freshman1990

okay, so this may be kinda long but i really need advice. I have always struggled academically. I started reading late and was never reading at grade level. I also have terrible spelling. When I was 11(I'm 19 now) I was diagnosed with ADHD innatentive type and started doing better. I also get really into the Harry Potter books and this helped my reading because I finally found something I enjoyed reading. I don't doubt or think I was misdiagnosed but I am still having a lot of academic problems and when I told my mom she said it didn't sound like ADHD(these are in addition to ADHD problems). I continue to spend about 40-50 hours a week at the library studying and it takes me twice as long as everyone else to take tests(I recently spent 4 hours on an exam). Here are some of my problems:

~I have terrible reading comprehension
~I could read you a passage and you would probably think I was a normal or good reader and it would be fluent but I would have no idea what I read
~I need to read things multiple times, stop to think about it and read slow to understand it but some harder level reading I just give up on like my psychology text book
~I often lose my place or skip to the wrong line while reading
~I often read words wrong the first time(a funny example would be that once I saw a sign and thought it said disco pants until my friend pointed out it said discount paints, though I usually wouldn't say that out loud but would just take another look)
~The words I read wrong usually begin with the same letter and have some of the same letters in it as the word I confuse it with. This usually happens when I am rushing or don't look at a word as long as I should.
~I can finish tests like vocab and multiple choice much earlier(I get extra time as an accomadation for ADHD) than say a math test but still I am always the last one done. However, it takes me almost always twice as long as the given time to take a math test because it is something that you have to comprehend as opposed to a vocab test where I can recognize certain words and terms because I have a good memory. Despite the long time it takes for me to take math tests I almost always get A's I just need the extra time otherwise I would only have half done
~many people call my spelling "inventive or creative", I can't really explain how I spell because it is like I said kind of inventive but sometimes I spell how it sounds and sometimes it is just completely off and with long words I have a lot of trouble sounding and spelling them out. I usually start out okay but then half way through it doesn't even make sense. I also get the different rules mixed up like I just spelled despite, dispight until spell ckeck caught it.
~I tend to gets words like where, were and wear mixed up or now, know and no.
~I do like to read but the books I choose are not hard for instance the percy jackson books or harry potter books are not particularly hard to read but when I tried to read "The God delusion" it was too hard and I didn't understand it even though I have a lot of interest in the subject.
~When I am reading I never read a chapter at a constant speed without stopping but instead always re-read, stop, go back and lose my place.
~Despite being a perfectionist when it comes to school I never read my texts because it just takes to long and I never understand them which just causes frusteration. It is uncharacteristic of me to slack on something like that. I am worried that this will hurt my grades the further I get into college.
~I honestly didn't know right from left until way older than I'd like to say and then used the make an "L" with your hands trick and even now I sometimes get them mixed up like if I am driving and someone tells me to turn right I might accidently go the wrong way.
~and don't get me started on standardized tests. I always do bad because I don't have enough time and the time limit makes me really nervous and makes it harder. I know I could score well if I just had the time I needed.
~I honestly know nothing about grammar, even the basic elementary stuff I am bad at, especially punctuation.
~I also tend to avoid reading at all costs, like I never read long posts or news stories that people send me with a few exceptions like if I am incredibally interested in it to begin with.

I know this is a lot, sorry it's so long. These are the academic problems I have that I don't think are ADHD related. I am just not sure what these are whether they are ADHD or are nothing or possibly a learning disability. So to sum it up my main problems are poor reading comprehension despite being able to read aloud fluently, terrible spelling, sometimes reading words wrong at first or confusing it with a similar word, slow reader and often skip to the wrong line or lose my place. Thanks in advance.

Batllo

What's your question?

freshman1990

sorry, I guess I wasn't very clear. My question is whether it sounds like I may have a learning disability.

Batllo

So go get retested by professionals.

bonnie419

freshman, I'm not by any means a professional, but I'll make a few comments based on what I've researched over the past few years.

Some people break reading into three parts: decoding, comprehension and retention. Sounds like you can decode and comprehend, as you read the Harry Potter books. Retention is needed for the more complex reading. It may seem like your problem is comprehension, but if you can read a few sentences of HP and discuss what you read, to some reading professionals, your comprehension is fine. So the problem is retaining what you've read. This skill becomes way more important as your reading gets heavier. You have to remember the first part of the paragraph by the time you get to the end, otherwise it won't make sense.

