God blessed me through elementary and secondary school for I was able to hold my own and do fairly well with respect to academics. With hindsight, I see the academic problems were concentrated in my inability to comprehend higher mathematics. I could never understand word problems. Once I got the situation to the equation, I could usually get the answer. But, I could never get the darn problem to the equation. I made one failing grade during high school in Algegra I, which gave me a average of 72 for the entire school year. When I took Algebra II, I received the same final grade of 72. Thank God in college when I took College Algebra and made my requisite 72, we were on a 10-point grading scale, or I don't think I'd ever have made it from the junior college I was attending then to senior college.

As you can tell I never quite have comprehended paragraphs either. Writing, although I do so fairly well, is extremely difficult. I think better at a word processor or a typewriter then when using pen or pencil and paper. My thoughts are all jumbled and have all sorts of roadblocks on their quest to make it out of my brain. At least with a word processor, I can tell that I need to put a few breaks in my writing.

I experienced much emotional turmoil and depressive tendencies all my life and believe now that these conditions might be a result of my head injury as a child. However, reading is my largest concern because although I was able to compensate and somehow had a somewhat photographic memory--or rather read by visualizing the words and creating movies in my mind of what I was reading--I took a speed reading course which played havoc with my comprehension from then on. I chose the career of reference librarian at a time in college when I was enjoying reading due to my compensatory techniques/skills. Now nearly 23 years after I opted to major in library science, I have developed a loathing for reading. There's an eye-tracking problem that has become worse and worse over the years, and my concentration and disorganization have truly fallen apart. After some problems in the Air Force, I was discharged as having a character/behavior disorder. Being eligible as a dependent, I took the opportunity of having a complete battery of testing performed and realized that I probably did have learning deficits. The WAIS-R scores were verbal 120 and performance 89. When I heard the 89 initially, I felt like a moron although now I can tell that my above average verbal IQ is what saved me in school.

I believe I have ADD and perhaps dyslexia and dyscalculia for sure with my poor math abilities. I've always wondered if such learning deficits could be attributed to having sustained a closed head injury. I struck my forehead so hard that a pebble became imbedded right there in the middle for which a tiny scar is still visible. It seems all the treatment for learning problems and the like are for children rather than adults. I'd like to discover more information about the connection of TBI to later learning disabilities. Can anyone point me to the best literature on the subject? I'm sorry to have rambled on and on, but I tend to get carried away on this subject. I just always thought there might be some relationship between my head injury and all the problems in life I experienced afterwards.

Paula Davis

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