Is a learning disability part of AS?

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my school categorized my aspergers as a "psychological disability" which I'm not sure what grants me. The learning disability part was a separate DSM diagnosis and that's what got me extra time on exams and such...

so I would presume, it depends on who you talk to, but probably that aspergers by itself doesn't mean having a learning disability, but that people who have aspergers tend to have learning disabilities also.

For me AS is a disability and a difference, it is a learning disability and enhancement.

Unfortunately we all do seem to have difficulties in thinking dialectically, that is the ability to reconcile seemingly irreconcilable opposites. I stress the word SEEMINGLY with great importance.

Last edited by criss on 27 Apr 2008, 8:45 am, edited 1 time in total.

They told me I should do perfect in school, but I do not and they said that must be my AS then.

They couldn't figure out what the exact problem is and how to solve it though.

I do think the problem really is with the style of teaching. I don't fit in a classroom and I do not learn like all the other students. I'm usually either far behind or occasionally far ahead. But I can't even give the same answer as 29 other people in a room of 30 students.

I would say learning difficulties not learning disability as they is a difference between da 2.

I was fortunate not to have any associated learning disabilties. I was a good student. I was originally classified as being "hyperactive." (I am high energy, but not hyper.)

It depends on the person, I guess. The only class I failed was gym, and that was years ago. It wasn't due to performance, really, it was because gym was only once a week and they wouldn't let you do it if you didn't have the right kind of shoes.

Other than that I have been on the honor-roll for 6 years. One of those years I had high honors(all As) and this year I have 2 quarters honor roll and 1 quarter high honors. I guess when it comes to education I just click |3

Well, Aspies do often have uneven cognitive profiles. They might be awesome with visual-spatial information, but might have difficulties processing verbal information. That would cause the discrepancy between potential (overall cognitive ability) and performance which might constitute a learning disability. Plus, many Aspies have problems with executive functioning, which is a component of most learning disabilities (I'm not sure if "executive dysfunction" on its own is considered an LD or not).

Also, Aspies are often detail-oriented, with the consequence of having difficulty with holistic-processing (this may be the opposite of some AD profiles). This can lead to problems with reading comprehension, identifying the theme of a narrative, etc. Just throwing this out there- that many Aspies do have certain patterns of cognitive weaknesses/strengths that may be discrepant enough to cause learning problems in certain academic subjects. And I would argue that this *is* part of their AS.

There is a high comorbid of NVLD (which is non-verbal learning disability) in AS. Not all people with AS have NVLD but over 85% of people with NVLD are AS. This is the subgroup of people with sensory issues, who learn best usually with someone showing and telling them how to do something.... who have issues learning from books, need new working material laid out in "how-to" order... step one, two, three, and usually have poor grades on tests that test for working ability vs rote knowledge.

So while AS itself is not a learning disabilty beyond reading comprehension (what people wrote vs what they really meant to say), there are learning disabilities linked to AS.