WHAT ARE LEARNING DISABILITIES AND ATTENTION-DEFICIT/ HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER? |
Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder
Is It Possible To Have Both a Learning Disability and ADHD?
A person is said to have a learning disability when she has normal intelligence but performs much worse in some academic area or areas (reading, writing, or math) than might be expected, given her intelligence and her good performance in other areas. Many professionals would add that she should not be considered "disabled" unless her academic performance, as measured by standardized tests, is substantially lower than the performance of her same-age peers in the general population.
Her poor performance must be due to an "information processing deficit" in her brain, and not to "extraneous factors" like inadequate teaching, limited familiarity with the English language, hearing or vision impairment, psychological problems like depression or anxiety, drug use, or medication side-effects.
For example, a college student might be very good in English, foreign language, and history, but have serious problems in math. Psycho-educational testing might show that the student has deficits in non-verbal reasoning and spatial relations (information-processing deficits) and therefore can't do math very well. There is a big difference between her high intelligence and her math ability; in other words, she shows the classic "aptitude-achievement discrepancy" which is generally required for a learning disability diagnosis.
Again, many professionals would caution that this student should not be termed "disabled" unless standardized psycho-educational testing demonstrates that her math performance is substantially lower than the math performance of people her age in the general population. In other words, many professionals would hesitate to call the student "disabled" simply because she didn't do as well as she should do, given her high intelligence or her first-rate performance in other academic areas.
People can have information-processing deficits in a variety of areas, including long-term and short-term memory, retrieval of information from memory-storage, visual and auditory processing, verbal and non-verbal reasoning, visual/motor coordination, sequencing and organizing information, and "processing speed" (the ability to quickly and simultaneously perform a number of "clerical" tasks).
Some people use the word "dyslexia" as a synonym for "learning disability." Properly speaking, however, dyslexia is a particular type of learning disability which interferes with reading.
People with dyslexia have trouble recognizing words on the printed page; they cannot easily "decode" or identify written words because they have an impaired ability to segment the written word into its underlying phonological components (basic sound-units) and then combine the sound-units into a word.
People with dyslexia can learn to read, but they often read slowly and laboriously. Because reading is effortful and tiring for them, they may be reluctant to read any more than they have to. (Sally E. Shaywitz, "Dyslexia," in The Scientific American, November, 1996.)
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM-IV), says that people with ADHD must have a "persistent pattern" of inattention, hyperactivity, and/or impulsivity.
People with inattention may appear distracted; their minds may seem to be "elsewhere and otherwhen." They may appear to ignore what people say to them. They may show poor attention to detail, produce work that is studded with errors, find it difficult to get started on tasks or complete them, or shift from one uncompleted activity to another. They may find it difficult to organize their possessions, their projects, or their time.
People with hyperactivity may be physically fidgety, may talk excessively, or may have an inner feeling of restlessness. They may rarely seem to rest quietly.
People with impulsivity find it hard to stop themselves from doing things that they feel impelled to do, and they often fail to consider the probable consequences of their actions. They may interrupt people, intrude on private conversations, or blurt out answers to questions before the questions have been completed. They generally hate to wait in line. They may make inappropriate comments, tell jokes when the prevailing mood is solemn, or take appalling risks (for example, skateboarding down very high hills). They sometimes appear to be accident-prone.
In order to receive an ADHD diagnosis, a person must show symptoms
before he is 7 years old, and his symptoms must impair him in
at least two settings (for example, home, school, or work). DSM-IV,
pp. 78-80.
It is certainly possible to have both a learning disability and ADHD; however, some people think they have both disorders when they really don't.
ADHD has cognitive effects, and these cognitive effects can produce school problems. For example, a student with ADHD may read slowly and with poor comprehension. Does this student have a learning disability, ADHD, or both?
A good assessment professional will be probably be able to tell the student whether her reading problem results from distractibility and poor working memory (characteristic of ADHD), or something else (perhaps a learning disability in visual or auditory processing).