Adults

Yes. An adult who thinks he may have a learning disability should check this matter before beginning academic studies. This will allow him to receive help in his studies, recommend learning strategies, and accommodations on exams that will make coping with his studies easier.

Frequently, adults who suspect they have learning disabilities went through a series of difficulties and failures in their school studies; therefore, it's a good idea to check and be helped to break the cycle of failures and frustrations and to succeed in the academic studies.

Fortunately, in recent years awareness of the topic of learning disabilities and the needs of this population in institutions of higher education in Israel has grown stronger. Most of the academic institutions try to provide a variety of support services for students with learning disabilities. It's important to know that for a number of years the non-profit organization Leshem has been active in this area. Leshem is the association for the advancement of students with learning disabilities who initiated the functioning of support centers at academic institutions and supports them throughout the year.  In order, to receive up-to-date information on this topic, it's recommended to visit the Leshem website. Nevertheless, it's a good idea to make sure the academic institution you want to apply for does in fact have support services for your personal needs.

As far as the policies of the Ministry of Education are concerned, an assessment that was conducted from 7th grade and onward is valid until the end of 12th grade and for improving matriculation scores until 25 years of age. However, in light of the difficulties that you describe openly and with great sensitivity, and in light of the fact that over the years there are many changes, we certainly recommend to refresh the assessment, especially considering the fact that you plan on taking the psychometric exam in the future. You can take the assessment at one of the Nitzan branches closest to your place of residence.

You can certainly be assessed at Nitzan

According to the guidelines of the Ministry of Education, the assessments required in this situation are:

1.       Valid didactic assessment

2.       Specific assessment in math

3.       Possibly a psychological assessment according to the accommodation recommended in math.

We also recommend that you be in touch with a counselor at Nitzan for a more detailed explanation.  

You've made a wise choice!

It's recommended to contact Bituach Leumi to receive assistance. You should ask them for an occupational-rehabilitative evaluation by a rehabilitation worker. With the help of the evaluation findings, it will be possible to guide you, both with regard to employment and socially.

Assessments done at Nitzan are saved for 7 years. So, unfortunately we cannot help you with this matter. Regarding the validity of the assessment, according to the guidelines of the Ministry of Education, an assessment is valid from 7th grade and onward until 25 years of age. Since you've past this age, you can go to the exceptions committee at the testing branch and search for information about the process of receiving accommodations at your age with an outdated assessment.

Such a great investment in studying without proportional results, as you described, are similar to the signs of learning disabilities, ADHD, or both. Emotional factors like fear of failure additionally can certainly worsen the condition.

We recommend not continuing to roll along in this cycle. You're already bright enough and big enough to decide on your own to break the cycle.

In the first stage, you should do a preliminary check for learning disabilities or ADHD. It's not worth doing a psycho-didactic evaluation when there's a possibility that there is only ADHD.

Here are a few preliminary sample questions for identifying learning disabilities in adults:

•  Do you get confused with time, miss meetings, and arrive late to appointments?
• Does it take you too much time to read a page in a book?
• Can you list all of the months of the year in reverse order?
• Was it difficult for you to learn the multiplication tables when you were in school?
• Do you mix up between right and left?
• Is it difficult for you to remember things you read?
• Do you hate reading out load or in public?
• Do you hate reading long books?
• Do you make mistakes writing checks?

For assistance in a preliminary evaluation for learning disabilities, contact one of the Nitzan branches closest to your place of residence.

In any case, for an adult it's very important to know what's stopping him, it's important that he seeks to know the answer, only then can there be hope for a new direction. A person doesn't need to live with a question mark like this hovering over his head.

Studies from the last decade prove that in order to treat learning disabilities and ADHD in adults, the most important thing is the awareness of the disability; who am I, what do I have, who am I in contrast to my disability? These are two things that can be differentiated between. This is what influenced people and changed their lives.

Seminar HaKibutzim College, in cooperation with The Nitzan Association and Leshem, established the Nitzanei Mehut preparatory school.

The school operates within the framework of the Seminar Kibutzim College, under the directorship of Ms. Naami Wormbrand. Its goal is to aid people with learning disabilities improve their learning abilities and to prepare themselves for academic studies. The school provides appropriate experiences and also emotional support, on a personal and group level.

The goal of the preparatory school is to prepare the individual to be an effective learner; "minimum investment with maximum success". In order to make "minimum investment", it's necessary to learn in proper ways, to be emotionally available, to be attentive and to understand what are your difficulties and strengths and how it's best for you, personally, to learn. In order to choose the correct learning direction and not some fantasy, it's necessary to go through a thorough process. The beauty of this process is that it's very intensive, centralized in a very safe and home-like place, with peers who understand the problem well and everyone understands the other. 

Regarding your question concerning an assessment: at the preparatory school, almost any assessment is accepted, besides exceptional cases where the assessment isn't good on a professional level. As far as the validity of the assessment, in general, we accept assessments that were done within the last 5 years before applying to the preparatory school.

In any case, you should clarify at the academic institution to which you want to apply about which assessment is required, since there are institutions that don't accept all assessments.

 An assessment is valid for 7 years. However, for the psychometric exam there is a special assessment. You should arrive with the previous assessments for an evaluation by the learning disabilities specialist who will decide if the assessments are enough or if a special assessment needs to be conducted. The testing accommodations depend on the type of disability. You can come for consultation at the Nitzan branch closest to your place of residence.