Burden or gift: My son was diagnosed with a learning disability in 7 th grade. The lack of knowledge about learning disabilities in the middle school environment almost destroyed my son and our family. Even as a special educator myself, I was unable to help the middle school staff understand his special needs and what was causing his disruptive behavior. Every step of the way was a challenge.

Positive experience: After teaching a multiply disabled student for 6 years, on the last day she would be with me before heading to middle school, she surprised me by telling me exactly how much money she needed for two sodas at 60 cents each from the soda machine! When she said "I will need $1.20," I sat down and cried. I will miss her terribly.

Negative experience: The principal at my son's middle school told me my 7 th grade son was a juvenile delinquent, without regard for his learning disabilities, special needs, or the trouble he was experiencing in the school setting at the time. It took my son almost five years in counseling with a specialist to get over the way he was treated by this principal. My son is heading to college in ten days on a $20,000 scholarship and as a recruit for the defense line of the football team.

Impact: Learning disabilities have had the greatest impact on my heart and soul - my inner being.

Problem solving: I am a Nationally Board Certified Exceptional Needs Specialist today and 99% of the time when I do a case study or get to know a student in need, I can identify an underlying problem that needs attention and begin to help the child meet with success. Building a child's self-confidence by providing extra opportunities for success is at least 50% of getting over the learning hurdle.

Creativity: I have taught children to read with Dr. Seuss books, we have measured the hallways of schools so the children would understand how big dinosaurs were, we have walked figure 8's around beanbag chairs to get the right and left parts of our brain working together, we tap our brain buttons when we need our brains to work better, we drink a cup of cold refreshing water to fuel our bodies. . . . and we even meditate together when we need to "calm" ourselves.

How to educate children: They should be educated by teachers who understand how to discover each student's strengths and build on those strengths instead of focusing on the weaknesses. If at all possible, they should be educated with their non-disabled peers in an educational environment where "fair" does not necessarily mean "equal". Fair means doing what needs to be done for each individual child.

Advice to parents: Seek a support group, focus on your child's strengths rather than weaknesses, enjoy your child, and read about the disability to learn as much as you possibly can about the special education process so you can be on an equal platform with the educators who will be working with your child.

Advice to children: Identify your personal strengths, build on those strengths, and be your own best advocate. When a teacher is doing something that you do not understand, raise your hand and ask for clarification in a respectful and honest manner.

Susan Ballinger, President of Learning Disabilities Association of Maryland

 

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Describe your disability: Dyslexia

Burden or gift: Both, it took me a long time to learn things in a school setting: I couldn't read at the end of second grade (and my mother was a first grade teacher) - first semester of law school, I was near the bottom of my class, last semester within top seven percent. On the other hand, I tend to look at things and solve problems differently.

Positive experience: Even through it took a long time for me to read (I still can't spell without a spell check), I eventually became an English major, and I read voraciously. I have tremendous patience dealing with people and things.

Negative experience: When I was growing up, they had a special class for people with learning disabilities. We would have to all leave for the class at the same time. Children who suffered from mental retardation, autism, stuttering, behavioral problems. It was embarrassing, and children were cruel. To this day, I think no one outside of my immediate family knows that I have dyslexia.

Impact: Now I think it is mostly in the background; when I get tired, it is more noticeable. Earlier in my life, it colored everything. I think even the choice of my profession probably was informed by my earlier experiences.

Problem solving: In a woodworking class, the teacher was showing people how to measure and cut a piece of wood that took three steps. I took the wood and was able to do it in one step.

Creativity: I've been accused of creative lawyering; I enjoy beekeeping, woodworking.

Educating children: By the time I was diagnosed with dyslexia in High School, the counselor told my mother to leave me alone. Putting me in a special class would have been more harmful than good, and with my earlier experiences, I agree with that assessment. I know with my own children, I am vigilant, and apprehensive, about their reading skills.

Compensation: I think it has made me more stubborn. Failure does not seem to deter me. I know things take a while to get right, and I'm willing to wait. As a criminal defense lawyer, a lot bad can happen, so it serves me well.

Advice to parents: Spend a lot of time reading to them; be patient, it takes time. Emphasize the good that comes of it: tenacity, creativeness, and being different is not a bad thing.

Advice to children: Keep working at it. You are not stupid.

 

37-year-old male Criminal Defense Attorney

 

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Describe your disability: dyslexia and add

Age diagnosed: 57 yrs

Positive experience: I have a global view and can make quantum leaps when problem solving. I can also think about multiple problems at the same time and can hyper focus when needed.

