Am i the only one here with disagnosed learning difficulties?

[downandlonely]

I don't really have learning difficulties (as far as school and books). But I do think I have undiagnosed autism. That makes it hard for me to read people's non-verbal cues.

[divine1966]

I am sure you aren’t the only one on here with learning disability or learning deficits. But people don’t have to disclose so you’d not know. Did you want to find other people with learning disability? It could be tricky as in my experience most people only disclose when asking for accommodations for education and training as well as work accommodations (if needed). Otherwise people prefer to keep it to themselves

You can try to connect to people through different organizations like for example
Work with members and partners – Learning Disability England

[The_little_didgee]

What do you mean by learning difficulties? Are you referring to learning disabilities such as dyslexia or developmental/intellectual delay?

Originally Posted by The_little_didgee

What do you mean by learning difficulties? Are you referring to learning disabilities such as dyslexia or developmental/intellectual delay?

i have both

[The_little_didgee]

Originally Posted by willowtigger

i have both

Thanks for answering.

I don't know of anyone else on this forum with an intellectual disability. However there are people with learning disabilities (dyslexia, etc...) on here.

I struggle with auditory processing disorder and autism spectrum disorder. When I was a toddler my parents thought I was hearing impaired and had some kind of developmental delay since I didn't start talking until I was three.

Social development is delayed in autism spectrum disorder.

As a teenager I would get punished for getting stuff wrong and making mistakes

Lesson: willowtigger not allowed to make mistakes or else

Possible trigger:

he would hit me round the head

Sorry I can't get code working on phone

willowtigger hopes she not triggered anyone by not making the [ ] buttons work when posting on my phone

[*Beth*]

Unfortunately, I went to elementary, middle, and high school at a time when kids weren't diagnosed with learning disabilities, they were just "not trying hard enough" and were passed through if we behaved nicely. While I excelled in English I have never been able to pass a pre-algebra class. Doing math beyond basic third grade level is impossible for me. My inability to do math has been a detriment to my life. For example, I did well in college in all subjects - but could never pass a math class, so never earned a degree. The financial part of my life has always been, and remains, a struggle.

I'm so glad that children nowadays are given the help they need with regard to learning disabilities.

[divine1966]

Originally Posted by *Beth*

Unfortunately, I went to elementary, middle, and high school at a time when kids weren't diagnosed with learning disabilities, they were just "not trying hard enough" and were passed through if we behaved nicely. While I excelled in English I have never been able to pass a pre-algebra class. Doing math beyond basic third grade level is impossible for me. My inability to do math has been a detriment to my life. For example, I did well in college in all subjects - but could never pass a math class, so never earned a degree. The financial part of my life has always been, and remains, a struggle.


I'm so glad that children nowadays are given the he4lp they need with regard to learning disabilities.

I believe that if you truly struggled with math, nowadays you’d receive help in both school and college. It’s a shame that children were not getting the help they needed and thus could not be as successful as they should have been in the past.

Now (I understand that many disagree) going by my vast experience, many people don’t understand and can’t master math because it wasn’t taught right. Material wasn’t broken down and variety of strategies and tools weren’t used. So many assume they just can’t do math. Then when they come across better instruction, they might discover in adulthood that they actually can do math. Of course I am not talking about true intellectual disability. But anyone with average intelligence can do math at a high school level if they are taught right.

[downandlonely]

I am glad that kids today get more help than they did when I was in school. I think if I had born after 2000, I might have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and got help with social skills. As it is, because I have good grades they thought I didn't need help.

[*Beth*]

Originally Posted by divine1966

I believe that if you truly struggled with math, nowadays you’d receive help in both school and college. It’s a shame that children were not getting the help they needed and thus could not be as successful as they should have been in the past.

Now (I understand that many disagree) going by my vast experience, many people don’t understand and can’t master math because it wasn’t taught right. Material wasn’t broken down and variety of strategies and tools weren’t used. So many assume they just can’t do math. Then when they come across better instruction, they might discover in adulthood that they actually can do math. Of course I am not talking about true intellectual disability. But anyone with average intelligence can do math at a high school level if they are taught right.

After second grade I never had even one good math teacher. Each one was a mean, sadistic person. In third grade, when I began having struggles with math the teacher would whack me in the head with a large felt-tipped pen. I already struggled with migraines and frequent headaches. When she hit me with the pen I just gave up on math, then fell behind more and more over the years.

[Open Eyes]

@Beth I’m so sorry you experienced that. Teachers in the past were often entitled selfish individuals that had no true talent for teaching young children. It was not unusual for them to be terrible parents too. I had my share of awful teachers too and young children don’t realize that there are teachers that can be the worst idiots of all.

[divine1966]

Originally Posted by *Beth*

After second grade I never had even one good math teacher. Each one was a mean, sadistic person. In third grade, when I began having struggles with math the teacher would whack me in the head with a large felt-tipped pen. I already struggled with migraines and frequent headaches. When she hit me with the pen I just gave up on math, then fell behind more and more over the years.

That’s absolutely horrid that such things were acceptable practices. Shameful to say the least.

But even in the absence of abusive volatile behaviors, math is often not taught right, even now. Some educators believe that math need to be taught in some weird ways with some innovative approaches . So they create convoluted curriculum that looks really cutesy but at the end it’s just muddles the water a and confuses everyone . Math is math. It doesn’t need bells and whistles. All it really needs is paper and pencil and someone to show you how to do things. But I digress

Sorry you had such bad experiences

[downandlonely]

I used to help my classmates with math and was often able to explain better than the teacher. The teachers were good at math but not always good at teaching.

[Fuzzybear]

Originally Posted by *Beth*

After second grade I never had even one good math teacher. Each one was a mean, sadistic person. In third grade, when I began having struggles with math the teacher would whack me in the head with a large felt-tipped pen. I already struggled with migraines and frequent headaches. When she hit me with the pen I just gave up on math, then fell behind more and more over the years.

Similar happened to me with some practical ''skills'' like cooking. A mean, sadistic person trying to ''teach'' a kid anything will likely ''achieve'' their goal, which is NOT to actually teach that subject, other than perhaps a dislike for or even anxiety about that subject.