Why are so many UMC average students "Learning Disabled"?

[Anonymous]

You really need to be engage with a learning disabled kid to understand how different they are from non learning disabled kids. I remembered trying to help my DD learn to read in comparison with DS. DS who isn't LD sounded out the words and got progressively better. If he didn't know the meaning of a word he would usually just keep going and either got the idea or didn't worry about it. DD could not sound out words and then remember what word she had previously read. DD jumped all over the page reading different words. DD would read all the words on the page separately and then put them together like a puzzle. If DD didn't know the meaning of a word she would stop and you had to give her a very precise definition. She would then question how that word had anything to do with what she just read. If there was a picture she would hyper focus on analyzing it. DD would overly focus on aspects that were not in the text. She would not just read See Spot Run. She would then ask why was Spot running? Was someone chasing Spot? Why is there no ground under the picture of Spot running? It looks like Spot is flying but that isn't what the text says. Why is the drawing wrong? It was exhausting.

One of the aspects of ADHD and other LDs is that some areas of the brain develop faster than their peers while other areas develop slower. This can lead to some extreme differences in cognitive skills until they get older and it balances out. Parents who have the time, inclination and education to do a wider range of academic activities with their kids notice these extreme differences quickly. They go fo testing because something is clearly off if DC can do things she should be able to do yet and really struggles in a strange way with things that should be easy for her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I am a research scientist and have a child who is "gifted and learning disabled".

Had he been born in my generation, he would just have been labeled quirky, slow, lazy, even stupid. He would have been teased and bullied and doors would have closed for him before middle school, despite his high IQ and potential to contribute to the world.

Now, thanks to progress in the field of mental health and the breakdown of societal taboos, he is known to have: moderate-to-severe ADHD, very low processing speed, and a severe impairment in his left-side motor skills (which reflect an impairment in his right hemisphere).
There are all related disorders.

I am SO GRATEFUL that he has accommodation at school and that teachers and students are trained to be understanding and not dismissive!!!

In return, he is a mellow, courteous person, and if he is given the chance, he's got the intellect to be a researcher/academic just like his parents.

Ok. But doesn't every person who isn't functioning at a high level have something going on in their brain that makes them incapable of doing so?

Research scientist again - no.

This is what neuropsychological testing does: it susses out whether you are functioning in approximately the same way for all aspects of cognitive and processing skills. If you are, then nothing is wrong with you, and you are functioning at your potential. If there is a statistically significant discrepancy between one or other of your subscores, then that's a red flag for a learning disability that is holding you back. And for many such disabilities, there's not much that can be done that has been proven to work. For some, there is, and that's where school services and accommodations come in.

Learning disabilities have nothing to do with how smart you are (and then there's the tricky question of how you define intelligence). Learning disabilities and mental health disorders deserve to be treated just as seriously as physical illness and physical conditions, do you know why? Because they ARE physical conditions! Located in the brain, that's all. They are a reflection of brain trauma, or neuronal connectors gone awry, or neurotransmitter imbalance, etc... and it's only recently that we've recognized "mental issues" to be brain dysfunctions just like liver dysfunction or any other organ dysfunction.

DP. You describe your DC as just like yourself and your DH, who are research scientists/academics. During your childhood, you experienced adversity and learned how to adjust or overcome it. Your DC isn't learning that. Are his accommodations more valuable than learning experiences?

Do you really think a few accommodations erases all the adversity that comes with dyslexia? Wouldn't that be a Shangri la.

No. It doesn’t. Which I think is the pp’s point. It is a brain defect—not an alternative way of thinking. There is no magic fix that makes him not dyslexic. The deficits are more than simply learning to read. Accommodations should only make education accessible to him. Some dyslexics will still be average students with accommodations. Some will be above average. But they will always struggle. At some point life offers no more accommodations. The children, no matter below average, averafe, or above average, who grow up into successful adults with LDs are those who have learned how to overcome it in all facets of life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I am a research scientist and have a child who is "gifted and learning disabled".

