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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

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.

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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?  [/quote]

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.

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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?  [/quote]

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

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.[/quote]

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. [/quote]

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