I guess it is easy for me, so this is hard to understand. 

I too have tried to help someone to get algebra. In this case, I don't think they wanted to learn 

 In the 6th grade I had a D in math. I refused to calculate anything (admittedly at my own demise (grade)). In 7th grade I got a new math teacher and got an A+ and the math award.   

I did the same thing in the first grade when I was forced to tell time with a clock. It was an 8 month protest that ended with going from ‘not being able to read a clock’ to telling the teacher the time in less 5 seconds. Continuing on to the 2nd grade with my friends, seemed worth it

All the people who labeled me ‘slow’ didn’t realize that at the age of 6 I was giving them an intelligence test - haha 😇

Intelligence and Will are inextricably linked. 

Ticktok 🕕 

 Maybe she'll get there eventually, but she was in her late 20s at this point so tick-tock indeed. 

 I firmly believe the problem with math education is they move to rapidly from physicaly reality (1 stick + 1 stick = 2 sticks) to abstraction.  A^2 + B^2 = C^2.  If they would teach, for example, the pythagorean theorum but showing you how the squares outside the triangle add up, kids would have a much easier time learning the abstracted algrebra behind it.  It's a sin they steal geometry from our children. 

 Yeah, it could be to do with an inability to visualise things that makes it difficult to process and understand.  

 Obviously some people are just smarter than other people, but I do think you can cultivate spacial reasoning by literally just thinking (i.e. playing) in 3d space with physical objects.