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Sanctus
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10 Aug 2012, 5:23 am

So, right now I should be studying for my final exams in about 2-3 weeks. The problem is that I can only take on information in very small bits. So I learn 2 minutes and just HAVE to do something different like surfing the internet or listening to music before I can go on. My concentration in class has always been equally bad. Unless the topic is really interesting to me (very seldom), I just can't listen for more than a few minutes. I try, but at some point I will realize that I understood nothing the teacher said in the last 10 minutes. I hear it, but I don't comprehend or memorize it. In computer classes I can look at websites from time to time to relax for a few minutes and then try to concentrate again, but in classes without computer I'll scribble my worksheet, get either really nervous or extremely tired and have to change my sitting position every few seconds.
Could this be a learning disability? Or maybe ADD?



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10 Aug 2012, 6:37 am

Or boredom? Or a bit of everything?
I don't know, really, but I was given the diagnosis of ADHD for the same issues.


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lostgirl1986
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10 Aug 2012, 7:46 am

It could be anything from auditory processing disorder or ADD or both? You need to talk to your teacher about this.



chris5000
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10 Aug 2012, 1:52 pm

im the same way with anything verbal. if I read something it will be locked into my mind forever.



Mummy_of_Peanut
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10 Aug 2012, 1:59 pm

OP, I'm the very same. I don't know what the cause is, but I tick all the boxes for inattentive ADHD. It's not a learning disability in my case and I don't think it is in your's either. I never studied for my exams, basically because I couldn't. I wasn't sufficiently interested in the topics to keep interested, so I just didn't, as there was no point in even trying. Thankfully, I have a good memory and what I learned at my lectures was enough to see me through the exams. But, it sounds like you're swiching off in class too. I advise you to speak to someone about it.


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btbnnyr
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10 Aug 2012, 2:14 pm

I am like this in class too, not as eggstreme as the OP, but on this same spectrum. I also can't process what people are saying to me after a few minutes, so I don't learn well this way, from people. I don't learn well from people teaching me in general. I learn much bester on my own, from things that I read or figure out or make. I don't have ADHD, because I don't have trouble focusing on what I want or need to focus on, regardless of the task or how much I like or dislike it. I have good control of my focus, and I have good executive function, as long as I don't have to process people and what they are saying or doing around me. When I am around people, I appear to have problems focusing. I act like I have ADHD around people. I look like I am not paying attention at all, even though I may be paying attention or trying to pay attention. I usually pay attention for the first five or ten minutes of a class or a meeting or a social event. Then, I stop processing, so I stop paying attention too. After that, I get nothing out of it, and it is bester for me not to waste moar time there. Maybe my problem focusing around people is sensory overload from the people and the environment. Sensory overload drops my cognitive functioning, including my executive functioning. I think bestest alone.



Callista
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10 Aug 2012, 3:02 pm

That sounds very frustrating. My ADHD diagnosis comes mostly from my inability to switch tracks, to pay attention to what I want to pay attention to, and to keep myself organized...

Yes, it's something you should talk to the professor or your school's special-needs department about. While you probably won't be able to get supports in place right now for these tests (just do your best and don't be too hard on yourself if you mess up), you can definitely start now to get some help for the next classes.


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Sora
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10 Aug 2012, 7:05 pm

If the attention issues and bouts of exhaustion after focussing hard only show up when listening to someone/listening in general, it's more likely (C)APD than ADHD.

ADHD causes issues with attention and focus (and issues with way more stuff than just those two) in all areas of life. If the issues are the same when attempting to focus on visual information, tactile sensations, very simple sounds, verbal instructions/written texts, it sounds a whole lot like it could be a case of ADHD (the predominately inattentive type?).

(Of course, ADHD and APD can occur together too.)


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