Negative experience: All the classics; reading, writing, math and self-confidence

Impact: All aspects of my work and personal life

Creativity: I am a freelance cameraman on the side. I cover motor racing. I can hyper focus and am considered "the expert from New York"

Compensation: As I identify my weaknesses I try to plan my day to compensate for them.

Advice to children: Ask questions. Try to identify problems peculiar to dyslexia and address them.

What else: Don't stop looking for answers!

 

Ken DeGraff, 62-year-old cinematography tech

 

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Describe your disability: I learned I was dyslexic at the age of 62 when I was in a graduate class in screenwriting at USC.

Burden or gift: It was a gift to find out and I hope to convince my granddaughter [who just learned that she is dyslexic] that it is.

Positive experience: I write and KNOW I'm doing what is one of the most wonderful benefits of dyslexia.

Negative experience: As a child I was compared (unfavorably) with my two brilliant sisters: never being able to do anything good enough for "my age".

Impact: Once I got to USC my world opened when I found the Cinema department (there was no TV in 1944). Then when I went back for graduate work in 1967, I found that I was indeed quite bright, and could write. The stories I visualized in my mind began to take form.

Creativity: I spent most of my childhood in my own thoughts making up stories in my head. I wrote for the school newspapers and was encouraged with my creative writing teacher in high school to write. I had never been told that I could do ANYTHING right before.

Educating children: CAREFULLY, WITH PRAISE IN ACCOMPLISHMENTS, AND ENCOURAGEMENT.

Compensation: Thank God for spellcheck! When I took true/false exams at USC I would study until 9 p.m., then sleep until 3 a.m. and repeat the facts over and over, drive to USC (about 20 minutes), go in, take the test, come out and be completely blank afterward. I did extremely well (save the spelling) in essay type testing.

Advice to parents: Get them help in learning: a teacher well versed in children with a learning DIFFERENCE (I don't see it as a disability). See where his or her interest lies and encourage it - whatever it s.

Advice to children: I would give him or her a list of famous dyslexic people and tell the child how lucky it is to be in this group that has special abilities to excel in whatever they choose.

77-year-old female screenwriter

 

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Describe your disability: reading and writing disability and ADD

Burden or gift: gift

Positive experience: While in law school I realized that I needed to give back and started the Learning Rights Project at the Western Law Center for Disability Rights

Negative experience: When a teacher told me that I could not have accommodations, since she would have to give everyone else them too

Impact: In my practice - being able to relate to my clients

Creativity: Started a public interest legal program and wrote a manual for parents of students with learning disabilities

How to test children: Psychoeducational and observation and interview

Compensation: Worked harder

Advice to parents: Have high expectations and know they can do it

Advice to children: You can do anything and just work hard

Janeen Steel, 41-year-old lawyer

 

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Describe your disability: slow ADD (not hyper); dyslexia, although mostly numerical nowadays; LD, especially with systems, and remembering the future (appointments, schedules, bill payments, etc.)

Age diagnosed: LD in High School; dyslexia after Grad school; ADD in my forties; but I knew long before diagnosis, and hid it well from others. For instance, could not tell time until second year in college. No one knew.

Burden or gift: Burden to my wife, who's tired of being my memory. Gift to me, of course, in that in figuring "work-arounds" to solving, or understanding, my creative and analytical faculties were greatly enhanced, especially the intuitive.

Positive experience: it has kept me moving from field to field, from job to job. What might have been seen by others as negative, was to me richly rewarding, affording me a life of abundant and interesting experiences. Interestingly, I have gravitated towards work that has utilized such diverse knowledge: propmaster in Hollywood, teacher, old and rare bookdealer.

Negative experience: When I was a young boy, and receiving the first good grades in math I ever saw, I was working with my Uncle Bob on my homework. I was showing him how I finally learned how to count and add after what to me was a long struggle. It involved a visual cue system of my own devise, and of which I was quite proud. I had told no one else how I did it. It went like this: the number 1 of course was easy - only one stroke. The number 2 had two points to the left of the figure 2. "3" has three points on its left. A "4" has four points where the lines cross or end. Etc. My uncle got a look of incredulity on his face as I explained this nifty system to him and said, "Oh My Gawd! That's not the way to do it! That's the STUPIDEST thing I ever saw!"

Impact: socially. Bad at keeping appointments. lousy at social accepted polite behavior.

