Is this a learning disability?

[swoll1980]

I cannot remember anything I read from a book. I can read fine, and it seems fine when I'm doing it, but if you ask me any details about it, I would be completely clueless. My teachers give us homework assignments, and I fail them, but when I take test I always get an A, because I write things down when the teacher is giving the lecture. When I write the stuff down, it sticks like glue for some reason. Once I write down the notes I never look at them again. My teachers ask me if I have a reading problem, and I say no, because I don't want them to think I'm stupid, or something.

[magmon]

Are you focused on just the book, no other thoughts running thru ur head? I try to imagine the story as it happens, but if I let my mind wander I wont remember what happens and I have to go back and re-read a section.

[v8YKxgHe]

removed

[sisco311]

start a reading diary.

[.Maleficus.]

I cannot remember anything I read from a book. I can read fine, and it seems fine when I'm doing it, but if you ask me any details about it, I would be completely clueless. My teachers give us homework assignments, and I fail them, but when I take test I always get an A, because I write things down when the teacher is giving the lecture. When I write the stuff down, it sticks like glue for some reason. Once I write down the notes I never look at them again. My teachers ask me if I have a reading problem, and I say no, because I don't want them to think I'm stupid, or something.
I don't think it's a learning disability (or dear god I hope it's not or I have it too). Textbooks are dry and generally don't captivate a whole lot of interest. Note-taking on the other hand requires your brain to process the information before it is transferred to the paper. This is why note-taking is a good practice, rather than just listening.

[LowSky]

its not a learning disability, its called lack of concentration.
While reading why not take notes, or highlight parts of the book.

[Polaris96]

I don't think you have a disability. I'm not a doctor, though. Why not try jotting down notes as you read. maybe that will help.

[chucky chuckaluck]

take notes as you read.

[monsterstack]

take notes as you read.

Seconded. That's the only way I'm ever able to remember stuff. I just write it all down, and then, marvellously, it somehow sticks.

[koenn]

internet support forums for operating systems aren't the right place to ask medical quastions,
and I'm not a doctor,
but here goes - FWIW

1- it's a matter of concentration (this can be trained)

but I actually think it's:
2- it's related to how your memory works - or your brain in general. There's generally 3 types : remember what you hear, remember what you see, and remember what you do. Everyone uses the 3 , but 1 type is often dominant. In your case this is probably the "remember what you do" part (you can remember what you've written down" while the "remember what you see" is negligable. In most people; the visual memory will be the dominant type, and a dominant audtitive memory is also not uncommon.

Part of "learning to learn" is discover your "memory type" and adapt your learning style. It would probably help that, while you read, you write summarys, outlines, diagrams of whatever is is your reading, or comments on it (in writing), or write comparisons to other things you've read, etc.

[swoll1980]

I don't think you have a disability. I'm not a doctor, though. Why not try jotting down notes as you read. maybe that will help.

That's what I started doing. In a text book I can look for bold words, and make some notes, but if it's a short story, or something like that,then It's a lot harder. With me it's not concentration (at least I don't think it is) No matter how hard I try it just won't stick. I do end up making little notes, but when I'm trying to summarize a short story, it would help if I could remember it.

[doas777]

I am a geshtalt style learner, but I tend toward arual processing. i remember things I hear better than things I see, for the most part.

when i read, it's usually kinda like a conversation in my head. my brain treats it as sound, even though I'm not reading aloud (and it's a lot faster than I could speak anyway).

It sounds like you are more of a tactile learner, but it may be worthwhile to determine teh best input type for you.

When i read a book with a bad rhythm to it's writing, I have a lot of trouble with retention as well. usually with those, it is best to skim or speedread.

[tgalati4]

Look for a public domain audio book. Listen to a chapter, then read a chapter. See if your comprehension changes. After the chapter, ask yourself several questions about what happened in the chapter. Who is the main character? Keep a notepad handy and write a 1 or 2 sentences that capture the story line.


Eat your vegetables. You need B vitamins for concentration. Lay off the diet coke and junk food.

My brother thought he was going mad--he was drinking several diet cokes a day.

Print out this thread and pin it to your shirt before you get distrac . .

Hey, the Simpsons are on . . .

[LowSky]

write a summery of the story when reading it, write down names, plot points and what you think seems important... this works on novels and poems just as well. If you find doing that stuff hard ask your teacher for pointers.

[Gizenshya]

This isn't the place to ask...

not that you shouldn't, it's just that we can't really help you.

Whatever your symptoms, since they seem to be causing problems for you, I strongly suggest you ask your primary care physician (the doctor you go to when you get sick). Sometimes these things could be nutritional or hormonal, and other times it might be a learning disorder. Or it could be normal. Anyway, your doctor can talk to you and run blood tests to make sure it isn't anything hormonal or nutritional. Then, if it isn't, he or she may recommend a doctor who specializes in learning disabilities (or other cognitive field).

Asking here could do as much harm as good. Sometimes people who have disorders can be made to feel like they are normal, when they are actually not. You know yourself better than anyone, and you don't feel right. That is as good a sign as any that something may be wrong, IMO. I suggest you check it out.

[walkerk]

I learn by writing as well. Reading does next to nothing. Recently I finished my CCNP (Cisco Certified Network Professional) by nearly rewrting all of the books. I did the MCSE 2003 the same way. Writing it down works for me. To this day, I still have it all in my head...

[koenn]

No matter how hard I try it just won't stick. I do end up making little notes, but when I'm trying to summarize a short story, it would help if I could remember it.
Every story, even a short one, has a beginning, a middle and an end. What you want to remember is how the story develops - i.e. the consecutive events that lead to that particular end. So you take notes while you read, once you've reached the end you judge, from your notes, what events were important for the story to end the way it did - those you use to write your summary.
So you've done two rounds of writing already.

