Your Learning Disabilities

[southern california guy]

At a young age I was diagnosed with "perceptual problems" -- whatever those are. And I was in special ed for reading and math, as well as speech therapy (I had a stuttering problem when I was pretty young). I had also been diagnosed as "hyper-active". I was prescribed Retillin but when my parents gave it to me it REALLY jacked me up and I not only became totally hyper I also would throw it up. So they stopped that and decided not to give me any prescription stimulants.

In the third grade I started to get a grasp on reading and basic math and I was moved back into the classroom where I quickly moved up to become one of the top in the class (The special ed. that I'd had was very good). I ultimately went to college and got a Bachelors degree in geology.

My first geology job was working for PG&E. My boss had me diagnosed for "ADD" because I'd supposedly lost some files (They'd actually been mailed to the wrong place). The psychologist gave me a child IQ test -- then claimed that I had ADD. He told me that it could never be cured but it could be "controlled" with medication and that I would also need counselling -- and my girlfriend as well. I told him that I wasn't interested and he sort of threw a temper tantrum -- which sort of amused me.

So I have had no treatment for this supposed "disorder".

One of the things that made me feel much better about myself was that I worked as a truck driver hauling tomatoes after I got laid off from a geology job. The tomato hauling was a summer job. They trained us to drive the trucks and got us commercial drivers licenses. This was in Dixon next door to University of California Davis. Davis had a medical school and a law school. And almost all of the drivers were college students. They were older so most of them were either working on Masters, in medical school, or working on a law degree. I heard incredible things about some of the drivers. They were supposed to be super students -- people who really had it all together!

Well the season started and the way we would communicate with the dispatcher and base was through a single radio. So you heard everybody who called in. At first I was really hard on myself when I'd get things confused, almost put the truck into a dangerous place, or get lost. Then I started hearing the "incredible" people goofing up much worse -- everybody was goofing up! Everybody! I was nothing unusual, and my mistakes were nothing unusual. In fact I was goofing up much less than the other people. I can't tell you what a relief it was to realize that I was nothing unusual, and that I had just gotten into a mode where I was really hard on myself for making normal human mistakes. I felt absolutely great about myself at the end of that summer.

So I'm highly skeptical about so called "disorders". I have never bothered with any of the stupid medication and I never will. But I do keep a calender that I write things down on, and I pay bills immediately. "Normal" or not I believe in idiot proofing my life as much as possible.

[Adrestia]

[quote name='cmotherofpirl' timestamp='1309302517' post='2259939']
Protein always helps, so peanut butter, eggs, bacon etc are my usual breakfast. Cereal other than oatmeal gives you a sugar high and a fast crash, its better at night to put you to sleep.
[/quote]

I now feel better about having cereal for dinner. Thanks!!

[Adrestia]

[quote name='southern california guy' timestamp='1309303763' post='2259946']
"Normal" or not I believe in idiot proofing my life as much as possible.
[/quote]

Word.

[southern california guy]

[quote name='cmotherofpirl' timestamp='1309302517' post='2259939']
Protein always helps, so peanut butter, eggs, bacon etc are my usual breakfast. Cereal other than oatmeal gives you a sugar high and a fast crash, its better at night to put you to sleep.
[/quote]

This is very true. I do my best on a four egg omelet for breakfast (And I have low cholesterol!)

[cmotherofpirl]

[quote name='southern california guy' timestamp='1309303763' post='2259946']

"Normal" or not I believe in idiot proofing my life as much as possible.
[/quote]

EXACTLY. Routines can be a wonderful thing, things done automatically take much less energy than having to plan everything out everyday.

I have trouble if my routine gets disrupted or I miss a day because then I have to learn something all over again.

[cmotherofpirl]

[quote name='southern california guy' timestamp='1309312765' post='2260041']
This is very true. I do my best on a four egg omelet for breakfast (And I have low cholesterol!)
[/quote]

So true. As a diabetic I can't ever do the cereal routine in the morning because that is when your glucose is the highest. It has to be a protein meal, so I'm glad I love eggs

[Sarah147]

It's weird. I'll even have trouble making out the lyrics to songs; reading and writing cursive can be difficult; telling and remembering stories is sketchy.

arfink? Could you please give some examples?


Any suggestions to the questions I posed?