Posted 6/19/2015 1:54 AM (GMT -5)
As I mentioned earlier, cognitive problems are common with kids with Lyme disease, as are attentional problems. Kids with chronic Lyme might find it hard to retain new information. Lyme also can effect receptive and expressive language, visual-spatial processing, abstract reasoning, processing
speed. Just as Lyme disease can effect any part of the body, it can effect any cognitive process.
These kids may appear to be distracted easily, have poor concentration, appear scattered, have just about any symptom of attention deficit disorder. Or if the child had ADD before she got Lyme, her ADD symptoms are often exaggerated by the illness.
These symptoms might be intermittent and transitory, given the nature of Lyme disease, making it even more difficult to develop an education plan. When I speak to teachers' groups, I tell them that when they have a child with chronic neurological Lyme in their class, the child may appear learning disabled one day, seem normal the next. She may act like she's got ADD on another day, and may appear withdrawn and fatigued the next.