Personal stories about learning and thinking differences
Explore personal stories about learning and thinking differences like ADHD, dyslexia, and dyscalculia. Learn from other people’s experiences at school, home, and work.
Jump to section:
ADHD
Dyslexia
Dyscalculia
Parenting
How I engage my child in parent-teacher conferences
Learn how one mom makes the most of parent-teacher meetings. Plus, download a tip sheet.
Workplace
Self-advocacy
What I wish people knew
All articles
- Lessons from my journey with ADHD and learning issues
- It hurts when my son with ADHD lies to me — here’s how I handle it
- The question I’m always asked about my son’s dyslexia
- “I’m tired of having ADHD”: My son’s surprise confession
- From Leonardo da Vinci to Muhammad Ali: Learning and thinking differently in history
- Henry Winkler provides a deeper look at his struggles with dyslexia
- Video: A parent-expert team on the importance of finding support
- Celebrity spotlight: Singer-songwriter Florence Welch is proud of her dyspraxia
- When my son with dyslexia wouldn’t read with me, we found another way to connect
- Video: A doctor learns about dyslexia through his daughter’s reading struggles
- Video: Navigating life’s changes with dyslexia
- Video: Actress Wendy Davis on having ADHD and parenting a child with ADHD
- Video: From high school dropout to college student and youth advocate
- Video: A mom and son on their homeschooling experience
- Video: A grandmother on raising her grandchild with dyscalculia
- Video: How art helped a struggling student better understand himself
- Video: Meet child entrepreneur Max Ash (and Mom)
- Video: Michelle Carter wins Olympic gold with dyslexia and ADHD
- TikTok creators show the “real” ADHD
- Video: Learning how to play piano with ADHD
- Video: New England Patriot Lawrence Guy on overcoming stigma and being your best
- Video: Elijah Ditchendorf, a high school science whiz who has dyslexia
- When my mom suspected I might have ADHD, she did what a lot of parents do
- Thanks, Mom: Quotes from celebrities who learn and think differently
- My daily routine as an artist with ADHD
- A computer effects artist with ADHD
- Life in limbo
- Video: Teen with dyslexia shares what he wishes people knew about him
- Perspectives: How did you decide on a career path?
- Waking up is hard to do
- Teachers never understood me — and that’s OK
- Perspectives: How did you find out what you’re good at?
- 10 tips for staying focused when learning from home
- Why this Black boy couldn’t ask for help
- 6 surprising ways dyslexia affects me
- How my students’ strengths have shined
- Video: Activist David Flink on growing up with ADHD and dyslexia
- Video: Mario Ornelas, chef and college student with dyscalculia, dyslexia, and weak working memory
- Celebrity quotes: Learning from challenges
- Celebrity spotlight: How Michael Phelps’ ADHD helped him make Olympic history
- Celebrity spotlight: Anderson Cooper no longer hides his dyslexia
- Video: Stanley Cup champ Brent Sopel on hiding reading struggles “behind his stick”
- Video: Gavin Newsom opens up about his dyslexia
- Video: Brad Falchuk on thriving with dyslexia
- Video: Being a scientist with dyslexia
- Video: The journey from student with dyslexia and ADHD to special education teacher
- Video: LeDerick Horne, poet and activist with learning disabilities
- Video: A high-schooler with dyslexia discovers her passion
- Video: A college student with dyscalculia shares her story
- “She’s just a daydreamer”
- Perspectives: How does being LGBTQ+ impact you as a person who learns and thinks differently?
- Video: A Harvard graduate on growing up with dyslexia
- Video: The journey from a child with dyslexia to an illustrator teaching through comics
- Video: How a great teacher helped a student with dyslexia find her path
- Video: Middle-schooler teaches future teachers about dyslexia
- 4 ways I keep my sanity during the holidays
- Celebrities with dyslexia, ADHD, and dyscalculia
- Max Ash: Taking dyslexia to the net
- Video: Dav Pilkey, creator of Captain Underpants, on growing up with ADHD and dyslexia
- Video: The journey from a child with dyslexia to an award-winning researcher
- How my husband and I told the grandparents about our kids’ learning differences
- Celebrity spotlight: “Henry Danger” actor Jace Norman uses dyslexia to his advantage
- Celebrity spotlight: Why journalist Lisa Ling was “relieved” by her ADHD diagnosis
- Video: Talent agent Ari Emanuel on having dyslexia and raising kids with dyslexia
- Video: Parenting a daughter with dyslexia and ADHD
- Dav Pilkey sees ADHD and dyslexia as his superpowers
- 5 things I learned about 504 plans when my son with ADHD got one
- Why I’m torn about letting my son with ADHD play video games like Fortnite
- Thicko: A personal story by Dekko Comics’ Rossie Stone
- It’s hard enough to bond with stepkids — try adding learning issues to the mix
- High school sports star with dyslexia shares how he overcame reading struggles
- The long, winding road to identifying my son’s learning issues
- What my son with ADHD taught me about Minecraft and executive function
- Want Need Wear Read: The holiday gift strategy that works for my kids
- Make dyslexia about strengths, not shame
- I’m letting go of the shame I felt about my ADHD and learning disabilities
- Why my son with ADHD swims 4 miles a day
- My kids’ experience with special education at Catholic school
- 5 questions with Sean Douglas, media maker with dyslexia
- “Dear teacher, I have dyslexia,” explains fifth grader in self-advocacy video
- 5 questions with Sarah Entine, documentary filmmaker with dyslexia
- The day I rejected my son’s IEP
- Why I feel invisible at IEP meetings (a dad’s view)
- The holiday habit I’d like to break: Comparing my son with nonverbal learning disability to his cousins
- When choosing apps to help your child with schoolwork, keep this tip in mind
- The school holiday party that helped me see beyond my son’s reading progress
- How 6 days of dyslexia training made a big impact on a school district
- Back-to-school stress: Why I believe self-advocacy can help
- Little goals can be better than big New Year’s resolutions
- My anxiety and ADHD: Hiding behind a perfect veneer
- A missed deadline becomes a chance to speak up about ADHD
- A unique IEP solution for our twice-exceptional son
- Mom’s emotional video about IEP frustration goes viral
- Beyond IEP meetings: How I connect with my son’s general education teachers
- Understanding my son’s dysgraphia helped me advocate for him
- How my son with dyslexia became an early self-advocate
- My 6 stages of grief: The path to understanding my son’s dyslexia
- The story of my ADHD evaluation in college
- How self-advocacy helped me fight for my rights in college
- What “I’m not a math person” means to me
- How I got over my fear of AP statistics (and passed!)