Had he been born in my generation, he would just have been labeled quirky, slow, lazy, even stupid. He would have been teased and bullied and doors would have closed for him before middle school, despite his high IQ and potential to contribute to the world.

Now, thanks to progress in the field of mental health and the breakdown of societal taboos, he is known to have: moderate-to-severe ADHD, very low processing speed, and a severe impairment in his left-side motor skills (which reflect an impairment in his right hemisphere).
There are all related disorders.

I am SO GRATEFUL that he has accommodation at school and that teachers and students are trained to be understanding and not dismissive!!!

In return, he is a mellow, courteous person, and if he is given the chance, he's got the intellect to be a researcher/academic just like his parents.

Ok. But doesn't every person who isn't functioning at a high level have something going on in their brain that makes them incapable of doing so?

Research scientist again - no.

This is what neuropsychological testing does: it susses out whether you are functioning in approximately the same way for all aspects of cognitive and processing skills. If you are, then nothing is wrong with you, and you are functioning at your potential. If there is a statistically significant discrepancy between one or other of your subscores, then that's a red flag for a learning disability that is holding you back. And for many such disabilities, there's not much that can be done that has been proven to work. For some, there is, and that's where school services and accommodations come in.

Learning disabilities have nothing to do with how smart you are (and then there's the tricky question of how you define intelligence). Learning disabilities and mental health disorders deserve to be treated just as seriously as physical illness and physical conditions, do you know why? Because they ARE physical conditions! Located in the brain, that's all. They are a reflection of brain trauma, or neuronal connectors gone awry, or neurotransmitter imbalance, etc... and it's only recently that we've recognized "mental issues" to be brain dysfunctions just like liver dysfunction or any other organ dysfunction.

DP. You describe your DC as just like yourself and your DH, who are research scientists/academics. During your childhood, you experienced adversity and learned how to adjust or overcome it. Your DC isn't learning that. Are his accommodations more valuable than learning experiences?

Do you really think a few accommodations erases all the adversity that comes with dyslexia? Wouldn't that be a Shangri la.

No. It doesn’t. Which I think is the pp’s point. It is a brain defect—not an alternative way of thinking. There is no magic fix that makes him not dyslexic. The deficits are more than simply learning to read. Accommodations should only make education accessible to him. Some dyslexics will still be average students with accommodations. Some will be above average. But they will always struggle. At some point life offers no more accommodations. The children, no matter below average, averafe, or above average, who grow up into successful adults with LDs are those who have learned how to overcome it in all facets of life.

I don't think it is a defect, I think it is a different way of processing information. I don't think anybody is trying to fix dyslexia. They realize that the model of teaching.... read, memorize, regurgitate... doesn't teach dyslexic kids nor does it show what they have learned.

At some point in life they will stop reading, memorizing and writing papers. They won't need accommodations because they job will be in an area that is not reading and writing or if it is they will have an editor.

They will become successful because they will find a job that plays to their strengths not their weaknesses.

I work in IT, I work with tons of dyslexic people. We work in the medical field and I constantly have to explain to the engineers that most doctors... read, memorize and follow instructions... they can't just "figure it out" so we need to document everything down to the nth degree.... and be kind that they ask the same frickin question 5 times.

Often it's insane how dumb the MDs are (when you have the brain of an engineer)... do you know how long it took some to learn how to double click.... then use the screen touch/swipe down. Does that make them less smart because they are good at reading, writing and memorizing... no ... it's just different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I am a research scientist and have a child who is "gifted and learning disabled".

Had he been born in my generation, he would just have been labeled quirky, slow, lazy, even stupid. He would have been teased and bullied and doors would have closed for him before middle school, despite his high IQ and potential to contribute to the world.

Now, thanks to progress in the field of mental health and the breakdown of societal taboos, he is known to have: moderate-to-severe ADHD, very low processing speed, and a severe impairment in his left-side motor skills (which reflect an impairment in his right hemisphere).
There are all related disorders.

