Anyone else dealt with a learning disability?

Kari

Justin told me tonight that - 5 days into kindergarten - he's done learning. Apparently he thinks he's dumb because he can't write his name, and he's the only kid in the class who can't. He's also realized that he can only recognize 3 letters of the alphabet consistently and the other kids know most of them. I had him tested this summer for cognitive delays, and while I'm still waiting for the appointment with the developmental pediatrician for the final summary of those tests, the psychologist who gave them said he was well above average in almost everything but in the 16th percentile for a visual portion of the test. So I'm guessing he has something like dyslexia or a physical eye issue like tracking.

He has a struggle ahead of him, but the biggest struggle seems to be within himself. He wants to be the smartest and fastest and overall best at everything. So far at school when he knows he's not going to be good at something, he refuses to even try. I've tried to explain to him about learning disabilities and focus on his strengths, but he's beating himself up over this. Any tips for helping your kids (or yourself) understand their learning disability and accept that they have strengths and weaknesses?

allthingslucky

Rylie just turned 7 and still isn't reading. She has ADHD and is being evaluated for some other things and reading/writing are very difficult for her. She is excellent at math and science, though. We home school her so thankfully we can go at her pace and work with her as much as she needs in order to get her to where she needs to be. It's very frustrating and heartbreaking to watch her struggle. Sometimes I'm thankful for Rylie's late birthday, this year if she was in public school she would only be in 1st grade, which I think would help tremendously since she isn't a "mature" 7 year old.

LeahT

Tell him to try to not beat half up about it, Showing him that even you struggle with things and need help works for some children. I would recommend getting in contact with programs that offer after school help specifically for children with leaning disabilities so he can interact with other children with similar difficulties and not feel like he's so different. If the results do come back he has something it would help since some children need that label to know it's not them that's stupid it's just they learn a little different or at a different pace, IDEA will help with providing services as well.
It really don't like the way schools now are pushing to learn so much, kinder and now TK when children are just not ready for it. It takes 150 hours to teach a 5 year old the concept of a calendar but when taught to a 8 year old it takes only 5 minutes.

old mama

My son just turned 9 and is in 3rd grade. I knew he was a bright little boy and so creative but he struggled and struggled in math and reading K, 1st and 2nd grade...for some reason things are clicking now and he is doing much better. I really think for some kids they are not developmentally ready for formal lessons. I am shocked sometimes when he brings his homework home what they are teaching these kids at such a young age...and I was a teacher for 15 yrs!

K&H

Isn't this exactly what you thought might happen? You said his testing showed that he's a bright kid with some differences in learning. That's what is showing up here. He's frustrated because of those differences and you are now in a place to help him figure out what to do about that. Keep in good communication with his teacher about his needs, and if you're going to leave him in kindergarten you'll have to help him think about things differently. Can you help him to expect that he'll be there for two years? That he has so much time to learn and his only job right now is to have fun and get used to being in a class? Is his teacher aware that he has a learning disability? Is she pushing him to know more or be in a different place than he is? I would get on the same page and make best friends with the teacher as a first step. If she gets what's going on, she can make all the difference. If she doesn't see what's happening, or won't see what make Justin unique then it's going to be a long year.

Kari

So, as an update, I did get to meet with the developmental pediatrician who said that Justin has ADHD and anxiety. He also has a few atypically low scores on his cognitive testing, but because most things were well above average, he comes out average overall (meaning he likely won't get extra help or accommodations for his learning issues, but I'm still pursuing that). The biggest thing she said that stuck out to me was that he refused to answer some of the questions on the test that were open-ended, creative, and had no right answer. She attributed this to high anxiety, a perfectionist attitude, and a sense that there was a right answer he didn't know the answer to, so he wasn't going to answer at all. This is what his teacher and I have been seeing in class as well. Plus, he really got to showcase his anxiety level after the first two fire drills, taking a few hours to process the experience and not being okay to rejoin eating/playing/working until he saw me and we talked about it. Can't wait to see what Monday's code red lockdown at 2PM will do to him. At least I'm free that day from 2-3.

Interestingly, the day after he said he was never going to write again, he went to school and wrote his whole name on a paper. Then it came home and I totally understand his comment that all the other kids recognize their names and he only understands three letters. They're having him write it lowercase and he's still working on uppercase letters. So the J was capital, the U and S look the same either way, and the "tin" part was completely foreign to him. :rolleyes: