Learning Disabilities, YOU, YOUR MEMORY,and Mental Health

[Guest_128]

Hey to you,

Recently I forced myself to do a two day first aid course,the first 90% was hands on and I had so much fun,making everyone laugh,challenging the teacher with questions(she hated me) and seriously being interested.

The last 10% was multiple choice,no dramas easy as,there was 18 people in the class ranging from 15yrs-68yrs.

I was the last to leave!

I read and re-read a lot of the questions,they didn't make sense,she hadn't said anything about these questions I thought. Some I was positive I was correct. 20min after the last person had left,I handed my test over. XXXXXXXX WRONG She then read out a question that couldn't get,bam just like it was nothing I answered with the correct answer. What the go????

She passed me of course.

My family were so proud of me. Yip pee I was not!

That night I typed something different into google, LEARNING DISABILITIES (I was always typing memory loss)

OMG !!! The flood gat s opened,This is me there talking about.

Anger fell on me,why didn't anyone tell me?

Some things that make me believe I have a learning disability.

I can't remember,people's names,friends,relatives kid names,holidays ,time frames,books,the page I just read,passwords,movies,doctors,emails,perfume,phone numbers,words to songs or who sung a song.birthdays,number plates,licence numbers,when I saw people last,how old my parents are. How to get the emails up on main computer,spelling is very bad. I have lived at this house for 5yrs,I can't temper house phone or post code. ETC

What your experience on Learning Disabilities and Mental Health??

some

[MarkJT]

9 names, i used to have a good memory...."used" being the main word. My memory is like a siv now and this is all thanks to PTSD and the trauma on my brain.

I guess i am "lucky" in the sense that i know what has caused my poor memory. Will it improve over time? Don't know, guess i can answer that in a few years time.

I basically put every appointment and everything that i need to remember in my phone and set a reminder. Need it because i pretty much forget every time!

Mark

[MsPurple]

HI. I also have dyslexia and when I was younger I had vocal dyspraxia. Meaning I couldn't talk or articulate what I wanted to say. It was probably a part of my dyslexia as well as me struggling to figure out how to make the sound I wanted out.

I found that me being kept back a grade made my anxiety a bit worse as an adult. But at the time my parents did what they thought was best. Me trying to read would cause me great anxiety as a child. I would have a psychogenic cough, and I would just freeze. I can't fully remember it because I was young but I did feel stupid needing to be kept back a grade because of my dyslexia. But now I can see things some maybe cant. Like I can figure maths out a bit easier because I can kinda see an image in my head that helps me figure it out (can explain it)

Now that I am an adult i have overcome it by going to uni and finishing. Yes I still have dyslexic moments and still have to google how to pronouns some new words but I'm ok with it.

[Guest_128]

Hi Mark,MsPurple and all,

I would say that having any sort of memory loss that is bought on later in life would be intensely difficult to cop.

Wow that's so encouraging for all to know(sorry if I read it somewhere else) MsPurple that you even stepped foot in a uni,good for you.

They also repeated me in 3rd year,I was always the class clown and pushed everyone to all limits. I can recall my mum crying and telling the principal when I was in year 8 that I'm not a naughty girl,there is something wrong with her,why can't you see that,we need help!

Im interested how you started your thread saying,

I also have dyslexia, do you think that is a typical story of mine?

Later

[Guest_128]

Hi,

Has anyone worked out that they have learning disabilities? As well as MH

I would like to hear your stories.

Later

[Banjoman]

Hi Everyone, and thank you for making this thread 9 names.

Fear has gripped my whole life. A slow academic performance throughout my school years was a torment. Why I struggled to learn is unknown to me. I did, however, realised at an early age ; I remember asking my mum to re-enrol into another primary school so I could go down a year and no one would know who I
was. And she did so. I repeated the same year in another school. But it didn’t help. I still struggled. The worst part was I felt ashamed. Ashamed I could not academically progress like the other kids. Teachers seemed to give up. I remember being told by my year 7 teacher that I should not even bother going to high school because “you’re a dumbass”.

Throughout high school, still unable to read or write, I grew to be scared of life and ashamed who I was. I believe during these years my anxiety exploded and took a toll on my mental health. I barely passed high school;
my kind 12 grade English teacher only gave me a pass because she felt sorry for me. I got into the bad habit of telling everyone I was okay and doing great - it fooled them all. I have kept lying about my life to my friends ever since. I hate thinking about it now, all the stupid stuff I have said to impress people and to hide my shame.

The shame of being illiterate had me quitting good jobs as the risking of being found out grew closer. I also had to leave a few jobs because people did find out and I was bullied for it, " I can't even believe you even have a drives license" - a former boss.

I have missed out on life changing opportunities and missed out on achieving personal goals and dreams.

Now that I’m 32, looking back, anxiety has been my life's carriage and my poor literacy is the deep rocky mud that surrounds and ultimately prevents me from dismounting.

After losing my last job I wanted to turn my life around and stop being scared and ashamed of my poor literacy. I wanted the skills to take on life changing opportunities. More importantly wanted to be true to myself and stop lying to everyone.

So I told everyone I knew about literacy problem along with revealing the truth about my life. Some people were shocked, some were angry, some felt sorry for me. In the end I lost some friends.

That is okay, I am making progress now with help from the Reading and Writing hotline people. My tutor believe I may have visual dyslexia so I am getting test this month.

[bluewater]

my young daughter developed memory loss that greatly effects her academically due to PTSD We all have calendar app's on our phone that help greatly or write little memos and emails to ourselves yay for technology. It was really hard for her to come to terms with and she often leaves things instead of doing them and getting it wrong but we are slowly progressing. I know alot of people are aware that our mental health can effect our memory but so many also are not aware.

[Guest_128]

Wow, Banjoman you amaze me so much,

You write so well and make so much sense,question how? I am forever hoping spell check works out what I am trying to say.

and I don't know you but you just seem like such a goer.

Have you done the online tests for learning disabilities?

How is your memory with movies,songs,names,etc.

so many questions sorry.

Later

[Guest_128]

Hi Bluewater,nice name,

Thanks for the tip about phones,ATM I have a crap ph and its driving me more crazy.

You sound like an awesome mum and hope you get time out for you too.

Later

[Banjoman]

Hello 9 names,

9 names later said:

You write so well and make so much sense,question how? I am forever hoping spell check works out what I am trying to say.

I try my best, since last year I have come along way. I have fallen in love with reading books and I am learning the beauty of language (in other words, I always have a dictionary next to me looking up words I don't understand). It's not easy, I have to check my spelling and grammar all the time. Auto-spell checker in MS Word is a life saver.

Sometimes I feel I can speak better then I can write. Google has similar program to MS Word called Google Docs, which runs on your web-browser for free. It has a nice feature called Speech to Texts, where you can talk through a microphone on your webcam and it types it out for you with surprising accuracy.

Also check out another free website called 'slickwrite' it actually checks your writing for grammar errors, potential stylistic mistake. It is used by many online writers. I recommend it.

9 names later said:

and I don't know you but you just seem like such a goer.

It takes a lot out of me, I truly do struggle. I feel I'm fighting my depression and lack of literacy knowledge at the same time. Some days I can not read or write a thing because I am overwhelmed and tired by everything in life. But on my good days I try to get the most I can done.

9 names later said:

Have you done the online tests for learning disabilities?

I have tried but I don't know how some of these tests work. I did the color dyslexia online the other day but I didn't understand what I was meant to do. As I said before, my tutor is booking me in for a reading test soon to see if I need pink or yellow tinned reading glasses.

9 names later said:

How is your memory with movies,songs,names,etc.

Hopeless most of the time. But I feel my bigger problem is comprehending systems and rules of things. For example, I am currently learning how to recognize adverbs and adjectives in sentences and what words they modify. Now for most people, they can pick this up within a a hour or less but for me it takes weeks of repetition and memorizing before my brains gets it. Makes me feel dumb as a stump sometimes, but when I do learn things I am over the moon.