I am SO GRATEFUL that he has accommodation at school and that teachers and students are trained to be understanding and not dismissive!!!

In return, he is a mellow, courteous person, and if he is given the chance, he's got the intellect to be a researcher/academic just like his parents.

Ok. But doesn't every person who isn't functioning at a high level have something going on in their brain that makes them incapable of doing so?

Research scientist again - no.

This is what neuropsychological testing does: it susses out whether you are functioning in approximately the same way for all aspects of cognitive and processing skills. If you are, then nothing is wrong with you, and you are functioning at your potential. If there is a statistically significant discrepancy between one or other of your subscores, then that's a red flag for a learning disability that is holding you back. And for many such disabilities, there's not much that can be done that has been proven to work. For some, there is, and that's where school services and accommodations come in.

Learning disabilities have nothing to do with how smart you are (and then there's the tricky question of how you define intelligence). Learning disabilities and mental health disorders deserve to be treated just as seriously as physical illness and physical conditions, do you know why? Because they ARE physical conditions! Located in the brain, that's all. They are a reflection of brain trauma, or neuronal connectors gone awry, or neurotransmitter imbalance, etc... and it's only recently that we've recognized "mental issues" to be brain dysfunctions just like liver dysfunction or any other organ dysfunction.

DP. You describe your DC as just like yourself and your DH, who are research scientists/academics. During your childhood, you experienced adversity and learned how to adjust or overcome it. Your DC isn't learning that. Are his accommodations more valuable than learning experiences?

Do you really think a few accommodations erases all the adversity that comes with dyslexia? Wouldn't that be a Shangri la.

No. It doesn’t. Which I think is the pp’s point. It is a brain defect—not an alternative way of thinking. There is no magic fix that makes him not dyslexic. The deficits are more than simply learning to read. Accommodations should only make education accessible to him. Some dyslexics will still be average students with accommodations. Some will be above average. But they will always struggle. At some point life offers no more accommodations. The children, no matter below average, averafe, or above average, who grow up into successful adults with LDs are those who have learned how to overcome it in all facets of life.

I don't think it is a defect, I think it is a different way of processing information. I don't think anybody is trying to fix dyslexia. They realize that the model of teaching.... read, memorize, regurgitate... doesn't teach dyslexic kids nor does it show what they have learned.

At some point in life they will stop reading, memorizing and writing papers. They won't need accommodations because they job will be in an area that is not reading and writing or if it is they will have an editor.

They will become successful because they will find a job that plays to their strengths not their weaknesses.

I work in IT, I work with tons of dyslexic people. We work in the medical field and I constantly have to explain to the engineers that most doctors... read, memorize and follow instructions... they can't just "figure it out" so we need to document everything down to the nth degree.... and be kind that they ask the same frickin question 5 times.

Often it's insane how dumb the MDs are (when you have the brain of an engineer)... do you know how long it took some to learn how to double click.... then use the screen touch/swipe down. Does that make them less smart because they are good at reading, writing and memorizing... no ... it's just different.

I have heard people say this many times when discussing LD or dyslexic kids - "they will eventually find success because they will gravitate to something that plays to their strengths". Do people who claim this not realize that there are plenty of unsuccessful people in this world? l have a friend whose sister is in her early 40's who still lives with her parents and has never really worked. A guy who lived in my neighborhood growing up is in his late 40's and has always worked a series of minimum wage jobs (that he keeps getting fired from) Both of these people come across as very normal and seem to be of at least high average IQ. But they have certainly not found success. Many people never do. I am genuinely confused by what people mean when they say this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:


