JACKSON TWP — Among thinking of a major, planning for classes and finding items for their dorm rooms, college-bound high school students have a lot of planning to do in the coming weeks of their senior year.

For students with learning disabilities, simply planning to attend college is a life-altering decision.

About 150 such sophomores, juniors and seniors in the Seneca Valley School District received a pep talk and a boost of confidence Thursday from Dave Carlson, a man who knows a little about learning challenges in college.

Carson struggled with reading, writing and spelling early in his education when the nuns at his Catholic school made him attend those classes with students in the grade below him, he said.

Throughout high school, Carson struggled with English, algebra and psychology, though he excelled in biology, geometry and trigonometry, subjects that are visual or hands-on, he said.

In 1975, Carson's senior year at Upper St. Clair High School in Allegheny County, he was recruited by both Duke and North Carolina State Universities to play football.

Though he had the grades, Carson had too much frustration and not enough self-esteem to move on to the college level, he said.

He walked away from a scholarship to North Carolina State and his roommate, future Steelers head Coach Bill Cowher, to stay close to home because he did not feel "smart" enough to attend, he said.

Subsequently, Carson dropped out of Indiana (Pa.) University, Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, and Edinboro (Pa.) University before he was diagnosed with a learning disorder at age 25.

"The only thing that changed is what I thought of myself," Carson told the students.

He went on to earn two degrees in respiratory care, graduating first in his class, and self-published "The Survival Guide for College-Bound L.D. Students."

"I believe the most successful people in this world aren't the smartest, they're the most resilient," Carson said. "They're the people that get knocked down and get up and try again."

Learning disabilities should be relabeled learning differences, Carson said, and students should work on incorporating them into the college experience.

He told his audience to be honest with professors about their strengths and weaknesses, to research professors' teaching methods and to find ways to schedule harder classes to make them seem easier.

"I want you to believe in yourselves, and I want you to go to college," Carson said.

"I don't care where you go when you leave this building, but you must believe you're good enough to be there."

Junior Grant Evans called Carson's speech "very inspirational."

Grant, 17, was diagnosed with dyslexia at age 6, but has done well in school and on the wrestling mat.

He plans to attend Gannon University or Mercyhurst College, both in Erie, or Edinboro to study environmental science.

Tammy Evans, Grant's mother, said she attended Carson's talk because she had seen him once before and knew her son would relate to Carson.

Many of Carson's tips are already a part of Grant's learning routine, he said.

"Everyone learns differently," Tammy Evans said. "They've come a long, long way" toward making that easier for students like her son, she said.

Jean Mike, coordinator of the Transitions program at Seneca Valley, also praised Carson for sharing his story with students.

Between 50 and 60 Seneca Valley students in each grade level have been diagnosed with some type of learning or emotional disorder that hampers learning ability, she said.

"Not everyone has to go (to college), but to give these kids some kind of hope ¿ if they believe they can have success, they will," she said.