I've written a few times about ADHD and for the most part, people have some sort of understanding of what that is. At the very least they know what the letters stand for and assuming they aren't complete morons, they can gather that it means my kid won't sit still or pay attention just because you tell him too.
But then there's the other things I write about. Like the fact that I have ADD and that it's slightly different from ADHD (no hyperactivity. This does not mean that I don't fidget uncontrollably though.) Or my Dyscalculia, which is specifically a math learning disability. Or my Dyslexia, which essentially turns me into a walking word scramble.
People are generally under the assumption that Dyslexia = illiteracy. This is so untrue that it's laughable. I started reading very early and have always read above my grade level. Because of that, my Dyslexia wasn't diagnosed until I was 17. Furthermore, I was in honors English in high school. Based on that, and the fact that I've always loved writing, no one knew there was a problem. The fact is, I just worked around it. I learned to read words based on the letters that were scrambled up. Often times 'the' looks like 'teh' to me. But I know that because those three letters are in the word, it's 'the'. I do this with most words. And if there's one that I'm just not totally sure of, I look for the context of the sentence. I do rely quite a bit on spell checker, but show me someone who doesn't this day in age. The only possible clue there might have been was that I did not recognize sight words. And I didn't really do great at spelling tests. Usually I had someone read me the words and spell them, and I just tried really hard to memorize what they said.
Next up is the Dyscalculia. I've never encountered someone who wasn't an ESE teacher or psychologist/psychiatrist who knew anything at all about this. When I was first diagnosed in 6th grade, the psychologists couldn't give my mom a name for what was wrong. They called it an "unidentifiable math learning disability". Can you imagine how frustrating that must've been for her? "Oh hey, your kid can't do math, but we have no idea why. So good luck with that!" Unlike my Dyslexia, I've never been able to work with my math problems. I can barely add in my head, much less anything else. I can do basic math without issue, and beginners algebra, but after that I'm completely lost. I've tried, good Lord have I tried. But it's just not there. I cannot even begin to tell you how many nights I spent crying over math home work until 10 pm or later. In elementary school. Because there was no identifying name for the problem, I didn't really get much help for it until later.
And I almost got forced to get a GED.
You see, some states have what's called the "special diploma program". You complete school, but you're in classes that don't really count. So after going through 13 years of schooling and passing, despite having learning disabilities... you still have to go get a GED. Are you ferking kidding me?! Thankfully, a really great guidance counselor made sure my mom was aware of this when I was enrolled in high school and put me in a different program that would break math classes up in a way that was semi tolerable.
I'm going to go ahead and list some signs and symptoms of these two LD's here for you, because you never know what you might encounter as a parent. Just know that these things are often genetic, but that doesn't mean randomness doesn't happen. It's called an anomaly, folks.
Signs of Dyslexia:
The problems displayed by individuals with dyslexia involve difficulties in acquiring and using language--reading and writing letters in the wrong order is just one manifestation of dyslexia and does not occur in all cases. Other problems experienced by dyslexics include:
-Learning to speak
-Organizing written and spoken language
-Learning letters and their sounds
-Memorizing number facts
-Spelling
-Reading
-Learning a foreign language
-Correctly doing math operations
Not all individuals who have difficulties with these skills are dyslexic. Formal testing is the only way to confirm a diagnosis of suspected dyslexia.
(Info credit: http://www.interdys.org/SignsofDyslexiaCombined.htm)
For more information on signs and symptoms, go HERE
Signs of Dyscalculia:
-Frequent difficulties with arithmetic
-Difficulty with everyday tasks like reading analog clocks
-Inability to comprehend financial planning or budgeting, sometimes even at a basic level; for example, estimating the cost of the items in a shopping basket or balancing a checkbook
-Difficulty with multiplication-tables, and subtraction-tables, addition tables, division tables, mental arithmetic, etc.
-Difficulty with conceptualizing time and judging the passing of time. May be chronically late or early
-Particularly problems with differentiating between left and right
-Inability to visualize mentally
-Difficulty reading musical notation
-Might do exceptionally well in a writing-related field — authors and journalists are more likely than average to have the disorder
-Difficulty navigating or mentally "turning" the map to face the current direction rather than the common North=Top usage
-Having particular difficulty mentally estimating the measurement of an object or distance (e.g., whether something is 10 or 20 feet (3 or 6 meters) away).
-Often unable to grasp and remember mathematical concepts, rules, formulae, and sequences
-Inability to concentrate on mentally intensive tasks
-Low latent inhibition, i.e., over-sensitivity to noise, smell, light and the inability to tune out, filtering unwanted information or impressions. Might have a well-developed sense of imagination due to this (possibly as cognitive compensation to mathematical-numeric deficits)
-Mistaken recollection of names. Poor name/face retrieval. May substitute names beginning with same letter.
(Info credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyscalculia)
For more information on signs and symptoms go HERE
And remember, not every person with these LD's will have every symptom. I have Dyscalculia, but I have absolutely NO problem visualizing things. In fact, most of how I think is in pictures.
I hope that this has helped you understand these things in some way!
~Dee
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