OP here. I'm not saying that LD's do not exist at all and I would consider dyslexia to be an example of something that is more of a legitimate LD. But if you look over on the teen board, there is a thread along the lines of "would you leave your kid alone if they were making B's and C's. And the overwhelming consensus is no. Pretty much all the posters are saying that they do not consider C's acceptable. That's basically the issue. If a parent has a C student, they see that as a sign that something isn't right. They take the kid to a psychologist to get tested, and usually the kid will get some sort of diagnosis that could make them eligible for services. It may not be dyslexia, but very often it's adhd inattentive or a discrepancy in some area of intellect. My hunch is that if you dug deep enough, you can find some sort of label for almost any C student (especially the adhd label that could really apply to almost anyone). I'm also the poster with the nephew with the roommate from Exeter who said that about half the kids there supposedly have ADHD. The scary thing is that the parents probably aren't even trying to play the system. They see their kids having difficulty keeping up in a very competitive environment, and they legitimately think that the kid has some sort of problem.

Performing below their intellectual capability is a hallmark of LD and ADHD. You may be hearing that the only thing the parents care about is the grades, but there is more to the story. If a student is bright and does well in tests but gets barely passing grades, there is probably something going on. Or if the student is bright and has good knowledge of a subject but can't demonstrate that knowledge on a test, there is probably something going on. It would be negligent for a parent of that child not to dig further. Sadly, having the time and ability to dig further is somewhat correlated to SES.

I will always err on the side of trusting the parents/child. It's true that an average child with accommodations will see a slight improvement, but a very bright child with moderate to severe ADHD will have their potential wasted if they don't receive interventions and accommodations. It's not just about medications and extra time on tests, but helping teach them how to succeed and find their strengths. Schools know one way to teach and that way doesn't work for kids who aren't typical. Students who fall outside of typical need individualized approaches, whether that is speech to text software or explicit instruction and coaching on self-organization.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one has addressed how the diagnosis of OHI plays into this. These are kids who aren't doing well, but there can be no determination as to why. Are we to assume that these kids have a learning disability along the lines of dyslexia?

Don't confuse educational codes with diagnoses. There are 11 possible educational codes that can be used to gain access to special education services. What code a child ends up with is largely a factor of the testing the child underwent and the knowledge of the IEP team. Testing through a school can not diagnose dyslexia and isn't great at identifying it, so without outside testing it's hard to state whether or not they actually have dyslexia. So it's definitely possible for a child with dyslexia to be coded with OHI. I've more often seen it used for ADHD, though. Dyslexia would usually be coded under Specific Learning Disability - Reading (or SLD-Reading).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I don't think it is a defect, I think it is a different way of processing information. I don't think anybody is trying to fix dyslexia. They realize that the model of teaching.... read, memorize, regurgitate... doesn't teach dyslexic kids nor does it show what they have learned.

At some point in life they will stop reading, memorizing and writing papers. They won't need accommodations because they job will be in an area that is not reading and writing or if it is they will have an editor.

They will become successful because they will find a job that plays to their strengths not their weaknesses.

I work in IT, I work with tons of dyslexic people. We work in the medical field and I constantly have to explain to the engineers that most doctors... read, memorize and follow instructions... they can't just "figure it out" so we need to document everything down to the nth degree.... and be kind that they ask the same frickin question 5 times.

Often it's insane how dumb the MDs are (when you have the brain of an engineer)... do you know how long it took some to learn how to double click.... then use the screen touch/swipe down. Does that make them less smart because they are good at reading, writing and memorizing... no ... it's just different.

I have heard people say this many times when discussing LD or dyslexic kids - "they will eventually find success because they will gravitate to something that plays to their strengths". Do people who claim this not realize that there are plenty of unsuccessful people in this world? l have a friend whose sister is in her early 40's who still lives with her parents and has never really worked. A guy who lived in my neighborhood growing up is in his late 40's and has always worked a series of minimum wage jobs (that he keeps getting fired from) Both of these people come across as very normal and seem to be of at least high average IQ. But they have certainly not found success. Many people never do. I am genuinely confused by what people mean when they say this.

I think PP is saying that someone with LD can find a career that plays to their strengths, not that every person with LD finds a career that plays to their strengths. It certainly becomes a lot easier if they have support during their developmental years.

