Is an Attention Deficit Disorder a Learning Disability?

This question is difficult to answer, probably because so many people really don't know what these two disorders are, and they don't realize that they are very different disorders diagnosed in very different ways. The confusion lies in the fact that most people think that anyone who has trouble being successful in school must have a learning disability. To them LD covers everything. If we could teach the world the facts about LD and AD/HD, then I'm sure there would be a dramatic increase in the number of people interested. The fact is that both disorders affect an individual's performance.
Generally speaking, these are the groups with the most interest: (a) parents who have a child who is struggling to learn and perform, (b) teachers who are seriously concerned about the strugglers, (c) the children, teenagers and university students who have diagnoses, (d) adults who have diagnoses, and (e) employers who have workers with difficulties. Then, (f) there are the people like me who through education, experience, and motivation continually seek ways to support, counsel, and teach all of the above individuals how to cope with their problems.
One becomes far more interested when LD and AD/HD are understood, even with a basic understanding of the following information.

Learning Disabilities:

There is a problem processing information. We receive information through our senses, organize it, store it, recall it, and use it. When you have a learning disability, one or more of these areas functions well below average.
To diagnose a learning disability, two things must be proven. (a) The person has at least average intellectual ability, and (b) The person's performance in one or more areas, such as reading, writing, mathematics, fine motor skills, and others, is at least one and a half years behind expectations for his/her age and grade level.

Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

There is a problem with behaviour in one or more of these areas:

    Attention:        The person is highly distracted by sights, or sounds, or thoughts.
    Impulsivity:     The person often speaks or acts immediately on impulse.
    Hyperactivity: The person is often fidgety and in motion as if driven by a motor.
Diagnosis proves that the problem occurs 24 hours a day in all situations.

Interestingly, all of us exhibit some of these symptoms and behaviours to a minor extent. I have been diagnosed with ADD as a result of my thoughts constantly interfering with my focus of attention.

What's New About the New Year?

It is my intention to write something here every week this year. My topic choices will be completely random, as is my life... no plans and no themes. Everything is interesting to me.

When a new year starts people do lots of things. Some look back at the highlights of last year, and they find good ones and bad ones. Are they looking at personal stuff, or other stuff from anywhere? I do both. Three that come to mind are the stronger efforts to increase food and medical supplies for the sick and starving, the new reality focusing on education for every child as a key to future peace, and the American troups leaving Iraq. On a personal level, a very big highlight was having Queen Rania of Jordan retweet my comment on Twitter. Imagine how I felt.

A bunch of us make resolutions, or goals, for this year. If you have realistic and achievable goals that challenge you, you may be happy with the results of your efforts, and it only took a new year to get you started. It makes me wonder how many of us actually monitor our progress and pay attention to whether or not we are successful. Sometimes I forget that part.

Another thing we love to do at the beginning of a new year is to look back at last year and discover things like who got married, who got divorced, what was the best music, who died, how many murders happened, and so on. Sometimes we like to look at the lives of others, rather than checking out  our own lives.

And then there are those who continue doing what they are doing without any interest in highlights, goals, or what happened to others. I wonder what percent of the population is like this.

So what's new about the new year? Is it a chance to review, take stock, and seize the opportunity to begin an annual effort to make plans for changes? Or is it just another 12 months on the calendar, and time goes on?