially answering Kennedy for both then backpedaling having realised his mistake.
What made him screw his face up like he’d just taken a swig of last week’s milk?
“WTF is a marsupial?”
Auntysocial 
According to my mother, a pediatrician told her I had Asperger Syndrome when I was – if I remember the story correctly – 5 years old, simply because I couldn’t write my name. My mother, (who is a Physician Assistant,) was absolutely furious, since it was written on the chart and everything. Yep, I think I can say with confidence that I don’t. And I did eventually learn to write my name of course. 😉
With my older brother, the same (apparently incompetent) lady fired questions at him too quickly for him to answer. When she asked him if he knew his address, and he didn’t respond, she wrote down “doesn’t know his address.” He read her writing upside down and said, annoyed, “yes I DO!” He was a bit of a child prodigy, reading when he was 2, always a few grades ahead.
We seem to have a lot of incompetent mental health people and just medical people in general around here. We could use someone like you.
That’s interesting about Dyscalculai, I have not heard of it before. I do not have Dyscalculai but I have always had the most difficult time with math. My mother can tell you, she had to put up with the temper tantrums of my younger self over math related things. “can’t you please just explain to me what you don’t understand?” She would ask. No, I had to throw a fit first. Funny looking back on my child self, I was quite the screamer. Learning math for me is a long process of taking the information, twisting my brain into knots over it until I have a vague and general understanding of it, hammering it into my brain and hoping and praying it stays there long enough so I can scrape by on whatever thing I need it for. I usually forget any math I don’t use on a regular basis.
This is the thing – I only discovered there was such a thing as “Dyscalculai” after my psychologist friend saw me trying to work out how much two cans of Pepsi costing 75p each would be.
I’m there on my fingers “seven and seven is fourteen… then five add five is ten so that’s four, fifteen – one pound fifty”
“Do you really struggle to make small change like that?” to which my then 14yr old daughter chirped up “Yeah she’s really bad with maths and anything that involves having to work stuff out.
I am legit with the guy that can’t work out how or why 1kg of steel could be the same weight as 1kg of feathers. It just will not compute and makes my little brain tighten and then want to cry.
Telling a psychologist and this particular friend is akin to a dog with a bone so she pulled up what few assessments and toolkits there are, asked me complete as many as she could find and then announced “My God mate… you’re so shit. Seriously I’m amazed you made it out of school never mind got yourself where you are”
Was always leaps, bounds and miles ahead in English and remember being sent home with books to read that were borrowed from the class two years above me but maths I couldn’t do at all. Found ways and means to get by helped largely by being a right cocksure, confident cow which covered up a lot of the problem but it didn’t really cause me any major problems as such other than being thrown out of maths and science for being a disruptive pain in the arse but that’s fair shout.
Had the term or label “Dyscalculai” been known then, I’d have been allowed to sit the exam and shown more leniency I’m sure. Even still I was a pain in the arse and deserved to be chucked out of class but looking back, struggling so badly with maths wouldn’t have helped.
When I was struggling to get Sam diagnosed our biggest parenting fail was raising a child on the spectrum with dyspraxia, a range of mental health issues including debilitating bouts of Alice in Wonderland Syndrome – and him not needing heavy duty medication to manage tantrums or disrupting classes.
One educational psychologist actually remarked “But he’s such a polite, well-mannered and pleasant young man” before including in his report that Sam was assessed as only being able to write six words per minute “This is a fairly slow speed” (No shit Sherlock)
I have an awful sense of direction and can’t use Sat Nav’s cos they keep repeating instructions and get shouty if you miss a turning To this day when I’m putting a head collar, bridle or rug on a horse, I have to figure out which bit goes where first as though fitting on an invisible horse. Literally hold it mid-air saying “OK so that’s the strap there… those underneath there – OK pony lemme put this on”
All these things never really caused me too much issue though I managed and went on to study and qualify as a legal exec then later as a health and social care manager only via the alternative routes of on the job / vocational learning.
When I ran one residential and dementia care home, I did full random checks, inspections and audits of medication but knowing I was awful and prone to errors, routinely pencilled myself down to work the “sleep-in” and took my daughter Hannah with me so we could do it together. Her salary was free unlimited order from the local takeaway and a £10 to stick in her bank. She didn’t want the tenner mind you just being able to order anything from the pizza place was enough but we’d sit there with pizza, chips and drinks tallying up every last medicine in the drugs room until the break of dawn.
You always get the odd one or two thinking that sort of thing is evidence of someone who is just dumb as bricks and I had a couple of staff tittering and talking amongst themselves not that I gave a toss. I have never in twenty years made a mistake with medication because I’m aware that it’d be easily done so take that bit more time and care over them. Can’t always say the same for the staff too busy bitching mind you and it’s been during those nights with my then 14yr old daughter we’ve discovered not just discrepancy in stock but a certain level of “fiddling” records. With a legal background and having learned from some of the country’s most vicious and brutal QC’s, you need to be pretty good and on the ball to get away with fraudulent entries in paperwork.
