Clues to Look for
Dr. Jeffrey Green, a Princeton, N.J., psychiatrist, explains that a teen with a learning difference may characterize the teacher, the subject, or school in general as “boring” as a way of rationalizing why his performance is off. It can also mean that he isn’t getting the concepts.
Other clues your teen’s difficulties could stem from a learning difference:
The problems start when the content at school gets more complex.
The problems revolve around school, and everything else is going reasonably well.
Your teen finds herself in the middle of a situation — the teacher yelling at her, for example — and has no idea what she did to get in that situation.
It’s difficult for your child to keep a natural flow of conversation going, reflecting an inability to read a social scene.
You see a pattern—waiting until the last minute to do things, leaving books at school, can’t manage his time, etc.
“These kids have always thought of themselves as smart,” Green says. “They initially had success in school and it’s not happening anymore. They don’t really put a lot of energy into studying and get grades back that don’t fit their perception of their intelligence.”
“Instead of making assumptions,” Green suggests, “ask your teen, ‘Why do you think your grades seem to be dropping?’ Kids who have purely LD or attention problems may be able to tell you, ‘I’m just having a hard time. I’m getting to the bottom of the page, and I don’t know what I’ve read.’”
Judy Davis, Ogden 12/03/08
There is also a possibility of diabetes. My daughter is 15 and did very well until sixth grade. At this point her teacher quit asking for assignments to be turned in. She felt the kids needed to learn how to do this for themselves. In many cases this is true. However, she was diagnosed with hypoglycemia this October. Research taught me that the fact that she can't remember things for more than five minutes is a HUGE! symptom of low blood sugar. The brain isn't getting the sugar it needs to function properly. She also cries for no reason and walks into walls. A new study called the dawn mind project is showing that it isn't just low blood sugar that can affect the brain. All diabetes can. It is difficult to get a Teacher to accept this. They don't understand enough about it. Don''t worry, I am teaching them.
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