"With hindsight, I know all my pain could have been prevented. To know the
cause of my problem would have enabled me to cope with it. It was the not
knowing that left me in the dark. I am not sure when I discovered I had a
learning disability. I think I always knew, but could not put a label to it. One
day I found myself at a learning disability association. Here I read some of the
literature on the topic and here I found a revelation. As I filled out a learning
disabilities checklist, I was amazed to find how much of the list applied to me.
I was also amazed to learn that many of the symptoms had to do with social
skills." 24
The three most common learning disabilities
Visual processing disability
It hinders learners' abilities to make sense of information taken in through
their eyes. It can affect their reading, mathematics and writing. People with
this disability usually present with difficulty:
- Recognizing or remembering visual information such as words,
letters, or numbers.
- Reading since the words sometimes jump around on the page.
- Tracking information and following text. They may reverse letters in
writing.25
- Seeing symbols (letters and numbers) both as separate units and in
relationship to others.
- Recognizing an object when the entire object is not visible.
- Integrating the relationship between the sum and the parts of an
object. Some learners may only see pieces while others may only see
the whole (can see the letters but not the word that it makes or visa
versa).26
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