Problem solving: creatively, intuitively, impulsively

Creativity: I am an artist, a painter

Compensation: color code everything. do not own tv. don't go anywhere noisy, too crowded if I can help it. always wit with my back to the wall, facing the door in restaurant, etc., if able.

Advice to parents: Goodness gracious, tell them how unique and special they are and never use the word retard or stupid. Praise them when they figure something out and don't tell them that the way they figured it out was wrong, or attempt to shift them to a "better" or more accepted way.

Advice to children: There are others like you, and they are the smarter ones.

55-year-old male bookseller and art teacher

 

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Describe your disability: Dyslexia, Language Cognition Disorder

Burden or gift: it was a burden before I knew what it was. My parents are both teachers and did not understand why I struggled so much in school. It was tough to relearn how to read and study in college, but it has made me who I am today

Positive experience: I met my mentor who guided me through college and never judged me but always helped me strive to become the best I could. Before, I was always trying to prove to people I was smart and I could succeed, now I am successful because I want to be, not need to be.

Negative experience: I was always told I was stupid. That's not so good on the ego and you believe it after a while.

Impact: My relationship with my stepson who has ADHD and how I can understand his struggles.

Problem solving: I am more visual, more hands on. It is a long process to explain on paper what I am understanding in my mind and visual examples always help others understand me. That is why sales is great, I'm good in front of a crowd.

Creativity: My essay for college consisted of single sentences listed that described what I loved, who I was, what was important to me and what I feared. It was a unique approach to the standard essay and I was praised for my efforts

Compensation: Humor and grace. Although I am up front and honest about my disability, sometimes people take that the wrong way so I address the hard situations with a joke and move on.

Advice to parents: Embrace it. Learn as much as you can about it and help them succeed at a young age. If you as a parent embrace it, so will your children and they will never feel like something is wrong with them. Instead, they will feel challenged and special.

Advice to children: It is just another part of them that makes them unique and that gives them so much more to offer this world!

29-year-old female in sales, with BA in Psychology 

 

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Describe your disability: dyslexia

Burden or gift: A burden. I want to be a lawyer, but haven't come close to passing the LSAT.

Positive experience: I have earned a BS and MBA, after a lot of failing.

Negative experience: I was diagnosed as having a form of mental retardation in grade school after failing the first grade.

Impact: Education. I have a God given talent that I will never be able to realize.

Problem solving: I have an easier time of seeing solutions outside the box than within. Thinking outside the box has helped in ways like finding a group oriented Business School that emphasizes team work not individual efforts. It's easier to mask your dyslexia in a group setting. Another way was finding a University that didn't require a GRE. Work experience weighed more than a GRE score, which put me on an equal playing field as my peers.

Learning style: Seeing

Advice to parents: Your child probably has a higher IQ than you. Don't give up. He/she will make it, somehow.

Advice to children: You learn differently, you're LD, its hard but overcoming the difficulties of dyslexia might be your easiest challenge in life.

What else: If it wasn't for the New Community School in Richmond, Va, a high school for dyslexics, I would not be where I am today.

Joe Pearson, 45-year-old network engineer

 

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Describe your disability: I read extremely slowly, and my VIQ is in the 95 percentile. I also have Mild ADD.

Burden or gift: I had to struggle to get A's and I was admitted into NYU Dental School at age 21, but at the end of the same year, I was thrown out of school because I could not complete tasks on time and [was not] given proper accommodations. It takes me far longer to complete tasks than most - but when I do something, I do it properly and with my all. My disability went undetected until now because I was dubbed a "poor test taker" and I always had tutors to help me achieve academic excellence.

Impact: I work harder than most to achieve my goals and my life has always been my school work because I am a very conscientious student.

Problem solving: I have an excellent memory and I can remember anything that individuals teach me, with repeated efforts. I have to associate learning with objects, or situations.

Creativity: My creativity stems from language and communication; I would like to think I am very personable and am able to get myself out of any situation, "talk my way out of it" using my "people skills". Also, now knowing that I have an LD, I have a greater respect for myself that I was able to be admitted into a professional school at age 21, when the average age is 26.

Learning style: I am a visual learner. If someone says something to me, it goes in one ear and out the other.

Compensation: I study extra hard, and I push myself to full capacity.. It's easy to get away with a learning disability when u can do "average" in some areas; and its easy for it to become undetected when you burn yourself out, trying to maintain an "A" average your entire life. If you are not in a competitive environment, its also easy for you to compensate for your LD - you are able to be at the top of your class, and your disability goes further undetected.