The same staff that were “Oh my God she can’t even count” where also the ones making assumptions about a lady having these incredible vivid hallucinations that came out of nowhere.
I’d done all the basic obs, checked her urine, kept a close eye and observed her all night whilst she sat in the lounge tripping balls and seeing chickens sliding down the wall and a boy being eaten up by himself.
Gave a full handover – verbal and written report two sides of A4 and mentioned her care plan notes including a copy of her last visit to see her optician who noted a significant deterioration in her sight and macular degeneration being written as the culprit.
Could tell from the looks they shot each other one or two weren’t convinced because they’d never heard of CBS but I assured them there was such a thing, I’d print off and leave information in the resource file but trust me – it’s a thing. Just keep an eye, reassure her if and when she gets a bit scared by some of the stuff going on but ring me if she seems any worse or they have concerns.
They hacked me off by going directly to the home’s owner (clueless) saying I was as barmy as she and dropping off a urine sample at the surgery which wasn’t even tested because a prescription for antibiotics was left for collection within the hour. All this before the end of their shift too they were in a real hurry.
That pissed me off something shocking. I don’t care what people think of me or my managerial style but I care genuinely and passionately about how their attitude affects those in our care.
The two responsible for that little trick were given a full dressing down in front of everyone during a staff meeting I called later that day – which I’m not in a habit of doing but wanted them to take that kicking publicly and make sure everyone knew in future, just because something seems unlikely, odd or barely plausible does not mean it isn’t a legit condition.
That’s how Ethel and countless others like her ended up never leaving Godforsaken hell-holes that were secure geriatric wards in the 90’s.
“You may well think I’m up for gold in the special snowflake games ladies – I don’t’ give a shit but if you ever ignore what I’ve said,and deliberately try and prove a point or make me look stupid comprising the health of a resident at the same time, you’re out on your arse without another word of warning”
I was furious that day absolutely furious. Couple of the girls I always got on well with later said to Hannah “Nothing is more terrifying than when your Mum slams a pen or pencil down and goes “Right that’s it” When she says that, everyone disappears like people cramming into shelters on hearing the siren.
I take that as a compliment whether intended or otherwise.
One used to say I was like Northern England’s answer to Judge Milian whom I had never heard of at all until then. Less shouty, not so keen to be cocky but similar style of slamming down a pen and going “Right that’s it”
Enjoyed reading…Loved WTF is a marsupial. So many toss out the older people. No one wants to “deal” with them. I’m trying to take care of my mom. It’s hard because she lives 3k miles from me. I do my best and as I type this I am working with a realtor to find a house so I can move her into it. I don’t want her to go into a nursing home. I also have an uncle that has Parkinsons. His own wife could care less, which infuriates me. We need to take care of the older generation. We need to give them our time and patience and most of all kindness. 🙂
Good for you and thanks for the reply! Out of interest (assuming you’re from across the pond in the US?) what’s the support network like for people in your situation looking to relocate relatives to maintain relationships and provide care?
You’ll have to forgive my total ignorance but I understand the term “realtor ” to be the equivalent of the UK “estate agents” whose business is in the sense of buying, selling and helping people find properties. Don’t get me wrong if you say you’re looking for a bungalow that would meet certain needs within a specific area they will go all out to find one I’m not sure if and how much they can help with certain levels of support in that department.
For example OT’s and Physio’s work closely together and carry out joint assessments during home visits to determine if and what type of aids and adaptations someone needs such as walk in showers / wet rooms, rails and raised seats etc.
Any links to sites with more info also appreciated if it’s too long and drawn out to explain I’ll find my way there gladly!! 😀
PS The Dyscalculai is to blame for my pure failure at show-jumping and why I can’t do agility with the dogs. Lost count of how many times I was disqualified having gone the wrong way or taken the wrong jump and was honest to God shouted at by tannoy guy once for taking too long. He yelled at me to leave the ring and I couldn’t work out where to go or whether to shit, shave or shower so got off – left Bobbi and went “I’m outta here someone show Bob the way out”
That also generated titters and “OMG she can’t even make her way around a novice course…. well embarrassing” but I could get on any horse – fly around any XC course and make it back home in the quickest time and with the fewest penalties.
Then fell off at an owl hole fence and was literally stuck with my head over one side and legs dangling out the other whilst a different tannoy guy shouted at me to get off the course as though I were just chilling and getting gin the way.
Actually shouting at me to get up whilst I’m hanging like a dodgy stage prop so I shouted “Well if someone will gimme hand I’m out your hair you big prick!!”
The unfortunate difficulty I had made for some memorable moments if nothing else.
Clip of the brilliant Mary King managing a save at a similar fence to the one I hung from like a Christmas bauble.
That is the nice thing about smartphones, is that if I have a math question that’s too complicated to do in my head I just ask Google. Lazy I know but otherwise I’ve got to pull out a piece of paper and pencil and take 20 minutes to figure it out and all that nonsense. ‘Cause I can’t just think about it for a sec and rattle it off like most people can do.
Saying that – you know what drives me insane with my kids? Asking me questions about stuff and going over and over the possibilities in a really crap and irritating way until I point out the fact they have ACCESS TO THE WORLD’S BIGGEST, MOST EXTENSIVE AND INCREDIBLE SOURCE OF KNOWLEDGE RIGHT THERE!
It’s taken for granted so much but only old people like me will understand or point that out.
I do remember having written coursework for RE when I was in school which involved trying to source, read, gather information and form reasoned arguments for and against contraception / abortion etc. Bearing in mind this was a Catholic school with a library that stocked the Bible and nothing else, it was tricky finding material.
On the plus side my daughter was given A* for some coursework she completed in RE which asked for information about Jesus Christ that wasn’t presented in a bullet point facts and figures format.
She created a driving license and CV for “Our Lord Jesus Christ”complete with little photo of him and it was brilliant.
I do think it’s important that we don’t lose our abilities to use our brains and books to figure things out, but as far as I’m concerned, Google was invented so I don’t have to struggle through math problems any more than I already do in school.
Google is aaacee… I love having instant access to the world’s information right there it’s just brilliant. One of my things is to think about something, wonder about another and then end up having to read up and research information about something which i could easily live my whole life without having needed to know.
Plus it allows the world to team up, meet and exchange posts and get to know people from all four corners of the globe like this 😀
Prior to that I exchanged handwritten letters from friends on placement all over the place it cost a sodding fortune in air mail stamps.
About seven or eight years ago my eldest brother’s lifelong best friend – sort of extra brother of mine if you will – was jailed for five years having stupidly agreed to sell on a small amount of cannabis for someone. He was caught, imprisoned and later found comfort in drawing and writing letters which he and exchanged for the whole five years.
Remember a little flurry of “Ooh!!” when a letter dropped through with air mail stamps and Fukishima Prison written as the sender’s address. One I still have says “I never wrote a single fu@king letter in my life until I got banged up but it’s kinda nice really isn’t it? if nothing else I learned to enjoy writing” and then he drew a huge penis to let me know he wasn’t entirely reformed and I shouldn’t expect him to be released a new man.
Books are still king though – always have been and always will be. Nothing beats an actual book.
Comment on wrong post sorry!!
Well I’m sure there are support of sorts. I’m just working with a real estate agent and their only job is to find me a home that I like, such as 3 bedroom 2 bathroom and a certain size lot. All the rest, I am on my own. My mom has her own doctors, but I am going to research more on my own when I get there. As for my uncle, I am trying to get his siblings to help find a way to get him better care. Working around a spouse is difficult and so there’s a possibility of having to get a lawyer involved and the courts. There are support and services, but I don’t know of them personally. We will be retrofitting the home ourselves.
You can try calling the county you wish to live in and they would be able to direct you. You can also look at most of that information online too. Type in the state and you should find each counties information.
Caring for my family consists of a ton of research and hoping the paycheck stretches enough to get them the nutrition and things they need. I’m sorry I couldn’t be more helpful. All the best to you in your search.
Something reminded me of this conversation and I went to good old Wikipedia and looked up dyscalculia.
“Common symptoms of dyscalculia are, having difficulty with mental math, trouble analyzing time and reading an analog clock, struggle with motor sequencing that involves numbers, and often they will count on their fingers when adding numbers”
The part about mental math and reading analog clocks, that’s spot on. I can do simple math in my head, like adding/subtracting smaller numbers, but most things I have to write down and do it out slowly on paper or just type it into a calculator, which, yeah, is pretty embarrassing sometimes when somebody asks me a question and I’m just standing there like “ummmmmm” and trying to count on my fingers without them noticing. And I cannot read an analog clock at all, and had difficulty with Roman Numerals, so after I scraped by on that particular test I promptly forgot them.
“For 1st-4th grade level, many adults will know what to do for the math problem, but they will often get them wrong because of ‘careless errors,’ although they are not careless when it comes to the problem.”
Oh gosh, I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been reprimanded for making “careless mistakes.” After thinking I was being so good and thorough.
“students may develop a lot of anxiety and frustration. After dealing with their anxiety for a long time, students can become averse to math and try to avoid it as much as possible, which may result in lower grades in math courses.”
I do try to avoid doing math in my day to day life. I’ll type things into a calculator that I could probably do on my own just because I don’t want to deal with it. The first things that come to mind when I think of math are frustration, crying, and feeling stupid.
“However, students with dyscalculia often do exceptionally in writing, reading, and speaking.”
I’m doing pretty great in English so far. I LOVE reading for sure.
Does that mean I have dyscalculia because I can relate to the description on Wikipedia? No, of course not. I’ve not been tested and obviously I’ve gotten this far and I’ve gotten by even if it has been a frustrating ordeal, so if I do then I can’t have it that badly. But it was a little freaky how accurate some of those descriptions were, and makes me wonder if I may have tendencies in that direction.
Still getting used to commenting and then googling “what time is it in U K” and it’s always midnight or something. 😁