ADD and Learning Disablities ADD Tip o the day 196

Are learning disabilities a part of ADD? No, but we have more than our share of them, which makes sense since it is all about how the brain is wired, or miswired in this case (that’s another topic, could lead to deep philosophical discussions of concept of “normal”).

Dyslexia is common, mine is limited to frequent letter or number reversals: I read pretty well.  Math disability (dyscalculia) also.  There are many specific problems of mental processing, such as difficulty with  spoken information, or with written information, or with organizing the step of an activity.  If you told my son Duane to clean his room, he accomplished nothing.  I thought it was disobedience, but I discovered that if I spelled out the steps – put your dirty clothes in the hamper, your shoes in the closet, your toys in the toy box, etc – he would do it.

Then the wikipedia discussion of learning disabilities lists so many things – clumsiness and memory problems for example, that it begins to have a big overlap with ADD, but they are not the same thing.  I’m not sure that it’s good to classify all those things as LD.

The approach is the same though, recognize the problem, whatever it is called, and make strategies.

doug

from wikipedia on LD –  Nonverbal learning disabilities often manifest in motor clumsiness, poor visual-spatial skills, problematic social relationships, difficulty with math, and poor organizational skills.

• Disorders of speaking and listening: Difficulties that often co-occur with learning disabilities include difficulty with memory, social skills and executive functions (such as organizational skills and time management).

• maybe they are calling ADD a learning disability?

• so if you have ADD or ADHD, do you have one or more learning disabilites too? It’s not unlikely.

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