Learning Difficulties and Assessments: My Reflections
Throughout my time at university as an undergraduate ecology student, I struggled with exams and timed essays. I would spend hours revising and pouring my effort into assignments, only to be disappointed with my grades. It was infuriating to see other students breeze through with less work and achieve higher marks. This really impacted my self-esteem and made me question if I was unintelligent or incapable.
It turns out a big factor was my undiagnosed dyslexia and dyspraxia. These learning difficulties made certain tasks like planning essays very difficult for me. My essays would often lack structure because I had trouble getting all my ideas down during the planning stage. Dyslexia also slowed down my writing speed, so I'd run out of time on exams. The symptoms of dyspraxia like poor working memory didn't help either. I was putting in so much effort but just couldn't seem to get the results I wanted.
Being so self-critical and perfectionistic about my work only made things worse. I would get extremely down on myself when I didn't meet the high standards I'd set. This constant feeling of failure led to a lot of anxiety and procrastination. I dreaded exams and assignments, even though I loved learning about ecology.
It was such a relief when I finally got diagnosed after university. Suddenly it all made sense - I had been fighting an invisible battle against my learning difficulties this whole time. I learned not to be so hard on myself and that reading and writing just take more work for me. The diagnosis changed my perspective and approach to learning.
I do wish I had been diagnosed earlier and gotten support like exam accommodations. My mental health really suffered from constantly feeling not good enough. As a teacher now, I'm more aware of learning difficulties and the importance of support systems for students. We need better tools to identify issues like dyslexia, and effective training for teachers on how to teach and assess these students. I hope sharing my experience can increase understanding of learning difficulties and the toll undiagnosed conditions can take. With the right support and coping strategies, these students can thrive academically and emotionally.
