I went to a "special" school, if you want to fact check

[SparksMcGhee]

Hi!

I promise this wont be a generic help offering, as I don't pretend to be able to write drama or draw.

In high school, I went to Star Academy (website:http://www.staracademy.org/) for two years in order to receive special schooling for my dyslexia. The climate of the school was almost identical to the one you created. I know that it calls itself a school for "gifted children with learning disabilities", but from my experience, its for "students with real disabilities but who still have a good shot at a normal life". We did have a full time Occupational Therapist (which is a fancy word for helps you learn to use your body better), although we mostly focused on mental difficulties. Reading/writing/math were my problems, but those schools really do help (B+ in Calculus 2a, A in English 1A, Deans highest honor roll, going to transfer to SF state). We had everything from OCD, ADD, ADHD, Aspurgers, to some more wild ones. The school was under 60 students small and had students from early elementary school to high school (some of which were over 21).

Anyway, I figured I would throw this out into the ether in case you want to ask a question about schools like these. For instance, the whole "confidentiality" thing never did seem to matter much. Most students had intense medication regimes, and they talked about them kinda like trading cards. As for the "sensitivity" thing, every Thursday we had "boys cross training". Every boy in the school (so, say about 7 to 20+) would play doge ball together. The slaughter was spectacular, 1 ball for every person at the start, by half way there was 2 balls for every person. Oh, and using smaller ones as shields was legal.

So, if you want to fact check or have a question, feel free to email me, I will also monitor this thread.

[bitpeg]

There were kids with ADD there? Is that all they had?

[SparksMcGhee]

dyslexia is less of a disorder and more of a "bucket" for anybody with a brain which thinks differently. For instance, my dyslexia affects my short term auditory memory (I basically cant remember things told to me unless it goes to long term memory) among many other little things. ADD is one of the things that is very close to dyslexia, and thus often come hand in hand. I myself have ADD too, but its not enough to get an "official" ADD diagnosis, so it just fits in the dyslexia "bucket".

So, in other words, many of us had at least a light case of ADD on top of our primary problems. The student who I was thinking of when I typed that had such severe ADD he would leave class, goto/enter the teacher's lounge, eat something from their refrigerator, return to his seat, and have little memory of it happening. The medications for ADD are pretty harsh too, lots of side effects.

[bitpeg]

The student who I was thinking of when I typed that had such severe ADD he would leave class, goto/enter the teacher's lounge, eat something from their refrigerator, return to his seat, and have little memory of it happening.

That sounds more like Tourette syndrome. I went to high school with a kid who had it. He would sometimes just get up and do a sexy dance by the ketchup dispensers or something like that.

[SparksMcGhee]

That sounds more like Tourette syndrome. I went to high school with a kid who had it. He would sometimes just get up and do a sexy dance by the ketchup dispensers or something like that.

Hrm, many of these syndromes and disorders overlap, its possible he had Tourette's, although it would have to be a rather light case.

[SirMax]

The medications for ADD are pretty harsh too, lots of side effects.

What kind of medication? :/ all the meds I've ever taken for ADHD have been side-effect free...

[bitpeg]

What kind of medication? :/ all the meds I've ever taken for ADHD have been side-effect free...

Yeah, when I was on ADD meds they didn't even have an effect. If anything, they made me more hyper.

[SparksMcGhee]

Side effects depend on dosage, although that is a good argument for him having Torrettes.

Yeah, when I was on ADD meds they didn't even have an effect. If anything, they made me more hyper.

do you have ADD (Attention Deficate Disorder) or ADHD (Attention deficient hyperactivity disorder)? or some hilarious combination? EDIT: no offense intended

I don't pretend to know a ton about medications (fortunately/unfortunately medication was never part of my dyslexia remedy, just lots of hard work) but from what I hear;
The drugs for calming people down are rather side effect free, but the anti psychotic drugs and ones used to force concentration tend to have side effects.

[SirMax]

Side effects depend on dosage, although that is a good argument for him having Torrettes.

Yeah, when I was on ADD meds they didn't even have an effect. If anything, they made me more hyper.

do you have ADD (Attention Deficate Disorder) or ADHD (Attention deficient hyperactivity disorder)? or some hilarious combination? EDIT: no offense intended

I don't pretend to know a ton about medications (fortunately/unfortunately medication was never part of my dyslexia remedy, just lots of hard work) but from what I hear;
The drugs for calming people down are rather side effect free, but the anti psychotic drugs and ones used to force concentration tend to have side effects.

I can never tell, the terms always seem to be used rather interchangeably. I take Concerta for it though, although I used to be on Ritalin.

