Suspected of having LD. Clueless about it until I went into UNI.

This will be quite a lengthy email so please bear with me. Would appreciate it if someone[s] could answer the following questions below.

I am a young adult who will be inform if I have a learning disability sometime next month. However I have a few questions:

Firstly, does anybody have any idea when does a learning disability develop and howcome supposedly smart/clever students/kids get LD as well?

This is because I was in the best class throughout 3rd& 4th grade. Furthermore, in my piano elementary class when I was 5/6 years old, I was the only student in my batch who's allow to skip grade 1practical. However; I gave up music halfway during my time when I was doing grade 4 theory. This is because I was frustrated with the teacher & the lessons as she always made me stay back in class whenever I did not finish the work. Truth is, I could not understand the topic so I gave up/struggle to do the work during her lessons.

Secondly; can a person good in English have problems with English due to LD? Though I'm good in English[ I got an A1 for my GCE 'Os' prelims] I often have problem with tenses, grammar and spelling[especially].

Thirdly; I always have difficulty with my mother tounge[ Chinese which is a 2nd language] as I'm the only one in my family who learn Chinese. Is it possible that LD is the main culprit[ and not due to my difficulty in the chinese language] as I could not pronounce the word in its correct tone and I have difficulty in remembering the correct number of strokes in a given character even though I've lots of practice.

4thly; how important is maths to gauge if one have a learning difficulty? This is because I know of people who are bad in Maths & Science though they are good at languages or other areas.However, in my case I always have probs doing maths since 6th grade and my dad could not understand why I could not supposedly do even the simplest maths questions[he's good in maths btw]. During my foundation year in university; I always get frustrated and nearly have a few meltdowns as I have problems doing maths even though i've a tutor.

And the last question. I understand that a few people with LD managed to clear their driving exams. Are there any coping strategies to cope with visual& auditory processing problems? Though it is not confirm yet; I suspect that I've CAP as I could not follow verbal instructions since 7th grade when I have computer and design and technology classes. However; it could start as early as 1st grade as my parents told me that when I was in elementary school; I always ask alot of questions and the teachers need to repeat themselves even though they had just mention it a few seconds ago. Furthermore, when I was having my driving lesson, the instructor ask me if I would like him to speak Chinese instead as he could not understand why I could not follow the instructions even though he demonstrated it and repeated the steps to me at least a few times. Actually I find it hard to explain to people that I could not follow lengthly instructions as people in Asia are not aware of these problems and might even find it hard to believe that one can have problem understanding instructions even though one might be good at the language.

Thanks!

Report Abuse

Answers (1)

Thursday, October 08, 2009

Eileen Bailey

Welcome to FriendsOfQuinn.com and thanks for your question. I will try to give you some additional information on learning disabilities, but please understand that everyone's disability is different, so there can be a great deal of difference in how a learning disability impacts you and someone else.

On your first question, learning disabilities have nothing to do with intelligence. Most people with LD are average or above average intelligence. The LD can make processing information difficult, but it does not change your intelligence or mean you are less intelligent than others.

Learning disabilities can be very specific, in that you may not have a problem with reading, but may have a problem with written language. So, yes, a person that is good in English can have a specific learning disability, causing problems with spelling or grammar.

People with learning disabilities frequently have difficulty learning a second language.

As far as math, again, learning disabilities can be specific and someone may have a learning disability in math alone or have difficulty with both math and spelling. This would depend on the individual.

For further information:

What is a Learning Disability?

Types of Learning Disabilities

Common Signs of Learning Disabilities

Auditory Processing Disorder

I hope this information helps

Eileen

Ranked Helpful (55)