Advice to children: You can do anything, honestly anything, if you really want it and set your mind to it. Being Learning Disabled doesn't mean anything.

22-year-old female undergraduate student 

 

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LD relationship: My daughter Emily was diagnosed with dyslexia when she was 7. Emily has a very high IQ (120) and realized from the beginning of kindergarten that something wasn't right. She was called names like "Slowpoke, etc." in kindergarten because she never completed her work. I wanted to test her right away, but the teacher reassured me that she was just young. Emily began to say things like, "I wish I never would have been born." I was shocked that this cameo out of her mouth at such a young age.

Burden or gift: Emily is an extremely creative, intelligent, dramatic, intense wise young soul that gets extremely frustrated when she can't read as well as the other kids. Sometimes it seems like she is spacey because she forgets everyday things so much - she forgets to close the van door, rinse her toothbrush, homework, and has to be told over and over again to remember certain things. She is extremely unorganized. I have bought plastic bins and labeled them, only to find them stuffed under her bed without the proper things in them. She is extremely intuitive, but can drive me CRAZY!!!

Positive experience: Emily is extremely sensitive. She wrote her own book entitled, "Me and My Dyslexia" and shared it with her class. Her touching story made her teachers cry and pretty soon, she was being asked to share it with many classrooms around the school and it was shared at a teacher's meeting. I was encouraged to get it published, but I'm not sure how. Her illustrations are great, and her content describes what it is like to be dyslexic.

Negative experience: The saddest time came last year with Emily. She was seven and very frustrated with first grade. She said that the kids were younger than her, but reading the harder books. She said that the letters just move all around the page and she can't get them to stay still. She said that she hated reading the baby books because they were boring. She went on to say that she hated herself and she wished again that she had never been born. The next day, I called an agency that taught the Orton-Gillingham Method to dyslexic kids. She has been in this program now for a year and has made gains. We still have a long ways to go, but things are at least improving.

Impact: It is frustrating for Emily to have a younger sister who is excelling at great speeds and will correct big sister when she reads a word wrong. Self esteem has been the biggest struggle.

Problem solving: Emily is like me in a way, she is an "out of the box thinker - a square peg". We think differently than the majority of the population and this is reflected in school type situations where papers and projects are completed. Because we are out of the box, creative thinkers, we can come up with unique out of this world stories, projects and ideas that are wonderful.

Creativity: I am creative when I teach. Like for spelling, I pull out gel packs, sand trays, rice trays, texturized cloth, sandpaper, etc. just so that the kids can say the word, see the word and hear the world all at the same time. Probably the most creative thing I've done would be writing stories, drawing when I was much younger, painting, etc. Emily's book was one of her most creative things she has done. I think that Em's dyslexia definitely helps her to be extremely creative with projects, acting in the Civic Theatre, composing her own songs and dances all the time, but at the same time it is a curse because it hurts her in everyday life in some form or another.

Compensation: We listen to books on tape a lot to increase vocabulary. The talking books/computer program is good too. We also use the colored high-lighter strips to highlight words while reading.

Advice to parents: Have LOTS of patience with your child. Remember that the dyslexia doesn't go away when your child leaves school, their processing problem follows them everywhere. Find something that is an outlet for your child - something to build self-confidence.

Advice to children: Hang in there. Because God gave you this unique gift, build on it. find the thing that brings you pleasure in life and then run with it - It may be drawing, acting, singing, dancing, building, sports, horseback riding, etc. Build on your strengths.

Rebecca English, 38-year-old High School Special Education Teacher 

 

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Describe your disability: dyslexia in numbers and in letters, memory disorder, add (before it became adhd), comprehension disorder and more

Burden or gift: I was paralyzed by my problems. I was taught at a wonderful school that it wasn't my fault but it was too late, my self esteem was too low.

Positive experience: When we learned that my daughter may have a LD I feel like finally I can do something to help someone! I am her voice, and can explain to others what it was like, from a personal point of view.

Negative experience: When I was in 7 th grade (the second time) my teacher told me, after passing out tests and I had a red F on mine, that I was a failer and I would never pass 7 th grade, and I should be thankful that I got this far. Then told me that he was going to be my teacher forever. "haha haha". He laughed at me, in front of the whole class.

Impact: not attending college, because I was too scared to fail.

Problem solving: I "see" pictures in my head and have to put the "picture pieces" together to see the whole picture. I have to see it to understand it to then explain and solve the issue.

