Do I have a learning disability? Very frustrated.

[HeartNSoul]

Hello I'm a new member here.

I've been trying to talk about this on other sites but this one seems to be the best with lots of helpful people.

My biggest concern right now is that I might have a learning disability because, well, I'm up to a point where I cannot understand anything that is being taught in my classes.

I'm trying for an electrical engineering or computer engineering major but I was completely unprepared at how hard these classes are.

This is my first time taking one of these courses (I have no experience in this field prior), but it just intrigued me at first seeing people working on cool projects and such so I wanted to give it a try.

I'm pretty sure I'm failing an EE class, and another computer science. It has come to a point where just understanding a single sentence in the textbook has become challenging.

And because of this, I cannot finish any of my homework on time. This has nothing to do with procrastination, it's because I have no idea how to do them, and worst yet, I can't even understand the problems that they are asking. In one of my classes we have labs every week, we have 10 labs so far, I have only been able to finish 2 of them, because of the rest were so hard to me I don't even know where to begin.

We get 1 week to do our homework, in the middle we can go ask our TAs for help. I do go to the TA, but I still cannot understand. While they are nice, they would give me "hints" on how to do the problems but I still cannot twist my brain around to see the connection between my homework and what is being taught to me. In other words, my math and logic insight is just atrocious, and completely frozen.

I go to every class, except there was a week where I missed all the lectures because I was completely distraught. But since then I've been able to calm down somewhat.

I also have a tutor as well, while the tutoring has helped a lot. I STILL cannot do the homework by myself. I almost need him to do the homework for me at times, I know....it's very embarrassing.

The problem is, while he's teaching me how to do it, I understand. While the professor is explaining things, I kind of understand. But when I have to do the homework by myself, my brain just cannot link them together. The problems seem completely different than what the professor teaches.

I know the most important thing in these classes is understanding the concepts. But how do I get myself to understand them? I've tried a lot of things. I even bought other textbooks, looked at youtube lectures. But my brain is still unable to click. I'm starting to think that something is seriously wrong with me.

Anyone have any similar experiences?

[GregD]

Hi HeartNSoul,

It sounds to me that you have jumped ahead of yourself. Let me explain what I mean.

I have seen very often in my experience that people don't really understand very basic fundamental things and then the year goes by and the subjects continues building one brick on top of another brick and soon you are in the situation where the teacher has built 2 stories of the house and you are completely lost because you did not really understand the fundamental bricks which were used to start building the house.

What I suggest you is to continue your course and re-take it if needed because you seem to love where it leads, BUT at the same time, you need to spend more hours studying and go back to the most beginning to the most basic concepts which you DO understand and really really understand each single one of those basic concepts and while in parallel the course is going you are also building the house of knowledge yourself. But you must not rush, you must really truly understand one concept before you go on to the next one, because each concept is like a brick and they go on top of one another and if you miss even 1 in the chain you will have problems later on.

So go to the basics, take the most simple concept that you truly 100% understand and build your own knowledge yourself.

You MUST work many more hours because you have to catch up, but you know what it is worth it! and you can do it!

[HeartNSoul]

Hello, thanks for the advice. I will put in lots more work, even though I think I'm already putting in a lot.

However, I don't think that getting good grades have anything to do with how much you study, it's all about understanding the material.

Right now, I just find it very hard to understand the material.

[annabe]

Dear HeartnSoul,
I feel your frustration but keep at it my friend, even if it is slow.... you will have to work harder.. burning the wick at both ends, so the saying goes. I wish you well through your struggle.
Annabe

[HeartNSoul]

I still find it very very hard to do the homework.

I'm looking online, books....everywhere....still don't know how to do it.

I don't have much time left

[quiethumir]

Have you tried getting a diagnosis from a medical/psychiatric professional?

It could be that you really have a learning disability. It could also be that you have limiting beliefs which create this negative experience for you.

You mentioned that you don't think you're a procrastinator. How are your energy levels? Do you feel like you want to do something and at the same time not knowing how to do it? Do you feel that you are competent enough to clarify how you need to do it?

[ChristsLight]

Have you had trouble before this in other subjects? If not, it is likely simply an issue of the material being too complex. People have strengths in different areas, and some people are just awful at science. I wouldn't be too hard on yourself.

[zeloc]

It sounds like you are quite far in the class and it might be late to try to catch up from the beginning to where you are now, especially if the material is complicated. Can you drop the courses and re-take them next semester? How did you find your tutor?

