[Miswimmy1]

I was wondering what the differences are. I have always had some trouble with reading. i thought it was due to having a short attention span, but I have been on medication for years and I still have trouble. I read an article that said that LDs and ADHD often go hand in hand. I was wondering how to differentiate the two. My issue with reading isn't so much sticking on task but retaining the information and being able to make connections in order to answer questions or write an essay (for school).

Dyslexia is more a reading disability that initially shows mostly in difficulty with decoding written language. Did you have problems with actually decoding the words in front of you; for instance, frequent reversals, dropping or adding of letters, consistent replacement/confusion of letters and/or letter combinations, etc. Over time, the consistent decoding problems create comprehension issues as students who can't decode the words they encounter obviously can't understand what they are reading well.

Retention of information in order to make connections is a problem often seen with ADHD. That is an attention problem, not so much about staying physically on task, but more about attend cognitively to the material at hand in order to recall and access it later.

[Miswimmy1]

I don't reverse letters or anything but I can't read in my head (skim). If I do that I often skip lines, etc. It takes me a long time to read things because I read word for word.

[Samanthagreene]

People with ADHD and dyslexics are often slow readers. However, dyslexia should only affect reading (although new studies say it might affect word recall and memory) and ADHD should appear in other parts of life, often with impairments in executive functions.
If you've ever seen letters flip as you read, that's probably dyslexia. Other things dyslexics do include inserting words from a line lower into the current line, having a bad grasp of phonics, and rereading or skipping lines.
For more information on dyslexia, a good book is The Dyslexic Advantage.

[montanan4ever]

It would be a good idea to get professionally evaluated for this stuff.