[bitpeg]

do you have ADD (Attention Deficate Disorder) or ADHD (Attention deficient hyperactivity disorder)? or some hilarious combination? EDIT: no offense intended

I was a spaz when I was a kid so the doctors thought I had major ADHD and put me on concerta. Then, when I was in the 7th grade, I said fuck it and stopped taking them. My grades skyrocketed. Turns out that I was just a really hyper kid when I was little.

So to answer your question, I don't have any of those. I was probably just misdiagnosed. But hey, according to symptom charts everyone on earth has ADD.

[SparksMcGhee]

Ritalin fights hyperactivity.... I think ... /psyduck

yeah, the effects of medication on ADD often are more pronounced then the disorder...

>_< yeah, don't use me to fact check medication

[Envy]

Reading/writing/math were my problems, but those schools really do help (B+ in Calculus 2a, A in English 1A, Deans highest honor roll, going to transfer to SF state).

Yeah, there's really no reason why someone with dyslexia can't get high grades and/or succeed in life, it just requires alternative non-linear teaching methods that you won't find any public school because it's an accepted method of teaching and anyone who struggles with it is just made to believe they're stupid. That fact that dyslexia is called a disability or a disorder at all is actually pretty insulting.

[arrhythmia_one]

Reading/writing/math were my problems, but those schools really do help (B+ in Calculus 2a, A in English 1A, Deans highest honor roll, going to transfer to SF state).

Yeah, there's really no reason why someone with dyslexia can't get high grades and/or succeed in life, it just requires alternative non-linear teaching methods that you won't find any public school because it's an accepted method of teaching and anyone who struggles with it is just made to believe they're stupid. That fact that dyslexia is called a disability or a disorder at all is actually pretty insulting.

I remember the founder of modern Independent Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew also had it at some point of time, but it hampered his Chinese language, but had no effect on other subjects...

[SparksMcGhee]

[quote="Envy"
Yeah, there's really no reason why someone with dyslexia can't get high grades and/or succeed in life, it just requires alternative non-linear teaching methods that you won't find any public school because it's an accepted method of teaching and anyone who struggles with it is just made to believe they're stupid. That fact that dyslexia is called a disability or a disorder at all is actually pretty insulting.[/quote]

Just to fill in anybody who doesn't know, dyslexia's standard characteristics are a brain which does not have a dominant side (thus making people very multi-talented and have very little bias between hands). Strangely, the most stereotypical problem with dyslexics is that they can inverse things, which is actually based in how the motor cortex works, your right and left hands are wired in a mirrored fashion. If you hold a pencil in each hand and tell your right hand to write your name, your left will write it upside down and backwards.

The problem is that every "dyslexia" is at least slightly different, I had a neuropsychiatric evaluation when I entered high school, and from what I can tell (the results were like 18 pages of moon speak), my primary problems are a really short auditory memory and a cognitive speed (how fast your brain moves) just under half that of a "normal" human's. Luckily, I am also ambidextrous, have very high hand/eye coordination and dexterity, and am "really smart".

>_> In other words, I would do fine in school, it just takes me twice as long to do the same cognitive task. Luckily for me the worth of a class is MEASURED in time taken to do the work >_< for the normal person. I also sound like a fsking moron when I try and keep up with a normal speed conversation (half cognitive speed + normal vocal = fail speak). On the other hand, having to keep up with normal conversation/lectures/classes my whole life is like resistance training for my whole brain, so the few tasks which do not require whatever bit of the cognitive part of my brain I can do extra good. Perhaps that's why I am enjoying my new hobby: making chain mail.

In other words, dyslexics would be the super skilled "Renaissance" men of the past you hear about, who could do everything at least a little bit ok. Also, dyslectics can be spectacular multitaskers, IDK how that works.

[Envy]

I remember the founder of modern Independent Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew also had it at some point of time, but it hampered his Chinese language, but had no effect on other subjects...

If he had it once then he's always had it. It's not something you catch and get cured of later. But yeah, if you want to look up a list of famous dyslexics you'll find people like Thomas Edison, Walt Disney, Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill and Richard Branson on the list.

The problem is that every "dyslexia" is at least slightly different

As you said before, dyslexia is a bucket term and rather vague, not least due to the variety of ways it affects people.

In other words, dyslexics would be the super skilled "Renaissance" men of the past you hear about, who could do everything at least a little bit ok. Also, dyslectics can be spectacular multitaskers, IDK how that works.

I'm not sure about multitasking but I've found that many dyslexic people handle spacial concepts very well and, if they've got the body, do very well at sport.