possible learning disability in addition to ADHD

Mitdu
Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:30:53 +0000

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!