Creativity: I had an art teacher who I loved, and she had us do a lot of 3-d Art. like we had to find shoes and decorate them to look like we went to a certain city, and if people guessed what city it was we go an A. We also had to make chairs to represent something important in your life. Like animal rights. I loved those projects because I could express myself, yet never had to pick up a pencil and try to find words to express the feeling I had

Compensation: I always look words up while reading. I carry cheat sheets in my purse for tipping and for change at stores. For bible study I have tons of bookmarks so I can easily flip back and forth, cause I can't learn what book is where.

Advice to parents: Most people with LD's hate to read, but we live with picture stories in our head all the time, so teaching kids to see the picture while a story is being read is awesome! Hopefully they will one day be able to pick up a book and read it just for the fun. I read my first book just because at age 25!! I would love it if kids learned that earlier in life!

Advice to children: Did you know that Walt Disney was dyslexic?? Cool huh

30-year-old mother 

 

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Age diagnosed: Never been diagnosed. I've always been able to compensate and work around it.

Burden or gift: I don't read well, but I love to read. This makes it tough to proof my own manuscripts. I've been told I write very well, but I'm a terrible speller and sometimes get words mixed up.

Positive experience: The positive thing from all this is that I've learned to persevere and keep on keeping on till my writing or reading is complete, no matter how long it takes.

Negative experience: It takes me so long to complete things and I hate the idea that I could have accomplished so much more in the same amount of time.

Creativity: I seem to have been artistic all my life, work with my hands. Working in broadcast TV.

Learning style: I learn best by watching, listening and trying things for myself.

How to educate children: Properly approached, children can learn almost anything. Educators should be less interested in teaching and start helping children learn. There's a big difference. I frankly think all this noise about ADD is a lack of attention to the fact that children, and adults for that matter, do not all learn in the same way. There are no two of us alike.

Compensation: Compensation has gotten me through a lot of classes, helped me do well in school inspite of my problem. Biggest thing however, I never knew I had a problem. If you label a child, they will believer you and act out what they've heard about themselves.

Advice to parents: First, don't believe that your child is disabled. They are just different.. Public education plays to the masses. Children that are different and thereby become problems are labeled, ignored, rejected, etc., further complicating the problems. Today, Helen Keller wouldn't have had a prayer.

Advice to children: Hang in there. Work hard. God doesn't make junk. You are special!

Paige Evans, 68-year-old television and movie editor

 

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LD relationship: I work at a very small school for Dyslexic children in Oregon and have a very dyslexic grandson.

Burden or gift: The gift of dyslexia is that these children learn to be so versatile in their ways of learning and compensating, it is a joy to watch them. I feel that most of them feel their successes to a fuller extent. The hardest part is that they compare themselves to children who learn easily and they feel inferior. We work hard to change their feelings about their abilities and disabilities.

Negative experience: The most negative aspect of working with children with Dyslexia is that they have been made to feel stupid by people who don't understand what they need to learn. They are as smart as anyone else. These kids just need to learn a different way.

Impact: I think I deal with people differently for the most part. I try not to assume that they automatically understand what I'm talking or writing about. I try to get a feel for their understanding of a situation or conversation.

How to test children: Oral testing works best. Timed testing is stressful and for the most part causes so much anxiety it is hard to get a feel for what they have learned.

Advice to parents: Talk to people. Doctors, parents, teachers - get as much advice as you can and then pick the pieces that work for you and your child. Find out what your child needs to help them learn and make sure they get it. It will probably be a battle, but one worth fighting.

Advice to children: Don't give up, believe in yourself! Feel great about everything you learn, no matter how small.

50-year-old female secretary

 

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Describe your disability: dyslexia, reading, writing, listening skills

Burden or gift: a tuff question.. depending on the day you ask me, could be some of both.

Positive experience: I can solve problems quickly, from easy to very complex.. i'm not always sure where the answers come from, but they come to me quickly and are 98% of the time correct.

Negative experience: the paradox.. constant feeling of being stpid. maybe reinforced by the many teachers telling my parents i was retarded, and always having to be in the slow learning group.

Greatest impact: type of employment, everyday issues, filling out docter forms, job apps, correctly saying a persons first or last name.

Problem solving: I can solve a very complex problem without having to take the ste 1, step 2 approach. I cut straight to the answer.

Creativity: i'm sure there are many of both.. helping and hindering.. but when it helps I don't notice that much, unless someone says how did youdo that, on the hindering side the list is long.

