In the last few years I have come to believe that I must have had a learning disability or something like it for most of my life. When I was young I didn't have any difficulty learning to read but I have some other issues. The first one I noticed is visual; if I see multiple vertical bars close together I can't count them or really discern them individually where others can. Another thing is that throughout high school and college I could never pay attention to a lecture for more than a couple minutes before I would start thinking about something else or get caught up thinking about something the teacher said so that I didn't hear the rest of what he was saying. I couldn't take a class that didn't have a textbook with all the required material because if the material was only given in lecture I wouldn't learn it. In general I have always have had difficulty understanding things that were explained to me quickly. I can't really believe that at least some of the issues I've had aren't due to something like a learning disability.
2015-02-03 03:05:11
Hello Everybody has a different set of cognitive skills and abilities that play a role in learning. It’s quite normal to have weaknesses in some of them and strengths in others. Indeed some people with mild learning disabilities are able to go through school and college get a job and succeed in it without ever being identified or accommodated. It all depends on the overall distribution of skills and on whether they have solid strengths that can be used to compensate for their weaknesses. Other qualities that are not a part of their psychoeducational profile also count. For example determination optimism self-discipline confidence and encouragement from others also play an important role. It sounds like you were able to come up with some good compensatory strategies that helped you along the way. Whether the person’s weaknesses constitute a learning disability depends on many factors such as the severity of the gaps the developmental trajectory and the particular constellation of the deficits. This can only be determined through a comprehensive psychoeducational assessment. If the challenges you describe still affect you in your work or daily life you might want to have an assessment completed. Hope this helps
2015-02-03 03:05:40