Sometimes ADD meds help, and it can take time to find the right one and the right dosage.

Best to go to your school learning support center. Get tested. Best to do it now, as it takes awhile to find the real problem and the real solution.

freshman1990

yes, I could read a harry potter book better than a text book but if you had me read you a page from harry potter out loud I could not tell you most I what I read. I have to as I said read slow, re-read things, stop to think about it and also have the same problems with reading words wrong and lossing my place on the page. It's just that it is almost impossible for me to read something hard like a complicated text book so I don't I tend to not read them.

happymomof1

"if you had me read you a page from harry potter out loud I could not tell you most I what I read"

This is because reading orally and reading for comprehension are two different things. Ask any mom who reads to her kids at night and she'll tell you that half the time she has no idea what page she's even on. It becomes completely automatic after a bit.

But, your overall descriptions would indicate that you have some kind of reading issue (one or another of the things that get called "dyslexia") going on. The "creative spelling" and confusing one word for another are pretty much dead give-aways. Go back to your school learning center and be a pest (a nice one, but still a pest) until they test you for reading issues.

Wishing you all the best.

shoot4moon

I think it is really important that you think about and strengthen what WORKS for you rather than or in addition to what doesn't work as well. For example, does it help if material is read aloud and you listen? If so, I bet there are audio versions of many textbooks, especially with Kindles and ereaders coming out. Does doing something with what you read help? If so, perhaps better strategies of creating materials to recall what you read might help. For example, I used colored paper and created cheat sheets for each chapter as I read when I was in school. I also did an agenda, where every 15 minutes I had to indicate whether I had read the 5 pages I had planned and what I thought was most important.

You have worked so hard to get where you are - you deserve assistance in continuing your successes! Don't be embarrassed - be proactive! This is your LIFE!

bessie

Try to get a referral from the school disability office for some retesting. My son found out mid-freshman year in college that he had a kind of rare LD that was not a part of his ADD-inattentive type diagnosis. No one had noticed it while he was in high school. Usually the school insurance will cover a lot of the testing costs. Call soon, the whole process can take weeks and weeks. Good luck.

pcotten

Being a parent of kid with learning differences, my opinion is that you have some classic symptoms of learning disability. My son can read everything you throw at him but he can't comprehend much. You should have a psychologist test you. I can provide some recommendations offline. They aren't cheap though. You can also go to Lindamood-Bell Learning centers near you and get tested there. While it is cheaper to get tested there, you might not get totally objective opinion. They do have programs that will help with reading comprehension. Good luck.

freshman1990

thank you for the advice. i'm hoping to keep it cheap somehow because i don't really know if my family can afford something expensive now. i may just start by going in to speak with my advisor at disability services(i am registered and recieving accomodations for ADHD now) explain the problems i'm having. my classes have a lot more text readings this year and less guidence(like study guides) for when we read.

Mitdu

freshman--

Are you looking to get more accommodations in college? Or are you looking for ways to improve your reading, spelling and academic stamina?

Being re-tested now may not help much. Putting another "label" on your difficulties won't suddenly make it easier to wade through complicated text. Or to take tests. Or spell homophones (there, their and they're) correctly. And colleges aren't required to provide specialized instruction. The only must accommodate your disability/ies.

What are you good at? What do you enjoy? What comes easily for you? Tap into those strengths.

Do you take meds for your ADHD? If so, do they help? If not, have you tried meds but didn't like the side effects? Meds can be trial and error, so keep trying if you haven't found a med/dosage that works for you.

Have you tried using SparkNotes or Pink Monkey *before* you read literature? Have you requested a copy of the professor's notes or peer notes *before* the lecture so you can highlight and doodle on the paper, without concentrating on writing the words yourself?

I have a 19-year old son with learning disabilities in reading comprehension and written expression. He cannot spell worth a hoot. He cannot maintain concentration when reading long passages. He also has trouble with lecture classes--in one ear and out the other. He is in his second year of college but it's a struggle...except for labs. He's amazing when he's doing anything hands on. He refuses to ask for accoms in college.