Compensation: my wife does all my proof reading, letters and e-mail's.. pays all the bills. It takes me longer to read work related material, so I allow for that. I always have a dictionary near by. I try to never have to read in front of a group.

Advice to children: they are not dumb or stupid, they just learn differently. Find an outlet for your frustrations, sports, a hobby building things.

What else: Never Fear, Never Quit.

D. Miller, 41-year-old owner of orthopedic sales business

 

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Describe your disability: HORIBLE SPELLER

Burden or gift: I GET IN TROUBLE AT WORK

Negative experience: GETTING TALKED DOWN TO BY DR'S

Impact: NOT BETTERING MY SELF EDUCATION WISE

Problem solving: MY PERSONALITY NOT BY BRAINS

Creativity: IM VERY ORGANIZED AND LOVE PEOPLE AND ON THE WHOLE THEY LIKE ME

Learning style: SEEING IT DONE

Advice to parents: GET A LOT OF HELP AND WATCH IT ALL THE TIME

Advice to children: EVERYONE HAS A CROSS TO BEAR SOME WE SEE SOME WE DONT

Kim Baker, 47-year-old medical assistant/hairdresser

 

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Burden or gift: While learning problems have complicated [my 18-year-old daughter] Melissa's life and made portions of her education very difficult and even unpleasant, her disability and how she deals with it has made her a stronger and much more compassionate person. She is slow to judge, perhaps because she has been n the receiving end of some harsh and sometimes unfair judgments. She also has a lot of perseverance and an incredible tolerance to be frustrated but continue looking for a solution.

Positive experience: Because of what my daughter has been through, I am much more capable in working with LD students. I have learned to figure out what kids are good at and to help them find ways to capitalize on their strengths. Too often in education we spend all our time and resources trying to "fix" the problem instead of using the students' strengths to help them succeed.

Negative experience: I have seen Melissa's self esteem eroded on countless occasions by well meaning educators who are sure that they can teach her to spell. She can't spell and she can't even hear the phonemes so phonics are a nightmare.

Impact: Melissa didn't learn to read until she was in 6 th grade and writing and spelling are still very difficult. Anything to do with the written word is a problem. In our literate society, the written word is everywhere.

Problem solving: Melissa is somewhat of a visualizer and does much better with geometry than with algebra. She also will go at things from several different directions at the same time until she finds a way that works.

Creativity: Melissa taught herself to read and is an excellent reader in context. She still struggles (and probably always will) to read words in isolation. One day things just sort of clicked and they still do unless she is having a bad day. Melissa loves art and poetry and I am sure that her approach to the problems that she faces has helped her to distill her creativity by teaching her to look at things from more than one point of view.

Learning style: Melissa is very adept at taking in information verbally. Books on tape made Melissa literate long before she could read. She can visualize and is especially gifted in 3-D art (ceramics).

Advice to children: Never think that because you learn differently that you aren't smart. The dumb ones are the ones who give up the first time something is hard.

Valerie Todd, 49-year-old teacher's assistant and mother of dyslexic daughter

 

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Describe your disability: Dyslexia and Attentsion Defisit Disorder.

Age diagnosed: I was diagnosed at a young age. But very few people understood it.

Burden or gift: it has been a huge burden. All my life I always had to try so hard at school.

Negative experience: I'm in college right now for nursing. And the pressure is tremendous for good grades.

Creativity: As a CNA on a cardiac unit you get pretty creative you have to thinck on your feet at moments notice.

Learning style: Multi-Sensory approach

How to test children: early before school age. But Special Education DOES NOT WORK. That is repetitive learning. You never move ahead.

Advice to children: Don't be a quitter. Learn as much as you can. Ask for help.

What else: Have courage. Some of your most talented and bright people are Dyslexic.

41-year-old female nursing student

 

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Relationship with LD: add; mother of a daughter with add and son with dyslexia

Impact: marriage, time management, following thru on plans

Problem solving: I am able to look at a problem from many different points of view and consider various options

Compensation: I compensated for my poor short term memory by keeping list of things to do. I use self talk when trying to figure something out and I try to stay organized

What else: since my twins have been diagnosed with learning disabilities and later myself, I have learned so much about learning. It is a fascinating process and the techniques of teaching are as varied and unique as we all are.. My ideas with regard to LD have shifted from that of ignorance to informed and now an advocate of students with LD. I am no longer shocked by what they can't do but more so by what they can do.

Lori Nabizadeh, 43-year-old RN

 

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