[Anonymous]

I think many parents of students with learning disabilities have no idea how much this is being abused among the upper class. I worked at a private school where literally every child who did not meet the grade's targets was referred for evaluation. Parents who pay this much for school simply do not accept children who are not getting A's, and will employ whatever accommodations and medications are necessary until they do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You really need to be engage with a learning disabled kid to understand how different they are from non learning disabled kids. I remembered trying to help my DD learn to read in comparison with DS. DS who isn't LD sounded out the words and got progressively better. If he didn't know the meaning of a word he would usually just keep going and either got the idea or didn't worry about it. DD could not sound out words and then remember what word she had previously read. DD jumped all over the page reading different words. DD would read all the words on the page separately and then put them together like a puzzle. If DD didn't know the meaning of a word she would stop and you had to give her a very precise definition. She would then question how that word had anything to do with what she just read. If there was a picture she would hyper focus on analyzing it. DD would overly focus on aspects that were not in the text. She would not just read See Spot Run. She would then ask why was Spot running? Was someone chasing Spot? Why is there no ground under the picture of Spot running? It looks like Spot is flying but that isn't what the text says. Why is the drawing wrong? It was exhausting.

One of the aspects of ADHD and other LDs is that some areas of the brain develop faster than their peers while other areas develop slower. This can lead to some extreme differences in cognitive skills until they get older and it balances out. Parents who have the time, inclination and education to do a wider range of academic activities with their kids notice these extreme differences quickly. They go fo testing because something is clearly off if DC can do things she should be able to do yet and really struggles in a strange way with things that should be easy for her.

Oh my gosh. Truer words were never spoken. My older daughter is dyslexic and when she was first learning to read, I did not yet know it at the time. It. Was. A. SLOG. However, I just thought that maybe that was how "normal" people learned how to read (I myself kind of picked up reading like breathing, it just was very natural to me) so I thought that I just had to be patient and realize that it wasn't so painless for the rest of the world. . .this was how regular people (people not like myself) learned to read. (Fast forward a few years: we got her tested and yep, she had dyslexia).

But NOW, I am working with her younger sister, and it is amazing to me how quickly she picks things up!! It just brings home to me how hard, in retrospect, it really was for DD!. With DD2, it's like a miracle: she sounds out a word on one page, turns the page, sees it again, and ACTUALLY REMEMBERS THAT SHE JUST READ IT! She does not have to start all over from scratch, sounding it out again! She holds it in her working memory! You could literally knock me over with a feather. She also can hold the story line in her head because she does not have to exert sooooooo much gosh-darn effort just to decode. So, this enables her reading and comprehension as well, and all the skills work together in synergy: decoding, comprehension, enjoyment of the story. It really is a beautiful thing.

Lest you think: well, DD2 must have gotten YOUR reading abilities, PP. Not so. Both she and DD1 were adopted, so neither of them got anything from me, biologically. I believe DD2 is "average" and, it is just astounding to ME personally when my only other experience as a parent was teaching her dyslexic older sis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think many parents of students with learning disabilities have no idea how much this is being abused among the upper class. I worked at a private school where literally every child who did not meet the grade's targets was referred for evaluation. Parents who pay this much for school simply do not accept children who are not getting A's, and will employ whatever accommodations and medications are necessary until they do.

This upsets us very much. Because it makes other people distrust our own children, and doubt that our kids actually need these accommodations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I am a research scientist and have a child who is "gifted and learning disabled".

Had he been born in my generation, he would just have been labeled quirky, slow, lazy, even stupid. He would have been teased and bullied and doors would have closed for him before middle school, despite his high IQ and potential to contribute to the world.

Now, thanks to progress in the field of mental health and the breakdown of societal taboos, he is known to have: moderate-to-severe ADHD, very low processing speed, and a severe impairment in his left-side motor skills (which reflect an impairment in his right hemisphere).
There are all related disorders.

I am SO GRATEFUL that he has accommodation at school and that teachers and students are trained to be understanding and not dismissive!!!

