Do you have learning difficulties?

Never been actually diagnosed as such . When I was 6 my parents were persuaded to take me to Great Ormond street as my first school in Thailand suspected I might have what is now called cerebral palsy. This turned out to be negative and any further exploration of my difficulties was dropped. My prep school headmaster described me to my public school headmaster in 1969/70 as bad at drawing and writing(dysgraphia?) and badly coordinated (dyspraxia?) and my report card at Felsted(public school) said I was disorganised and messy(executive functioning difficulties). I was quite good at arithmetic, average at algebra, but really struggled with geometry and trigonometry.
Nowadays such things would be markers for suggesting an evaluation by an educational psychologist, but back then there was no follow up to those observations.

What first pointed me to NVLD as a possibility, and also lead to the possibility of autistic traits, was searching about discrepancies in performance re verbal vs spatial/non- verbal. As I was curious whether that suggested anything.

Here is a list of things I know about myself

Social interaction problems.

Have difficulty with small talk and initiating conversations.

Only couple of friends in 3D over 60 years

Much better at verbal IQ questions than non-verbal/ visual spatial.

Not good at constructional/manual/practical tasks. Can’t do jigsaws
meant for children.

Started doing well academically but gradual decline starting at 9.5

Had to have handwriting lessons.

Bad at sports especially gymnastics.

Have difficulty when it comes to organising and planning.

Messy and untidy

Poor sense of direction and afraid of going too far in case i get lost.

Not good in crowds as difficulty judging distances and get overwhelmed
by the toing and froing

Poor balance- was nearly 14 before i managed to ride a bike.

According to my stepdaughter- walk like I’m drunk

Poor drawing skills.

Struggle with change.

Assorted mental health issues(general+social anxiety,depression,delusions, mood swings,paranoid thinking)

Parents
  • I think if you look at the suggested criteria for adult Dcd/dyspraxia and also executive function most of that covers your description of yourself. Plus as I have posted before there is a lot of overlap between the different conditions.. so that if you are diagnosed with one it is likely that you will have elements of others and aspects of each are found in multiple conditions. Several of us have Aspergers and adhd or dyspraxia or all three like me and perhaps more. 

     I thought these were the only overlaps but the more I read posts on the forum the more I realise how ignorant that was and now realise we have other overlaps both cognitively and physically. Very special aren’t we?! 

  • Funnily enough I was looking at that Colley diagram in a book just a few days ago. Thanks for reproducing it here. Most of that is very familar. It's easier to say what is obviously not the case.

    If there are verbal and physical tics, they are a bit hidden. Or no one else has mentioned them to me yet. But then almost no one is really prepared to admit I might be right. Perhaps for others they see these things as part and parcel of an obviously rather strange me, that is actually best not mentioned to me at all.

    I mentioned ADD as a possibility to someone. Yes, I'm impulsive, have outbursts of temper and have a low frustration theshold. But absolutely, I'm easily distracted and overfocussed. I get lost in my thoughts while stuff is happening all around that really merits my attention. And recovery from that state can take a few seconds of though-gathering silence, which observers are obviously embarassed to witness. And it may be actually increasing over 60, when working under some stress.

    I notice (H) in brackets for AD(H)D. I read someplace that ADD is possible without the hyperactivity, and then can just be labelled ADD. I brought this up in a conversation and a relative said, "Well there is no way that you are hyperactive". I agreed at the time, but then mentioned ADD being possible without hyperactivity. But I later thought more about that and realised I do get rather distracting bursts of moderate hyperactivity and mania. About 30 years ago, I began to notice that, and at the time thought I might be slightly manic depressive - having previously worked with someone with severe manic depression. That proved to be a complete cul-de-sac for me, even though an occupational therapist seemed to have come to similar conclusions about some of my rather eccentric work habits.

    One of my overall impressions is that with very late adulthood diagnosis, relatives and others often have not really noticed most of the above. They have never really been aware for example that I spend a great deal of time talking (aloud) to myself. I really must pick my moments, but truth be told I'm not even all that bothered about it being overheard, but it seems it rarely is. And I'm indulging in it even more since the assessment, since it seems to actually be quite a constructive thing for me. (I recently read that a certain well-known life-coach has opined that this habit is a useful strategy to really focus on the main task in hand.)

Reply
  • Funnily enough I was looking at that Colley diagram in a book just a few days ago. Thanks for reproducing it here. Most of that is very familar. It's easier to say what is obviously not the case.

    If there are verbal and physical tics, they are a bit hidden. Or no one else has mentioned them to me yet. But then almost no one is really prepared to admit I might be right. Perhaps for others they see these things as part and parcel of an obviously rather strange me, that is actually best not mentioned to me at all.

    I mentioned ADD as a possibility to someone. Yes, I'm impulsive, have outbursts of temper and have a low frustration theshold. But absolutely, I'm easily distracted and overfocussed. I get lost in my thoughts while stuff is happening all around that really merits my attention. And recovery from that state can take a few seconds of though-gathering silence, which observers are obviously embarassed to witness. And it may be actually increasing over 60, when working under some stress.

    I notice (H) in brackets for AD(H)D. I read someplace that ADD is possible without the hyperactivity, and then can just be labelled ADD. I brought this up in a conversation and a relative said, "Well there is no way that you are hyperactive". I agreed at the time, but then mentioned ADD being possible without hyperactivity. But I later thought more about that and realised I do get rather distracting bursts of moderate hyperactivity and mania. About 30 years ago, I began to notice that, and at the time thought I might be slightly manic depressive - having previously worked with someone with severe manic depression. That proved to be a complete cul-de-sac for me, even though an occupational therapist seemed to have come to similar conclusions about some of my rather eccentric work habits.

    One of my overall impressions is that with very late adulthood diagnosis, relatives and others often have not really noticed most of the above. They have never really been aware for example that I spend a great deal of time talking (aloud) to myself. I really must pick my moments, but truth be told I'm not even all that bothered about it being overheard, but it seems it rarely is. And I'm indulging in it even more since the assessment, since it seems to actually be quite a constructive thing for me. (I recently read that a certain well-known life-coach has opined that this habit is a useful strategy to really focus on the main task in hand.)

Children
  • I think there are misconceptions about what the hyperactivity bit means. It can mean physically.. so lots of movement or lots of activity but that includes toe or hand tapping, not quite sitting still and fidgeting maybe fiddling with a pencil or craft. It can also mean mentally so that your brain is buzzing away with lots of thoughts and ideas at once whether awake or asleep.. constant chatter in your head .. they also say that hyperactivity changes as we grow older.  But you are right some people do miss out the h .. also it is recognised that there are different types and combinations of add/adhd along with the other overlaps. I too talk to myself at times , oddly enough it was more when I was working than now I’m at home by myself, I think I must have been instructing myself in an effort to counteract the other things going on around me.. I think I could probably identify in some way with all sections both diagrams .. my wiring is definitely scewwif! I won’t say it’s worse as an older person though that’s possible, but I am more aware of different aspects now, however “in the moment” I might not be. I do find myself catching myself and saying ar that’s Xyz which I couldn’t have before and that does seem to help