Best personal Essay Ever- Overcoming a nonverbal learning disability

 Have you heard of nonverbal learning disability? A nonverbal learning disability is a condition based on the brain that makes everything in life more difficult. People need to be tested to be diagnosed. The limitation is also called Right-hemisphere disorders. People with the learning disability have poor motor performance, poor vision, poor organizational skills, poor with personal space. People, with the learning disability, also have a hard time processing and reconciling nonverbal skills and sloppy handwriting. There is no cure for the learning disability but people who have it get accommodations, I have an IEP (individual learning plan) this gives me accommodations such as using a calculator because it is hard to remember basic math.  To be diagnosed with a Nonverbal learning disability you need to be tested by a psychologist. Who gives a standard IQ test. If the certain areas are low you are diagnosed with the learning disability.  When I was in kindergarten, I was tested, and the test found that I have a nonverbal learning disability. I was diagnosed at a young age which means that the issue was caught early. Now I am versatile, but I have a hard time remembering stuff, but when I remember the thing I remember that thing well, this means I struggle with math. I struggle with remembering specific steps and equations. I struggle with spelling test and vocabulary test because I just can not remember all the words. My handwriting has improved immensely, but I am sure past teachers in middle school would agree I had very sloppy writing. I find history to be my most active class because I remember a lot of history and when I remember something I Remember that fact very well.

   Many might know that I am athletic, yes I play hockey and recently quit baseball due to having pain in my elbow and enjoying hockey more. Many might not realize that baseball was hard for me because I had trouble seeing the baseball when hitting and also when fielding.  I played catcher, and the coach would make signs for different pitches, this was hard for me because I could not remember the signs and I had to write them on my arm because I could not remember the signs.

For many years I overcame this and played baseball. I play hockey full time out of school, meaning when I am not in school, I am usually at the rink. Hockey is a high-speed, intense and violent game. If you don’t play them with the right position, the puck will end up in the net for the other team. I have been playing hockey for seven years now, and I know the positioning by heart. But it did not start out that way. When I was first starting playing hockey, I was not playing at an elite level, and merely positioning did not matter because everyone sucks at hockey at a young age. When I started playing at an elite level, this changed. We as a team began to go over the positioning on a small whiteboard, and I struggled immensely with the positioning because I could not remember the correct positioning. In hockey one of the most basic, the winger (my position) job is to get the puck out of the zone at all cost because you don’t want the other team to score. The first thing you do is skate to the hash marks on the left or right side. The second thing you do is pass to the player who is playing the passion center. I Know this might seem simple, but I struggled with doing a breakout for a long time. The hockey puck unpredictable, you never know what bounce or turn the frozen piece of rubber will take. The hockey puck plus my vision sometimes does not make a good match because sometimes I can’t see or predict where the puck is going to go.   

   I got to give credit to my hockey old coach who helped me with this; my old coach would take his time to explain everything and make sure I understood everything. If I made a mistake my coach would not be mad he would again make sure I got everything down. My coach would state “ I don’t care if your mistakes, just make sure you try and skate hard.” I give credit to him for helping me with hockey. My old hockey coach is probably the only reason I am still playing today because he gave me confidence and the skills needed to be good at ice hockey.

 I have a learning disability, and I accept that I have learned that having a learning disability doesn't define me as a person. I have proven that if you have a disability, you can still live your life. I have exceeded the expectations placed on me. Playing both sports took time and patience, but I have overcome my learning disability to play both ice hockey and baseball. I also realize that things take time; you need to be patient, and the right things will happen. You can’t be perfect at something at first, when you first attempt then you may struggle;  Things take time. The more you practice, the better you get. Although there is no cure for this, I have become well versed in navigating the world and finding ways to manage.