Learning difficulties

[pellaeons_scion]

I have a problem that I wanted some help with, and being that this is one of the most intelligent places on the internet I have been, I figured I'd do it here. First off I'm not even sure if its in the right place, so if it isn't would a mod kindly move it where its supposed to be.

To start with, I am in my final year of university. However, I have a series of problems where are plaguing me. As a child I used to be an avid reader, and could digest and retain information easily and quickly. I also could read even dense and difficult material rapidly. Now it appears I have lost this ability. My concentration span when reading now dies in around 10 minutes or less, and the denser the material, the less the attention span. When reading, my eyes seem to gloss over the page, and read in a haphazard manner. Not so much sentence to sentence, but all over the place. So I have a great deal of trouble attempting to assimilate the information that is required. Whilst this is a problem, the greater issue is that when it now comes to writing essays, my grammar and logic is not clear or well-ordered. Also whatever references I do manage to find to support my essay are neither strong, convincing, or sometimes barely relevant. This means that my grades are steadily slipping. I'm not failing (yet) but to be doing work that is below the capability I know I have is distressing to say the least.

This is all causing me a great deal of stress and frustration, particularly as I know that I am capable of understanding what is being taught, but I do not seem to be able to write my essays to correctly show that I know what is being taught, and the same with my reading. And when I do try and slow down and concentrate on these things, my head just aches physically.

I've talked to the counsellor at Uni, however they seemed to dismiss it as down to lack of sleep and diet. Now that I am getting enough sleep and rectified my diet that eliminates that idea, so I am at a loss of what the hell is going on and how do I fix it? Is this a learning disorder, if so why has it never been picked up before?

help?

[Boyish-Tigerlilly]

Hmm. When did you realize you had this problem? I mean, what was the onset? From the basics, I don't see how this would be a learning disorder if it happened recently. Typically, specific learning disorders (a category of disability) do not manifest suddenly. If you had a real learning disorder, it likely would have been caught earlier and you would likely have been detected.


These are the general characteristics of SLDs.

* Short attention span
* Poor memory
* Difficulty following directions
* Inability to discriminate between/among letters, numerals, or sounds
* Poor reading and/or writing ability
* Eye-hand coordination problems; poorly coordinated
* Difficulties with sequencing
* Disorganization and other sensory difficulties

You don't need ALL of these, but many people with SLDs have many of them. I don't believe you have one, though, because they are there from birth and don't magically appear later according to the research I have done. I especially think this because you don't seem to have had a problem prior, but rather a strenght. Although I don't know to what extent your memory of the past is accurate, so I can't say certainly.

There are things that can imitate the effects of learning disorders. For instance, did you take any recent mediations? Have injures Injuries? Stresses? Sicknesses? I have heard of things with effects similar to learning disabilities manifesting in adulthood, but usually due to some trauma, sickness, medication, or stress related cause. A tumor can be one thing.


You should see a doctor. It's highly unusual for someone to so suddenly drop in language ability.

I know my memory, reading attention span, and comprehension abilities have dropped since I was a teen, but it doesn't sound as bad as you are saying yours is. But do see a doctor. That's a lot better than online diagnostics.

[pellaeons_scion]

Thanks for your reply,

In regards to the symptoms I do have a number of them.
-poor attention span
-poor memory
-poor writing
-difficulties with sequencing, logical structure

As for whether it just magically happened, the answer is no. I went back to University after about a seven year break, and these problems manifested in the first year. I have tried to struggle through them, thinking they were because I had not studied in so long, but they dont seem to be getting better. If anything they have detioriorated.

You are right though, it is a better idea to see a doctor. I'm doing that on Monday, however I just wanted to get some outside ideas as Im fresh out.

[brianeyci]

After you see the doctor, if the doctor tells you there's nothing wrong or books some appointments for specialists 2 months away, you're on your own. Much like people who feel like shit and go to the doctor, who get some blood tests, that tell them there's nothing wrong. Then they're left on their own.

So let's assume there's nothing wrong. First of all, you've reached what I call the "bullshit realization." That is, it's entirely possible to go through an entire high school and university career getting average or even excellent grades in essays bullshitting. This is because writing reports and essays is not like mathematics or science. You can easily not truly know how to write a proper essay or read material for your entire academic career and manage to get good grades in social sciences and humanities at the undergraduate level through a myraid of factors that don't show up until upper years.

No longer are essays simply about style. There is finally the realization that style is unsatisfying, and content is required. Oh, you could continue to bullshit your way through university and even life, but there is the stark knowledge that the foundation is crumbling and there is little meaning to life because everything you know is a farce.

The solution is to retrain yourself to think analytically. It is extremely painful, but you have to reteach yourself how to write proper logical essays. The first thing you should do is go back to basics. Use classic, seminal texts to lay a proper foundation, like Strunk and White to relearn the basics of the English language. After you finish, take a systemic approach to learning how to write an essay, from places like here.