I would identify the smartest persons in the class and ask them if they can help you. Keep asking different persons until someone accepts. A good teacher will not do the homework for you but will teach you the concepts so that you can understand it. If you are not understanding something, it is because they are not teaching you correctly. I don't know if I've ever taken a class where I couldn't explain a concept to someone else.

[AngelPsychic444]

Originally Posted by HeartNSoul

Hello I'm a new member here.

I've been trying to talk about this on other sites but this one seems to be the best with lots of helpful people.

My biggest concern right now is that I might have a learning disability because, well, I'm up to a point where I cannot understand anything that is being taught in my classes.

I'm trying for an electrical engineering or computer engineering major but I was completely unprepared at how hard these classes are.

This is my first time taking one of these courses (I have no experience in this field prior), but it just intrigued me at first seeing people working on cool projects and such so I wanted to give it a try.

I'm pretty sure I'm failing an EE class, and another computer science. It has come to a point where just understanding a single sentence in the textbook has become challenging.

And because of this, I cannot finish any of my homework on time. This has nothing to do with procrastination, it's because I have no idea how to do them, and worst yet, I can't even understand the problems that they are asking. In one of my classes we have labs every week, we have 10 labs so far, I have only been able to finish 2 of them, because of the rest were so hard to me I don't even know where to begin.

We get 1 week to do our homework, in the middle we can go ask our TAs for help. I do go to the TA, but I still cannot understand. While they are nice, they would give me "hints" on how to do the problems but I still cannot twist my brain around to see the connection between my homework and what is being taught to me. In other words, my math and logic insight is just atrocious, and completely frozen.

I go to every class, except there was a week where I missed all the lectures because I was completely distraught. But since then I've been able to calm down somewhat.

I also have a tutor as well, while the tutoring has helped a lot. I STILL cannot do the homework by myself. I almost need him to do the homework for me at times, I know....it's very embarrassing.

The problem is, while he's teaching me how to do it, I understand. While the professor is explaining things, I kind of understand. But when I have to do the homework by myself, my brain just cannot link them together. The problems seem completely different than what the professor teaches.

I know the most important thing in these classes is understanding the concepts. But how do I get myself to understand them? I've tried a lot of things. I even bought other textbooks, looked at youtube lectures. But my brain is still unable to click. I'm starting to think that something is seriously wrong with me.

Anyone have any similar experiences?

One of the things you might want to take a closer look at is your diet. Eating foods that boost your "brain power" would be a good idea (you can do some searches on that and find lots of suggestions on what to eat).

Also, look into herbs like gingko biloba, which boosts brain power, it's been proven in studies that this herb can help students do better on tests and have a much better overall learning experience while in school.

[newkaren]

Maybe your studying the wrong area. I have mild dyslexia. And that means that I should not get a job as a news paper editor, or prof reader.

It also means I am good at things other are not. Dyslexics make good artists, photographers, x-ray techs, (both for the TSA, and in medicine) and interestly enough writers. (with a good prof reader).

[HeartNSoul]

Originally Posted by quiethumir

You mentioned that you don't think you're a procrastinator. How are your energy levels? Do you feel like you want to do something and at the same time not knowing how to do it? Do you feel that you are competent enough to clarify how you need to do it?

Well, I never think much about my energy levels. I do go workout as much as I can, even being extremely busy. That lessens my stress a little I guess, I can't really tell at this point.

I don't procrastinate because I start doing my homework almost immediately everyday, I turn on the computer and I start doing my homework, the problem I always get stuck fairly quick early on. And when I do, I try to look at the textbook, online, or wherever, and most of the time I can never figure out the solution so I just give up and go the TA or tutor.

For example, it's like this. For one of my classes I have to write a program that loops the sequence (0, 1, 2) over and over again. Ok, I know how to write a program that goes like (0, 1, 2, 3, 4.......x), kind of similar but at the same very different. So I just can't figure it out how you would loop the sequence, so I went to my tutor. He figured it out pretty fast, and said that I had to implement the remainder of the number 3 in order to do it.

So I was sitting there thinking " how in the hell was I supposed to know that???"

I mean, I know how the find the remainder of 3, yes, it's easy. But I had no idea that you were supposed to USE this implementation, and link it together. It's just waaaay too vague. I could not see the connection until he point it out for me.

It's like playing one of those ridiculous adventure puzzle PC games like Myst where you have to play a bunch of piano notes in some cryptic order....and the clues they give you are so vague.

It's like the connection and insight isn't there for me right now.