If necessary, just rewrite your summary, or write an analysis : "the story ends such and so, and this has such and so effect on the reader. The writer achieved this by introducing this and that element at the beginning of the story which, later on ... (etc etc etc) so that in de end .... "

basically, if writing is your way of remembering things, find things to write about the thing you need to remember.

[gjoellee]

This is in fact one type of dyslexia (At least it is considered as it in Norway), but it may also be that you're just tired or have something that bothers you.

I ave a friend that has exactly the same problem as you, and here are some things that have helped m friend:


Read your homework witha a friend or anyone you know well
It is important that you try to read books. Start reading books with less then 100 pages, then try to remember what you have read. Do not start reading another book before you can tell the plot. Then read a bigger book, and do the same...
If you have a TV, watch some subtitled shows. This will help you remember what you've read.
Join a forum community. This well help you reading.

[koenn]

I learn by writing as well. Reading does next to nothing. Recently I finished my CCNP (Cisco Certified Network Professional) by nearly rewrting all of the books. I did the MCSE 2003 the same way. Writing it down works for me. To this day, I still have it all in my head...

I'm the writing kind as well. I do have a pretty good memory for reading and listening, as well, which really helped in school, but writing stuff down, add structure to it, summarize, organize, re-organize, ... really sets it, and also helps me to get to understand things that i didn't get from mere reading.

There've seen post on these forums, even reasonably short and well-written, that I read and re-read and did not make sense to me until i reread them while jotting down notes. After taking the notes, they made perfect sense and were easy to solve ...

[Edgeworth]

No, there are just different learning styles.
I learn best by being talked at (auditory).
You are just a kinesthetic learner.

[XubuRoxMySox]

We retain more of what we hear than what we read. And we retain much more of what we do than what we hear. That's why writing is so good.

I retain more from text books by making it a "two-way conversation." I ask the book questions and then read for the answers. A question like, "why that title for this chapter?" helps me alot.

But my reading problem is apparently unusual and I had no idea. I was surprised to find out that it isn't normal for letters to float up off the page and throw shadows on the paper under those darn noisy fluorescent lights! I just thought, "geez, fluorescent lighting is a stupid choice for a classroom!" Anyway, I found that I can sit next to a window (to "dilute" the bad light with good natural light) or wear red-colored sunglasses (they filter out some of the bothersome spectrum) to tame the effects enough for me to read.

The point being, how does a kid know what's normal? Anywayz... seeing a doctor wouldn't be a bad thing even if you don't think there's anything wrong.

And in the meantime, talk back to your textbooks. Argue with them, ask them questions, play devil's advocate - make it a conversation. It makes it more fun and I retain alot more from boring schoolbooks that way.

-Robin

[Barrucadu]

No, you just learn by doing rather than by reading. I also find textbooks fairly useless, though that's because they completely and utterly fail to captivate my interest. And the ones that try to do so usually do so on a patronising fashion and so I find them even less useful.
A good book, however, a work of fiction, I remember brilliantly after reading and it takes a long time for the memory to fade.

[Old_Grey_Wolf]

I actually have a learning disability called dyslexia. Dyslexia makes it difficult for me to read, and it sometimes affects my oral communication. Over many years I have adapted to it; however, my spelling, grammar, and punctuation are atrocious. Mathematics and science have never been very much of a problem. However, novels, stories, and history are often difficult for me to remember.

The only way I can remember a novel or short story is to relax while I am reading so that I can have vivid visualisations of what is taking place in the novel or short story. If it don't see the events transpire in my mind as if I were actually present, I will not remember anything. In other words, I must be lucidly interacting with the characters and objects in the novel or story. If I realise that I am not vividly visualising, I start over again by trying to get into a state of mind were I can visualise properly.

I only offer this suggestion because it helped me, and not because I think you have a disability. Your experience may be different. We differ in our tendency to be more verbal, visual, or physical in the way our brains process information.

[swoll1980]

Wow, thanks guys. I wasn't expecting any advice, but I got a load of it. There was alot of helpful tips in this thread, and I have already began applying some of them. I actually tried a combo of the lucid technique, and the technique that suggested having a conversation with the book. When a new character was introduced I had a little getting to know you session with Them. As crazy as that sounds I read a 2 page short story, and actually remembered the characters names(Framton Nuttel, Mrs. Sappleton, and Vera.) That's pretty amazing.

[steveneddy]

take notes as you read.

I almost have the same issue.

I also have found that taking notes while reading made the information stick a little better in my head for hopefully future reference.

[drawkcab]

I have an excellent reading memory. I can read a book and sometimes remember the page number where an idea is located years later...

...but when I first started graduate school I had to read 400-500 pages per week and, even with my memory, it was a bit like drinking from a firehose.

As others have said, taking notes while you read is a great idea. But another thing that I found that helps is to simply type important passages into a document along with your notes. Basically, when I am working, I leave the book in a stand and keep my fingers on the keyboard. Whenever I come across an important passage, especially one that relates to whatever it is I am working on, I star the passage, quickly record the page number and then type the passage into my document.

The nice thing about doing this is that, after you're done, you have all of the relevant quotes in a document. You can then build your paper around the relevant quotes, cutting and pasting them into your paper with the appropriate page number cited, which saves tons of time.

If you do this for a few years you will become a much better reader. Just remember, it seems like a pain in the *** at first but it will ultimately save you a lot of time in the long run.

[tgalati4]

I'm printing out this thread before I forget.

Some useful tips indeed.