2. Learning disabled persons have inferior intellectual ability.Response: People with learning disabilities have often been subjected to a misdiagnosis of lower than average learning capacity or intellectual ability on the part of those who are inexperienced or ignorant of the field. College students with learning disabilities are often found to have very high and even superior intellectual ability. There is no reason to believe that a similar range of intellectual ability exists among the learning disabled as exists in the general population.
 

3. Learning disabled students do not have specific areas of strength.Response: Most individuals, whether they are learning disabled or not, have some specific areas of strength. It is these areas of strength which lead to success in chosen fields of study and employment. It is often these individual areas of strength which convince a learning disabled person that he/she has the ability to succeed at college or in a specific area of employment.
 

4. People with learning disabilities can't hold a responsible work position.Response: Many historical figures are known to have had what we recognize today as learning disabilities (for example, Leonardo da Vinci). World champion race car driver Jimmy Stewart and movie star Tom Cruise are examples of people living today who have excelled in responsible positions despite their learning disabilities. Usually when people with learning disabilities enter the work force most of their co-workers and others with whom they come in contact are unaware of their learning disabilities. The learning disabilities they experience are as invisible to others as they often are to the individuals themselves.
 

5. There is one standard approach to teaching students with learning disabilities. Response: Any approach to teaching students with learning disabilities must include a willingness to listen to the student and obtain the student's feedback concerning what works and what doesn't. But, just as there is a wide variation in learning disabilities, and a wide range of individual differences and learning styles, many different approaches may work well, depending on the teacher, the learner, and the situation. There is no single fixed "recipe" for teaching persons with learning disabilities.
 

6. Learning disabilities affect only academic functioning. Response: Learning disabilities are often first recognized when children attempt academic tasks demanding a wide array of perceptual, motor and cognitive tasks encountered in the school setting. It is also true, however, that the perceptual processing problems which may lead to reversals in handwriting, or difficulties in reading, can have a profound effect on daily tasks in ordinary situations. Becoming disoriented in new situations or confused in traffic would be some common examples of such effects.
 

7. There is one specific test which detects the presence of a learning disability. Response: This is not true. Learning disabilities cover a wide range of characteristics and include areas of sensory input (what a person sees, hears or otherwise senses or feels), processing of this information, and responding to it in some way (understanding, and expressing it). There is not any single, specific test that can cover such a broad range of potential areas of learning disability. Usually several test are used to identify the presence of a learning disability, and these tests will evaluate overall learning capacity (often referred to as intellectual ability or intelligence) as well as tests of scholastic or academic achievement which refer to the amount of knowledge a person has obtained and the ability to read, write, or otherwise express these skills.
 

8. Learning disabled students suffer from a lack of motivation. Response: Learning disabled students are often labeled by parents, teachers and their peers as "just not trying hard enough" or being "lazy". And sometimes students with learning disabilities may experience a lack of motivation, knowing from experience that they seem to have to work harder than their friends just in order to get by and that no matter how hard they try it never seems to produce the results they seek. On the other hand, some learning disabled students may put everything they have into their studies, knowing that this is the only way to succeed. Motivation, coupled with an understanding both of the nature of the learning disability and the specialized techniques to deal with it, is key to longer term success.
 

9. Dyslexia and learning disability are the same thing. Response: Young children in particular are often said to be "dyslexic" when they are experiencing otherwise normal development in all areas except decoding what they are trying to read. Just as in other areas of learning disability, however, dyslexia has a range of indicators, and many children are able to overcome their early reading difficulties (especially with early identification and appropriate help) to go on to highly successful academic achievement with little or no further indication of any problem whatsoever. What is referred to as "dyslexia" (difficulty reading) is only one of many ways in which learning disabilities may be expressed.