The adoption and acceptance of long standing "myths" and "misconceptions" regarding individuals with learning and attention disabilities continues to fuel prejudicial views, erect attitudinal barriers, and create social stigmas that can have devastating long-term results-emotionally and educationally. Because learning and attention disabilities are not always readily obvious to others, these individuals often get labeled as "stupid," "lazy," "space cadet," "dumb," and other such derogatory terms. These terms only serve to exacerbate the negative self-image that many youth with these disabilities already have about themselves.

Dispelling these myths and misconceptions requires ongoing education and training for the general public as well as service providers, family members, and the student with the disability.

DISPELLING THE MYTHS AND MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT LD

Myth: Individuals with LD have limited potential.
Truth: Individuals with LD conduct successful and fulfilling lives just as individuals without disabilities do. Greater success is achieved when these individuals are appropriately accommodated or have developed effective compensatory strategies.

Myth: LD is just a polite way to refer to lower overall intelligence and abilities.
Truth: Inherent within the definition of LD is a discrepancy between demonstrated intelligence and specific functioning. It is possible for a student to be both gifted and learning disabled at the same time.

Myth: People with LD are lazy.
Truth: If an individual with a LD has experienced repeated failures, particularly educationally or socially, they often shut down and believe it hurts less to not try than it does to try and fail. The individual may feel he/she has no control over what happens to her/him which is known as learned helplessness. Small doses of success are the best antidote to learned helplessness.

Myth: Given proper instruction, individuals with LD can grow out it.
Truth: Although individuals with LD can and do acquire improved skills, the LD themselves are not cured in the process. Some types of LD can be successfully and permanently remediated but others are thought to be lifelong and may require the acquisition and use of compensatory strategies or accommodations throughout the individual's life span.

Myth: Accommodations provided to students with LD, particularly during testing situations, gives them an unfair advantage over students without disabilities.
Truth: An accommodation does not tip the scales in the student's favor; it merely levels the playing field. Accommodations provide access to the information thus giving the student with a disability a means to demonstrate his/her knowledge, skills, and abilities. Without modifications, common forms of instruction and examination often inadvertently reflect a student's disability rather than the subject at hand. For example, a student who has a writing disability would be greatly impaired during a written essay exam even though he/she was skilled in the art and mechanics of writing an essay. The use of a word processor allows this student to demonstrate his/her knowledge rather than be judged by the limitations his handwriting difficulties imposed.

Myth: Accommodating the needs of a student with LD means watering down course and program requirements.
Truth: Teaching a student with special learning needs does not mean "less." It may, however, mean "different." The instructional goal should be to find ways to work around the area of deficit and still impart the same body of information and sets of skills.

Myth: Students with LD do not have to work any harder than other students.
Truth: Most students with LD do have to work harder than the average student to achieve success. However, the "silver lining" for those who are willing to put in the extra effort is that being a hard worker is a highly valued characteristic in the work world.

DISPELLING THE MYTHS AND MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT AD/HD

Myth: AD/HD does not really exist. It is simply the latest excuse for parents who do not discipline their children.
Truth: Scientific research tells us AD/HD is a biologically based disorder that includes distractibility, impulsiveness, and sometimes hyperactivity. Before a student is diagnosed as AD/HD, other possible causes of his/her behavior are ruled out.

Myth: Medication can cure students with AD/HD.
Truth: Medicine cannot cure AD/HD but can sometimes temporarily moderate its effects. Certain stimulant medications are effective in the majority of the individuals who take it, providing an immediate short-term increase in attention, control, concentration, and goal-directed effort. Medication may also reduce disruptive behaviors, aggression, and hyperactivity.

Myth: Individuals with AD/HD will outgrow it.
Truth: AD/HD is a lifelong condition although it manifests itself differently dependent upon the age of the individual. Some individuals (1) experience a lessening of AD/HD symptoms with age, (2) develop effective compensatory strategies that make it appear as if the AD/HD has gone away, or (3) manage the symptoms of the disorder with medication.

Myth: Individuals who can focus their attention in some areas (i.e., video games, etc.) cannot have AD/HD.
Truth: AD/HD is a neurological difference that makes it very difficult to attend to things that are not interesting to the person involved or that require sustained mental effort. Yet this person can sit for hours and play video games or participate in other activities of interest. This type of focus is known as hyperfocus.