As for reading, this took me awhile as well, but slowing down is essential to reading densely packed texts. In mathematics, it is not unusual for a reader to spend hours on the same page, at least at our level. At the most basic level in first year mathematics, reading and rereading proofs is a shock to high school students entering first year, because they assume they should be able to read something once and understand the proof. Not so.

In other words, any reading that is not pleasure but technically and skill oriented, vocationally oriented and useful, will require you to reread it. Once you have good understanding of material, it may be possible to skim texts like you used to for review purposes or memory recall, but do not expect to ever read texts as if opening a children's book again. This is because books have finally acertained a purpose, become so difficult and technically oriented that you cannot skim and comprehend.

Several rereads may be necessary to absorb material. Each sucessive reread can be completed faster than the previous, but only if the reread had no significant roadblocks to comprehension. If you are still feeling terrible, I suggest picking up seminal core texts like this work, which was a highlight of my mathematics career and tied many concepts together. It should be basic enough for anybody to understand. Once you spend two hours understanding a single page of this book, well, spending twenty minutes reading through a history textbook does not seem like a failure anymore. You will have to reread Struk and White 50 times. You will have to reread mathematics textbooks perhaps 100 times. You will have to reread history books 20 times. If you truly want to understand material, no longer is simply skimming proper for all cases.

So the bullshit realization has set in and you have to actually try, actually read, actually learn, because your entire life you've been dicking around. If your problem is not a medical condition, this is probably what it is. The faster you accept it and realize you have to retrain the entire way you think, the better it will be. It's hard admitting that high school and most of university was a circus with no real learning, but the sooner you understand that, the less the pain and the quicker the route to enlightenment.

[brianeyci]

The link to Strunk and White is incorrect. I suggest getting the book form, a small text easy enough to carry almost anywhere. Reading books online is incredibly unsatisfying, at least to me.

[Superman]

There are a number of things that could account for something like this. Going to a physician is a good idea; seeing a psychiatrist would be your best move... Any internist or general practitioner could help you though, so the important thing is to see someone.

[brianeyci]

Yeah, there could be a medical problem. The main thing is to go to as many doctors as you need, to reassure yourself there's no problem. If one doctor has a communication problem with you like your guidance counsellor, get another doctor. Get tests run. Do all the medical mojo. Make sure to properly communicate your symptoms beyond "I feel bad."

And after all that, which could take half a year or years especially with chronic problems and possibility for misdiagnosis... well, do you want to wait years? I didn't. If you can't afford to wait years, you have to do things in the meanwhile assuming there's no magic pill to fix you. You could feel that way for the rest of your life and have to live with that. What makes me think it's either some rare shit or a need for a life redirection is you said it's been happening for years.

Doctor's attitudes are usually, if it's been happening for years, that is chronic, it won't kill you, and I have to agree. If it won't kill you, it may not be something you can just have a surgery or eat a pill to fix. That means total change of some sort, of the kind I had to go through, and taking steps once you've come to the realization you're not as smart as you think you are and have to start from nothing.

[Boyish-Tigerlilly]

How do you feel when you read pleasure books for your age level? Do you still have the same problem? If so, I doubt it's an academic problem.

You might, however, be using a poor learning style. When I read, I don't read through the material I need to learn. I read a paragraph, then explain to myself what I read (reword it), ask a question, and then type notes.

[Soontir C'boath]

You might, however, be using a poor learning style. When I read, I don't read through the material I need to learn. I read a paragraph, then explain to myself what I read (reword it), ask a question, and then type notes.

Yea, I think the biggest problem is that people are more concern about finishing a set of pages they're assigned to read on a set deadline in which it becomes more important to the reader to speed read through the book without actually understanding what's there.

I'm guilty of that myself of which I believe is why I have been suffering academically.

[pellaeons_scion]

How do you feel when you read pleasure books for your age level? Do you still have the same problem? If so, I doubt it's an academic problem.

You might, however, be using a poor learning style. When I read, I don't read through the material I need to learn. I read a paragraph, then explain to myself what I read (reword it), ask a question, and then type notes.

No, not really. Reading for pleasure is much easier. Maybe you and Briancyi are right, that its more my learning style rather than a difficulty. Also, I think Briancyi is right when he talks about the 'bullshit realization'. I do definately have that feeling that I have managed to stumble my way through this course, without really developing the proper learning skills and academic style.

I'll keep your advice in mind and try those links and alternate learning skills. Knowing that it can take 2 hours to assimilate one page of information in an analytical course is actually a comforting thought. I think maybe I just need to slow down, as you two said.

Thanks for all your help, its been very useful.