- Embracing my dyscalculia made me a better student
- IEP personal stories
- The ups and downs of my son’s 504 plan for ADHD
- 3 ways I model resilience for my students
- Working toward flexible school experiences
- Teacher to teacher: How racial identity work makes us better advocates for our students
- Why it’s important to support LGBTQIA+ kids with learning differences
- The work friends who “get it” make working with ADHD manageable
- Masking my ADHD at work was exhausting, so I stopped
- Reading to my son: 5 ways I get ready as a dyslexic dad
- To be Black in America with a learning disability
- The best question I’ve asked at a parent-teacher conference
- How to build confidence when you know you’re different
- 5 drawings of my dyslexic superpowers
- Escape from confusion dyslexia art
- Take your (hyperactive) child to work day
- How I owned it: 3 college application essays
- The question my parents asked that helped me become a self-advocate
- Metaphors to explain ADHD
- Why I love my dyslexic brain
- My kids have both autism and learning and thinking differences, and it’s complicated
- Why I’m open about my daughter’s dyslexia
- Not too late: A high school IEP for my daughter
- When the IEP team focused on my strengths, it made all the difference
- 7 things I wish people knew about parenting kids with dyslexia
- Someone on my side of the IEP table
- 5 things I want teachers to know about my (special education inclusion) child
- What my daughter with dyslexia taught me about learning to read
- 4 worries I had when my son’s IEP ended
- 6 things I wish I’d known sooner about my son’s anxiety
- Why my son kept his ADHD medication a secret in college
- My son behaves at school but melts down at home — I found out why
- Video: College students on how they found their confidence
- Video: Interview with Silvia Ortiz-Rosales, teen with dyslexia
- First dyslexia, now ADHD: Facing my son’s second diagnosis
- Why the school with the highest test scores wasn’t the right fit for my child with ADHD
- Being open about dyslexia at my job is an advantage
- Teacher to teacher: What distance learning taught me about productive struggle
- Teacher to teacher: How I help students see support staff as teachers
- How my brother’s ADHD shaped my teaching
- My life as a freelance artist battling ADHD and anxiety
- Alaskan family uses passion for longboard skateboarding to put the spotlight on dyslexia
- My voice does the writing — with a little help from dictation technology
- What ADHD feels like to me
- How I’m making peace with my son’s IEP
- 5 ways I fine-tuned our Disney vacation for my son with attention issues
- One of my scariest moments as a child with dyslexia? Reading aloud during Passover
- How my career ambition got in the way of helping my daughter with dyslexia
- Teacher to teacher: How we can break down barriers between general and special education
- Video: Teen with dyscalculia shares why she tells friends about her learning issues
- Video: A young woman opens up about growing up with NVLD
- Video: A mom shares why she kept her dyslexia a secret
- Now I get what it’s like to have ADHD
- How I taught my students to give praise and other feedback
- 8 things I wish people knew about parenting a child with ADHD
- 3 things I’m learning as a new mom with ADHD
- 7 surprising ways dyscalculia affects me
- 8 things I wish people knew about parenting a child with dyscalculia
- My late ADHD diagnosis gave me the freedom to stop explaining myself
- How my IEP transition plan helped me start college with confidence
- Rolling with my ADHD Mom Brain
- After one IEP meeting, my husband and I were finally on the same page
- At the heart of it: 30 personal stories about learning and thinking differently
- We can’t all be Richard Branson: The case for expanding dyslexia success stories
- My bilingual son has an IEP, and I still don’t know how it will work remotely
- We got through quarantine. What happens now?