In return, he is a mellow, courteous person, and if he is given the chance, he's got the intellect to be a researcher/academic just like his parents.

Ok. But doesn't every person who isn't functioning at a high level have something going on in their brain that makes them incapable of doing so?

Research scientist again - no.

This is what neuropsychological testing does: it susses out whether you are functioning in approximately the same way for all aspects of cognitive and processing skills. If you are, then nothing is wrong with you, and you are functioning at your potential. If there is a statistically significant discrepancy between one or other of your subscores, then that's a red flag for a learning disability that is holding you back. And for many such disabilities, there's not much that can be done that has been proven to work. For some, there is, and that's where school services and accommodations come in.

Learning disabilities have nothing to do with how smart you are (and then there's the tricky question of how you define intelligence). Learning disabilities and mental health disorders deserve to be treated just as seriously as physical illness and physical conditions, do you know why? Because they ARE physical conditions! Located in the brain, that's all. They are a reflection of brain trauma, or neuronal connectors gone awry, or neurotransmitter imbalance, etc... and it's only recently that we've recognized "mental issues" to be brain dysfunctions just like liver dysfunction or any other organ dysfunction.

DP. You describe your DC as just like yourself and your DH, who are research scientists/academics. During your childhood, you experienced adversity and learned how to adjust or overcome it. Your DC isn't learning that. Are his accommodations more valuable than learning experiences?

Do you really think a few accommodations erases all the adversity that comes with dyslexia? Wouldn't that be a Shangri la.

No. It doesn’t. Which I think is the pp’s point. It is a brain defect—not an alternative way of thinking. There is no magic fix that makes him not dyslexic. The deficits are more than simply learning to read. Accommodations should only make education accessible to him. Some dyslexics will still be average students with accommodations. Some will be above average. But they will always struggle. At some point life offers no more accommodations. The children, no matter below average, averafe, or above average, who grow up into successful adults with LDs are those who have learned how to overcome it in all facets of life.

I don't think it is a defect, I think it is a different way of processing information. I don't think anybody is trying to fix dyslexia. They realize that the model of teaching.... read, memorize, regurgitate... doesn't teach dyslexic kids nor does it show what they have learned.

At some point in life they will stop reading, memorizing and writing papers. They won't need accommodations because they job will be in an area that is not reading and writing or if it is they will have an editor.

They will become successful because they will find a job that plays to their strengths not their weaknesses.

I work in IT, I work with tons of dyslexic people. We work in the medical field and I constantly have to explain to the engineers that most doctors... read, memorize and follow instructions... they can't just "figure it out" so we need to document everything down to the nth degree.... and be kind that they ask the same frickin question 5 times.

Often it's insane how dumb the MDs are (when you have the brain of an engineer)... do you know how long it took some to learn how to double click.... then use the screen touch/swipe down. Does that make them less smart because they are good at reading, writing and memorizing... no ... it's just different.

I have heard people say this many times when discussing LD or dyslexic kids - "they will eventually find success because they will gravitate to something that plays to their strengths". Do people who claim this not realize that there are plenty of unsuccessful people in this world? l have a friend whose sister is in her early 40's who still lives with her parents and has never really worked. A guy who lived in my neighborhood growing up is in his late 40's and has always worked a series of minimum wage jobs (that he keeps getting fired from) Both of these people come across as very normal and seem to be of at least high average IQ. But they have certainly not found success. Many people never do. I am genuinely confused by what people mean when they say this.

DP. I realize this. It’s easy to be optimistic about my child with an LD. But reality is that most kids with LDs will struggle into adulthood. For sure, no child is completely immune from adolescent pitfalls, but kids with LDs are even more susceptible. The adhd kid who becomes obsessed with video games? The dyslexic child whose self worth becomes so eroded she looks for validation in all the wrong places? The 2e student who becomes riddled with anxiety? For every wildly successful dyslexic there are probably three who are below the poverty line. For every kid with slow processing who finds a niche in IT or some other STEM thing, two others haven’t left their parents’ basement. A 2e kid gets into MIT. Another three 2e kids never gain meaningful employment.