I have an 18-year old daughter who has ADHD-inattentive, Math LD, and has difficulty with sustained attention/concentration while reading or listening. She's a freshman in college and doing well. ADHD meds help a lot, but don't fix her difficulty with abstract/math reasoning. She gets extended time and separate setting for major tests and major papers in college.

Like you, she can read anything fluently and flawlessly. But she usually only understands the bare minimum. She gets the who, what, where, but almost always misses the why and how. As you know, literary analysis is all about the WHY and HOW. Studying your textbook is much the same. You have to read between the lines to get a much deeper meaning. Neither of my kids is good at that!

Both kids are absolutely horrible test-takers, especially standardized tests.

Based on what you say, I think you probably have a reading comprehension learning disability. But when you were in K-12, it was overlooked because you didn't have the required (stupid) "significant discrepancy" between IQ and achievement. Congress has changed the law and "discrepancy" is no longer required, thank goodness. Or your overall performance in class was high enough that the school could say that you didn't qualify for special services in reading comprehension.

Regardless, you will still be expected to do the reading in college. Maybe you can meet with your college's Disabilities Services Director to discuss other accommodations or suggestions. My d's college Disabilities Director is absolutely amazing, even making recommendations on which professors to avoid or request based on d's learning style.

Good luck!

freshman1990

Sorry, I forgot to respond to this. Thanks for the advice Mitdu. I am hoping to get 100 percent extra time as opposed to 50 percent for tests. I have another post about that but I had 100 percent extra time in high school and use it on some tests but disability services wouldn't give it to me. I usually take my tests in my professor's office because they usually aren't strict about the time and let me have more than 50 percent if I need it but I am worried about not having this situation available and not finishing a test. They said they only give some students double time but I thought if I do have a learning disability and have the diagnosis it could help me get this accommodation. I would also like to improve my reading. I do take medicine and it helps but it makes me really quite and I don't socialize as much which is kinda a bummer in college. It also wears off before I do my homework a lot of times because I am busy during the day and if I take it too late it keeps me up. I have recently found a medication that is working very well compared to the others I have tried so that is helping. I've used note takers before but when my professors have powerpoints then I don't and this quarter I don't think I need it because of that. I am a good test taker except if it's timed and I'm running low on time, then I freak out and can't focus. I just can't tell if the reading stuff is ADHD related or something else. When the passage is interesting then it is easier for me to read it and remember what I read. A lot of times I am reading and I start thinking about something else and have to go back and read it again. It's really hard for me to just think about the reading. Sometimes I read it out loud but very slow and this helps me focus on it a little and I read sentences over and over until I understand it. However, taking tests is the one place I focus the best and I'm usually not thinking about other stuff. I guess I kinda hyperfocus on them but it still takes me twice as long as everyone else to take them. I just wish I finish things faster. I am also worried about getting accommodations for standardized tests I need to take in the future like the GRE and Praxis test. I do horrible on standardized tests and I know I could never even pass them without extra time. I took the practice ACT once without extra time and my score was 10 points lower than it was with the best accommodations, even with the accommodations they gave me at first which weren't much help, they were low scores. If a learning disability is a contributing factor in why it takes me so long to take tests then I'd like it documented so that maybe it could help me get accommodations for these tests.

Mitdu

Freshman 1990--

If you believe you need 100% extended time, ask the Disabilities Office what it would take to get that accommodation.

Unlike K-12, you don't have to fit into any IEP category in college. You are covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act. Under ADA, colleges are required to look at the "functional impact" of your disability, rather than the diagnostic label.

For example, colleges are not supposed to say that "only students with diagnosed learning disabilities can get 100% extended time. Students with ADHD can get only 50% extended time."

Under ADA, the *impact* of your disability should determine how much extended time (or other accommodation) you need. Colleges are supposed to determine accoms on a "case by case" basis. So two students with the same diagnosis may get very different accoms, based on the "impact" of their disabilities.

icedragon

Freshman, i do believe its time to be re-evaluated.

I myself have learning disabilities (ADHD and asperger's syndrome), and i can relate to what you are saying.

I have an extreamly hard time when it comes to reading things. Sure i can read, but if its a book on a subject i have no interest in, forget it. I can't remember a thing from it....

It might be a good idea for you to be tested for asperger's, even though its a long shot...

here's more info Asperger syndrome - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia