On a camping trip this week, my daughter asked, “Are you sure we are going the right direction?”

We had left the mountain lake and were headed to our campsite. While it was our first time camping here, I knew exactly where our site was compared to the lake.

My daughter stopped and turned around towards the lake, “Oh yeah, I remember that huge tree on our way to the lake.” Then turning back towards the trail, “But none of this looks familiar.”

Her observation reminded me of a tip I had recently heard, which I shared with her: When traveling in an unfamiliar location, consistently turn around to take a mental snapshot of what your return trip will look like.

We decided this would be a good idea to try next time.

As we continued up the trail she asked, “How did you know which way to go, Mom?” I explained that I usually had a basic sense of where I was in location to certain landmarks.

“How will Dad and sister know how to get back? Do they also have a sense of which way to go like you?” she asked.

“Yes, they do.”

“That’s so weird,” she exclaimed, “I can’t imagine being able to know which direction to go in my head!”

This lack of directional sense is a symptom of dyscalculia. This struggle is frequently expressed by dyscalculic adults because it impacts everyday activities such as driving, traveling, and navigating new surroundings. We may be accustomed to children getting lost, but are less understanding of adults who do.

We have a friend who bought a train ticket from Seattle to Vancouver, Washington (south of Seattle) instead of to Vancouver, British Columbia (north of Seattle, in Canada). He traveled all the way to the wrong city before realizing he had gone in the opposite direction of where he needed to go.

While I can’t find much research on this particular aspect of dyscalculia, I do wonder about a few things:

Is a dyscalculic’s lack of understanding for relationships between numbers connected to the lack of understanding for the relationship between themselves and objects in space?

Is it significant that the area of our brain that processes numbers and the area that helps us with our understanding of where we are in space, both occur in the parietal region of the brain? (This is the part of the brain that differs in structure in dyscalculic brains compared to non-dyscalculic ones).

Is directional difficulty related to the dyscalculic’s frequent confusion about where they are in time?

We need more research to really understand this impact of dyscalculia on directional sense.

I hope this sparks a few considerations:

• If you are a dyscalculic adult, I hope you realize that your lack of sense of direction is not a sign of lack of intelligence. It’s a symptom of dyscalculia. Please respond to yourself with self-understanding and compassion as you find creative ways to navigate this difficulty.

• As parents or teachers, we need to be aware of this unique challenge and find ways to help our children navigate their surroundings in ways that make sense for them.

• For all of us, this awareness can help us be more understanding and helpful to friends, coworkers, and family members who display a confusion with directions.

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