- How I manage my anxiety as an educator
- Video: Thriving at work with ADHD
- Parent pep talk: Coping with your child’s diagnosis
- My daughter’s dyslexia showed me I was doing parent-teacher conferences all wrong
- Video: My experience with ADHD and parenting
- Video: My experience with ADHD and dyscalculia
- Video: My experience with dyslexia and bullying
- I’m a 36-year-old with ADHD. Here’s what I do when imposter syndrome creeps in.
- I have ADHD and OCD. Here’s what a weekend getaway looks like for me.
- I’m an educator with ADHD traveling to meet my favorite celebrity. Here’s how I’m functioning on little sleep.
- I’m managing ADHD while recovering from surgery. Here’s how I’m navigating the two.
- I’m a working mom with ADHD. Here’s how I get it done (or don’t).
- Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton inspires kids with ADHD
- 5 questions with the author of “The Spy Who Couldn’t Spell”
- Top WNBA prospect A’ja Wilson wants you to know dyslexia is real
- Video: My experience with undiagnosed ADHD
- Video: My experience with learning disabilities and social challenges
- Video: My experience with ADHD and feeling misunderstood
- Video: My experience with ADHD and feeling judged
- Video: My experience with ADHD in school
- What if my child has too much screen time?
- Through your child’s eyes
- A day in the life of a child with expressive language disorder
- Why I let my son wear shorts in the winter
- How I got my son back: Breaking the silence on learning and thinking differences
- I had a meltdown and finally understood sensory overload
- How my son’s sensory processing challenges helped me understand myself
- The hard truth about my daughter’s dyspraxia
- 6 things I wish people knew about parenting a child with dyspraxia
- Solitary isn’t the same thing as lonely
- 6 surprising ways nonverbal learning disability affects me as a young adult
- How my family created a sensory-friendly Halloween
- Lost: My son’s mittens. Found: A system to help with executive function
- 3 ways I’m trying out Universal Design for Learning at home with my kids
- My wild family history of ADHD
- Why “just try harder” is a myth
- You’re not alone: My child was struggling, too
- 5 questions with Peter Flom, statistician with a nonverbal learning disability
- Video: How the gift of dance transformed a 12-year-old boy with ADHD
- Language delays, dyslexia, dysgraphia, and ADHD — and now thriving
- Why I finally went after my dream job after years of focusing only on my son with ADHD
- The challenge of keeping my impulsive and hyperfocused son safe
- My simple solve for chaotic mornings
- What my child has taught me about resilience
- Hannah Gadsby’s “Douglas” and a later-in-life autism diagnosis
- How I learned to be OK with things just being OK
- Parenting the neurodivergent kids I have, not the kids I thought I’d have
- A message to my 17-year-old self about having nonverbal learning disabilities
- What it was like to be diagnosed with a learning disability no one’s ever heard of
- How my son and I ended our food fight
- The emotional toll of slow processing speed on my daughter
- Small success: My son with ADHD stood up to a bully
- How the elbow rule helped my child learn about personal space
- Good grades, bad tests scores: My daughter’s story
- Nonverbal learning disabilities and sports: How I debunked the myth
- Choose the right street to trick-or-treat
- How the documentary “2e: Twice Exceptional” made me a more hopeful parent
- 7 things I wish people knew about parenting a child with auditory processing disorder
- Anger is exhausting
- Our community weighs in: How your relationship with your child changed after the diagnosis
- 5 “Big Bang Theory” quotes that make me a better parent
- The fourth “E” is empower
- A heartbreaking choice: Should my son have accommodations for lockdown drills?
- Why I stopped saying “Have a good day” to my son
- How we got back our parenting power after years of mismanaging meltdowns
- 5 lessons about failure from my life with learning disabilities
- 5 things I wish people knew about parenting a child with executive function challenges
- Oklahoma football falls short, but Erick Wren stands tall with his learning disability
- 14 musicians who learn and think differently
- 4 ways I helped my daughter get comfortable talking about her learning difference
- My kids have different strengths and challenges. Here’s how I set goals with them.
- 5 things I wish people knew about parenting a child with sensory processing challenges
- Video: College students on embracing strengths and differences
- Amanda Gorman, Youth Poet Laureate, has speech and auditory processing issues
- Video: The emotional journey of one family with many learning and thinking differences
- Video: Mother and daughter take their dyslexia story to Washington
- Video: The journey from a kid with writing issues to a professional writer and speaker
- Video: A mom on the “roller coaster” of raising a child with ADHD and speech issues
- Video: Journalist Byron Pitts on faith, family, and overcoming reading challenges
- Video: How a diagnosis in adulthood changed one woman’s perspective
- Lorraine Bracco, star of “The Sopranos,” on how she used humor to cope with dyslexia
- Perspectives: How did you find out you learn and think differently?
- Perspectives: Why should people talk openly about learning differences?
- Video: Scott Barry Kaufman on embracing learning and thinking differences
- Video: The challenges of being an African American who learns and thinks differently
- Video: Actor Bex Taylor-Klaus on being kicked out of school and embracing “different wiring”
- Video: Comedian Dena Blizzard opens up about her daughter’s anxiety