When School is Harder Than it Should Be…Teens With Learning Disabilities

Feature Editor:
Deanna Kaplan, 18
Arizona

Have you ever felt like everyone understood what the teacher was saying and you didn’t? Are you always the last person to turn in a test? Have you ever been so confused by a subject that no matter how many times someone tried to explain it to you, you just couldn’t understand it? Though almost everyone has trouble with school occasionally, sometimes struggling is more than struggling: it’s a learning disability.

A learning disability is a difference in the way a person’s brain works. It can affect a person’s ability to write, read, understand what they see or hear, or remember and organize information. There are many different kinds of learning disabilities, and each affects a person in a different way. Read on to learn more and find out what a special education teacher and a teen writer have to say about their experiences!

What Have You Heard? Some LD Myths and Facts

There are lots of stereotypes about learning disabilities, many of which are not true. Do any of these sound familiar to you? Teen Voices gives you the facts on some of the most common myths about learning disabilities.

MYTH: People with learning disabilities are stupid.
FACT: Many people with learning disabilities score average or above average on intelligence tests.
MYTH: People with learning disabilities cannot learn or succeed in school.
FACT: Learning disabilities are also referred to as learning differences. This is because
people with learning disabilities can only learn effectively in specific ways. For example, someone who has trouble interpreting what they hear might learn better from reading a textbook than by listening to lectures in class. There are people with learning disabilities succeeding at schools all across the country –even Ivy League colleges!
MYTH: Learning disabilities don’t really exist. They’re just an excuse to be lazy.
FACT: A learning disability is a testable difference in the way a person’s mind functions. People with learning disabilities often have to work at a slower pace to get assignments done. But this doesn’t make them lazy—they’re usually working really hard!
MYTH: If you have a learning disability and you’re struggling in school, there’s nothing you can do about it.
FACT: Public schools are required by law to provide free assistance to students with learning disabilities. If you have a learning disability, or you think you might have one, tell someone!
MYTH: People who receive extra help for their learning disabilities are cheating.
FACT: Many students with learning disabilities receive accommodations* such as extended time on tests or note-takers for class. Receiving these accommodations isn’t cheating! They are designed to let students succeed using their natural intelligence, without their learning disabilities getting in the way.

*Accommodations: changes that assist a person with a disability.

A Teen’s Experience

Usually people are born with learning disabilities. However, sometimes brain injuries can cause learning disabilities. After a car accident, Jullielle began to suffer from aphasia*. Here, she speaks out about her experiences.

Unanticipated Aphasia

Jullielle Riven, 16
Arizona

On an ugly gray evening a couple of Novembers ago, I was in a serious car accident. The damage to my frontal lobe left me with Broca’s aphasia, which means that I can usually understand other people and can communicate through writing, but I can no longer verbally communicate with fluency*.

Immediately after the accident, frustration tinged with depression loomed over my life. In my head, I could hear exactly what I wanted to say, but when I tried to speak, it all came out mangled and confused. When I spoke, I would inadvertently mix up the word order or omit a verb because of the aphasia. I would try to say “I want to go for a run tomorrow morning,” but all that I could manage to say would be embarrassingly simple: “I run” or even vaguer, “Morning”.

In school, I can no longer be the straight-A student with her eager hand waving in the air, because within the course of that gray November evening, I had acquired a learning disability. I want to finish high school and go to college – after all, my inward mental processes are excellent. I can solve calculus problems as quickly as the Math Olympiad champion, but I sometimes have trouble understanding teachers’ verbal instructions and of course, articulating my own oral responses. I am allowed to write answers to questions, although the slowness of this method is sometimes infuriating.

Suddenly I felt overwhelming admiration for the students with dyslexia and other learning disabilities who had been in previous classes with me. I regretted not paying more attention to them or trying to better understand their disabilities. Ignorant, I assumed that just because they needed extra time on tests, they weren’t as clever or funny or friendly as other students. Suddenly, I was one of those “special” students, and I realized with growing shame how misinformed my assumptions had been.

When I’m depressed about my aphasia, I remember that the doctor treating me on that fateful night in November told me later that I was lucky to have survived the accident. I am learning to adapt to life with a disability, a life with greater challenges, and conversely, a life with greater rewards.

*Aphasia: a language disorder which makes it difficult to use and understand spoke and written language.
*Fluency: ease.

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