I do think being UMC gives these kids a safety net other kids with LDs don’t have and will give them a huge advantage over even their mc counterparts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I am a research scientist and have a child who is "gifted and learning disabled".

Had he been born in my generation, he would just have been labeled quirky, slow, lazy, even stupid. He would have been teased and bullied and doors would have closed for him before middle school, despite his high IQ and potential to contribute to the world.

Now, thanks to progress in the field of mental health and the breakdown of societal taboos, he is known to have: moderate-to-severe ADHD, very low processing speed, and a severe impairment in his left-side motor skills (which reflect an impairment in his right hemisphere).
There are all related disorders.

I am SO GRATEFUL that he has accommodation at school and that teachers and students are trained to be understanding and not dismissive!!!

In return, he is a mellow, courteous person, and if he is given the chance, he's got the intellect to be a researcher/academic just like his parents.

Ok. But doesn't every person who isn't functioning at a high level have something going on in their brain that makes them incapable of doing so?

Research scientist again - no.

This is what neuropsychological testing does: it susses out whether you are functioning in approximately the same way for all aspects of cognitive and processing skills. If you are, then nothing is wrong with you, and you are functioning at your potential. If there is a statistically significant discrepancy between one or other of your subscores, then that's a red flag for a learning disability that is holding you back. And for many such disabilities, there's not much that can be done that has been proven to work. For some, there is, and that's where school services and accommodations come in.

Learning disabilities have nothing to do with how smart you are (and then there's the tricky question of how you define intelligence). Learning disabilities and mental health disorders deserve to be treated just as seriously as physical illness and physical conditions, do you know why? Because they ARE physical conditions! Located in the brain, that's all. They are a reflection of brain trauma, or neuronal connectors gone awry, or neurotransmitter imbalance, etc... and it's only recently that we've recognized "mental issues" to be brain dysfunctions just like liver dysfunction or any other organ dysfunction.

DP. You describe your DC as just like yourself and your DH, who are research scientists/academics. During your childhood, you experienced adversity and learned how to adjust or overcome it. Your DC isn't learning that. Are his accommodations more valuable than learning experiences?

Do you really think a few accommodations erases all the adversity that comes with dyslexia? Wouldn't that be a Shangri la.

No. It doesn’t. Which I think is the pp’s point. It is a brain defect—not an alternative way of thinking. There is no magic fix that makes him not dyslexic. The deficits are more than simply learning to read. Accommodations should only make education accessible to him. Some dyslexics will still be average students with accommodations. Some will be above average. But they will always struggle. At some point life offers no more accommodations. The children, no matter below average, averafe, or above average, who grow up into successful adults with LDs are those who have learned how to overcome it in all facets of life.

I don't think it is a defect, I think it is a different way of processing information. I don't think anybody is trying to fix dyslexia. They realize that the model of teaching.... read, memorize, regurgitate... doesn't teach dyslexic kids nor does it show what they have learned.

At some point in life they will stop reading, memorizing and writing papers. They won't need accommodations because they job will be in an area that is not reading and writing or if it is they will have an editor.

They will become successful because they will find a job that plays to their strengths not their weaknesses.

I work in IT, I work with tons of dyslexic people. We work in the medical field and I constantly have to explain to the engineers that most doctors... read, memorize and follow instructions... they can't just "figure it out" so we need to document everything down to the nth degree.... and be kind that they ask the same frickin question 5 times.

Often it's insane how dumb the MDs are (when you have the brain of an engineer)... do you know how long it took some to learn how to double click.... then use the screen touch/swipe down. Does that make them less smart because they are good at reading, writing and memorizing... no ... it's just different.

I have heard people say this many times when discussing LD or dyslexic kids - "they will eventually find success because they will gravitate to something that plays to their strengths". Do people who claim this not realize that there are plenty of unsuccessful people in this world? l have a friend whose sister is in her early 40's who still lives with her parents and has never really worked. A guy who lived in my neighborhood growing up is in his late 40's and has always worked a series of minimum wage jobs (that he keeps getting fired from) Both of these people come across as very normal and seem to be of at least high average IQ. But they have certainly not found success. Many people never do. I am genuinely confused by what people mean when they say this.

Sure but that has nothing to do with being LD, it is possibly a mental illness or super high IQ ... which historically renders people unable to work in the real world.

But it is not higher for educated kids with LDs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think many parents of students with learning disabilities have no idea how much this is being abused among the upper class. I worked at a private school where literally every child who did not meet the grade's targets was referred for evaluation. Parents who pay this much for school simply do not accept children who are not getting A's, and will employ whatever accommodations and medications are necessary until they do.

That must be the double-whammy for you -- resentment of rich people PLUS resentment of accommodations for disabilities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:


I have heard people say this many times when discussing LD or dyslexic kids - "they will eventually find success because they will gravitate to something that plays to their strengths". Do people who claim this not realize that there are plenty of unsuccessful people in this world? l have a friend whose sister is in her early 40's who still lives with her parents and has never really worked. A guy who lived in my neighborhood growing up is in his late 40's and has always worked a series of minimum wage jobs (that he keeps getting fired from) Both of these people come across as very normal and seem to be of at least high average IQ. But they have certainly not found success. Many people never do. I am genuinely confused by what people mean when they say this.

DP. I realize this. It’s easy to be optimistic about my child with an LD. But reality is that most kids with LDs will struggle into adulthood. For sure, no child is completely immune from adolescent pitfalls, but kids with LDs are even more susceptible. The adhd kid who becomes obsessed with video games? The dyslexic child whose self worth becomes so eroded she looks for validation in all the wrong places? The 2e student who becomes riddled with anxiety? For every wildly successful dyslexic there are probably three who are below the poverty line. For every kid with slow processing who finds a niche in IT or some other STEM thing, two others haven’t left their parents’ basement. A 2e kid gets into MIT. Another three 2e kids never gain meaningful employment.

I do think being UMC gives these kids a safety net other kids with LDs don’t have and will give them a huge advantage over even their mc counterparts.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/12443331_Prevalence_of_dyslexia_among_Texas_prison_inmates
Approximately 80% of prison inmates are reported to be functionally illiterate. We hypothesized that poor single word decoding (the chief feature of dyslexia) accounts for a significant percentage of that rate. We studied 253 subjects selected randomly from more than 130,000 Texas prison inmates. Among them, we conducted a cross-sectional sample survey of recently admitted Texas inmates, beginning with social and educational background and followed by an educational test battery that included measures of word attack skill and reading comprehension. Deficient performance was defined primarily as single word decoding performance that measured below the 25th percentile on the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test. We found that 47.8% of the inmates were deficient in word attack skills. Word attack skills were detected in each group defined by gender and ethnicity. Nearly two thirds of the subjects scored poorly in reading comprehension.


https://add.org/undiagnosed-adult-adhd-a-high-cost-for-society/
Between 25 and 40 percent of prison inmates have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and most are undiagnosed and untreated. This is an alarming overrepresentation considering that it’s estimated that only 4 to 8 percent of the general population has ADHD. What is most concerning is that often criminal activity and incarceration could have been prevented if ADHD symptoms were properly identified and treated.



But yeah, lets worried that some rich kids might get a slight edge over other rich kids in a rich school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think many parents of students with learning disabilities have no idea how much this is being abused among the upper class. I worked at a private school where literally every child who did not meet the grade's targets was referred for evaluation. Parents who pay this much for school simply do not accept children who are not getting A's, and will employ whatever accommodations and medications are necessary until they do.

That must be the double-whammy for you -- resentment of rich people PLUS resentment of accommodations for disabilities.

I really wonder about some people.