Naomi Said:

Is there anyone here with a learning disability?

We Answered:

My learning disability is auditory processing. I am currently working on my PhD in Mathematics Education and I work as a private math tutor.

I am also Gifted, with an IQ of 167. As a small child in elementary school if you went to LD class you were called stupid. If you went to gifted class you were called a brain. I remember coming home crying wanting to know if I was smart or stupid. I understand now that intellect has nothing to do with learning disabilities, but it was frustrating.

If it wasn't for computers my biggest challenge would be spelling. If you can't place the sound you are hearing you can't spell it. Writing a lot and spell check have mostly eliminated that problem.

One of my earlier moments of knowing I had a learning disability was in second grade (I was already diagnosed). The teacher was reading a story and the word car came up. I had no idea what car was so I asked. The other students got a big laugh and once the teacher explained the word I felt pretty stupid. I learned then to keep my mouth shut if I didn't understand around my peers.

I must say that I had some great teachers. Most were eager to help and I could go to them after class and get clarification if I didn't get something. I had to be my own advocate. I couldn't be passive and expect them to ask me if I understood.

Over time I also started "lip reading" in conjunction with hearing to understand what people were saying. The visual clue often was enough to trigger the word memory. However, later in life I found people are less likely to trust you or think you are interested if you don't look them in the eye when they are talking. So now I look them in the eye and still try to catch the movement of the mouth. Most of the time if I don’t understand exactly what someone is saying I can get a fairly good idea based on the whole conversation.

When I first started college I was worried about how my LD would affect my studies so I went to talk to one of the counselors for LD students. I was horrified when he told me it was impossible to be LD and have a high IQ. I immediately stormed the Provost’s office and had a long chat. I had a letter of apology from the President, Counselor and school Psychologist in my mailbox within the week. Ignorance has been the greatest challenge.

I must say I love my life, and I love what I do. Working with students one on one is very good for me. I am great at math and it is a subject that is both verbal and visual. The students and I can sit down together and work through the problems. I often think my LD has helped me because I am willing to approach learning a skill in as many ways as possible until a student understands. I have also helped many teachers (including Art and English teachers) pass their math portion of their teaching tests as well. One teacher had failed the math portion 3 times then came to me and passed it after three sessions of tutoring. I have never had a teacher fail after working with me. I am very proud of that.

Today my biggest challenge is telephones. I don’t get any other signals but auditory when talking to someone on the phone. I truly know I have a LD then. I may understand half of what people say to me over the phone and please don’t give me driving directions over the phone. Just give me the address; I’ll repeat it back until I get it right and then I’ll Google Earth it.

I have been told that learning disabilities are not genetic but I find it interesting that both of my children have auditory processing disabilities. I would love to learn more about auditory processing and if there are any genetic links, maybe when I finish my PhD…

Joseph Said:

What are the chances of a child being born with a physical or mental learning disability?

We Answered:

Noone can give you an exact percentage chance. Obviously if you have a family history of any of these disorders, your chances increase. But unless its a genetic disorder that doctors are able to test for (i.e., have identified the gene that causes it), and you and your partner are both tested - then they can give you a pretty good idea of what your odds are. But something like autism? Your guess is as good as anyone's.

Kimberly Said:

How to tell if you have a learning disability?

We Answered:

There is a formal psychological (academic) test that diagnoses LD. Basically, a psychologist tests your overall I.Q. and then your performance on different mini tests, and if there is a certain # of points difference between your overall I.Q. and your I.Q. on one or more of the mini performance tests, they call it a learning disability. It's almost like saying, "This person SHOULD be performing at the same I.Q. level on all the tasks, but for some reason isn't, and this indicates a learning disability in those weak areas." Example: A person has an overall tested I.Q. of 115, but only scores a 97 in the area of processing speed. This would show that there is a clear weakness in that area that can't be explained by the person's overall I.Q., which is above average.

Regular test scores like G.E.D. scores won't give you the info you're looking for. You can pay a psychologist to test you for LD if you would like to know for sure. And by the way, by law, colleges must make accommodations for students who have a diagnosed LD.


There is a great website: ldonline.org


Good luck to you! :)

Clarence Said:

Is it impossible to get into the army if you have a learning disability?

We Answered:

Let me try and help: All these people answering your question, some were right on for the most part some were way way off, here goes:

This is the course of action I would take: First the recruiter coming to the house is just coming to do the initial paperwork, that is basically to see if your husband is physically, mentally, and morally qualified.....on paper, next comes the ASVAB and the physical. If your husband passes that then he becomes qualified to join provided the Army is accepting applicants without a GED. If not he will have to wait until they are or pass the GED. If he passes the GED and they are accepting he will get the job they want him to have, something like laundry and bath specialist, or petroleum supply specialist, he will not have a choice in anything, he may even get what they call an open contract which is where they assign him a job based on needs after Basic Training, remember the object is to get your foot in the door. Jobs like Infantry, Armor, Computers, Mechanic, require a far greater aptitude than you make out your husband has. My advice is to take the ASVAB and physical, the physical is good for a year, the ASVAB for 2 but if he does not do well he can take it over in 30 days, up to three times then he has to wait for 6 months. As someone else said, THE ARMY WILL NOT HELP YOUR HUSBAND GET HIS GED WHEN HE IS IN. He can get it himself by going to school, but the Army is not going to help other than to give him tuition assistance. When I was a recruiter, we had programs that we could put kids in which were like 6 weeks long, once completed, the kids took their GED's and almost 100% passed, in addition, the school was set up and approved so that when the kids passed it was equivilant to a HS Diploma. Ask the recruiter if they have any of those programs. Do not know if your husband can do that as he works. Mabye a night class. Remember, he is not joining tonight, just going over and signing the paperwork for his physical, mental, and moral status. Sit down and write a list of questions up that you want to ask, even the so called dumb questions are not dumb. If you, and I mean you are not comfortable with the recruiters answers, call him on it. Good Luck, and feel free to contact me via e-mail if you have questions. And last, no contracts are signed until your husband sits down with a guidance counselor at the MEPS and they give him a job, your not signing a contract tonight!

Carrie Said:

Will having a learning disability disqualify me in any form from joining the Air Force?

We Answered:

no it will not. I know of a couple of friends of mine who have learning disabilities and they do just fine.

Mark Said:

What is done for a learning disability?

We Answered:

People who have learning disabilites in my school go to this special class every other day where teachers teach them how to cope with their learning disablities. They also get twice as much time on tests and quizzes than everyone else:)Some of them are really smart.... Talk to your guidance councelor.