NLD Information and Support Thread

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Do you mean an MRI?

Thanks, GCS.

I'm also trying very hard (and with no success) to find some information on how NLD impacts older people like myself.

I haven't found another person in their 60s on any forums, nor have I found any information on the potential for early dementia being caused by NLD.

Anyone have any info to share?

I'm 63.

I'm 26, so we're not age-peers, but I do have NLD. You can go to http://www.nldline.com/adults.htm to read a few stories posted by adults with NLD. Much of the information about NLD tends to be targeted at parents and teachers of children with NLD, but there's not a whole lot targeted toward those of us who are adults and have NLD.

I don't think that early dementia is more common with NLD. I'll see if I can dig up any information, though.

Thanks again, GCS.

I'm beginning to suspect that NLD is new enough that I probably won't find any person older than myself who has been diagnosed. That's logical, I guess.

Research in that area will probably be lacking also. Guess I'll just have to be my own research project.

So far, so good......I think. Would I know?

NLD is relatively new diagnostically, yes. I was born in 1983, and it was a rare diagnosis then. Researchers are finding, however, that NLD is somewhat common among those of us with cerebral palsy (given that brain damage is the genesis of both).

The research to-date is limited because NLD is classified as a learning disorder kind of like dyslexia... however I think the research has led to a reconsideration of the impact of NLD among those few researchers who have any idea what it is.

Thanks again.

I was born in 1946 and I personally had a high exposure to pesticides used on our farm (spraying milk cows -heavily- in a small and unventilated barn) for at least ten years. My mother had probably had a similar exposure during her youth and concurrently with me after I was born.

I also drank that raw milk as a regular part of my diet. No precautions whatever were taken. At that time (believe it or not) DDT was considered to have no ill effects on people.

I suspect that DDT was part of the reason, perhaps the entire reason, that I am brain-damaged.

Has anyone heard of any information or research on such exposure?

I was dxed with ADHD-C & comorbid NVLD & communication disorder only a couple of weeks ago at age 40.

When I saw the specialist psychiatrist I had to do all sorts of reading & talking tests which affirmed just how bad my reading out loud skills were. I also have very poor eye contact & when asked to engage in a general conversation I just couldn't find the words to put in place to just communicate socially.

I have always struggled to fit in & never know what to do in most situations. Even when I do I feel so awkward trying to attempt to do it, it just makes me even more anxious. Over the years I have become in some ways a recluse. I don't enjoy socialising or making friends as it is so draining. I have one good friend who understands me for what I am which is great.

Growing up I was very shy in primary school but was a very bright student. My reading was poor but I was excellent speller. Later in high school I didn't fit in at all & got bullied. Nobody liked me. I also couldn't understand the work & failed badly.

As for spatial I get lost so easily its not funny. If someone tells me for example a size of an area say 3 x 12 I can't for the life of me imagine what the size would be visually.

I'm also very clumbsy.

Then I also have all the ADHD problems of distractability, procrastinating, daydreaming etc............

I thought over a year ago I might have AS & voiced this to my psych at the time but ended up getting misdiagnosed as bipolar. I have been so lucky to find a new GP a couple of months ago that picked up straight away that I was ADHD & was definately not bipolar. Testing & referrals to the specialist psychiatrist all went from there to now finally getting the correct diagnosis.

It has been a godsend to finally understand myself & where I fit. I really thought I was crazy & the was no hope for me.

Anyway thats a little about me & look forward to chatting more here on the forums

i am bored line asperger, i have adhd,nvld,and high anixty disorder

I have NVLD. I find it most affects me the Musical Theater program I work in. I am the assistant stage manager and I can't really understand what I am doing unless someone verbally tells me and verbally walks me through it but I am expected to just know. It doesn't work out so well. I am also thought to have Asperger's Syndrome (not diagnosed yet) so I need to see how things look and are done as well. I wonder why I even joined Musical Theater sometimes... It also gets to me when imagination, routine changes, concentration, impulse control, controlling hyperactivity, and theory of mind are involved. The rest I am getting a little better at. I find the only reason why it's hard to deal with NVLD sometimes is because not a lot of people have ever heard of it or know what it is. I find it easiest to call it "A higher functioning or less severe kind of Asperger's" when people don't know what it is. It saves a lot of tme.

Since about August I have been trying to figure out what is different about my brain. I initially thought it could be AS, but decided against it. During my reading about AS I saw this thread and considered NLD, but I dismissed it rather quickly. More recently, I have been leaning toward inattentive ADHD or SCT. Today, I found my results to an IQ test (WISC-III) from when I was 10 and being evaluated for placement in a gifted program. I noticed that my verbal IQ was much higher than my performance IQ and I remembered this thread. I read the first post, noticing that NLD shares traits with both AS and ADHD, and skimmed through the rest of the thread. As a result, I am now more seriously considering the possibility that I have NLD. I am now 17 years old.

IQ test (age 10)
Verbal IQ: 99th percentile
Performance IQ: 35th percentile

(From the original post)
Strengths:

All apply.

Weaknesses:

Motor coordination-not too much, not amazing or anything
Social skills-YES
Ability to understand nonverbal communication-what's that?
Visual and spatial processing- not great
Sense of direction-not good
Mathematics-don't know, marks dropped to 70% in 11th and 12th grade from usual 90% before(In gifted/AP-level classes)
Executive functioning (attention, organization, planning, prioritizing)-YES
Writing skills (especially organization of ideas) and reading comprehension

General characteristics of NLDers:

Verbal IQ is often much higher than Performance IQ-check, not sure about current
Reliance on verbal mediation (“talking oneself through a task”)-check
Focus on details while missing the big picture-yeah
Difficulty with sarcasm and a tendency towards literal thinking-not really
Preference for routine and difficulty with novelty or change-check
May appear naïve and gullible-yeah
Very prone to anxiety and depression-check

I'll probably post again later to elaborate.

I had all of the smptoms of NLD as a child, except trouble with reading comprehension/figurative language, I was great at that. I had some problems with social skills, i.e. standing too close, ect, but not do to a lack of empathy with others or understanding of their feelings and motivations, but do to my spacial awareness ( I didn't realize I was standing too close). I struggled with facial recognition untill Middle School, but I realized this and stared and watched people very closely when they spoke to me for years, so I now have good recognition of facial expressions and non-verbal communication (most with NLD do not) except when I have sensory overload. I find it frustrating when people say that pure NLD does not exist. I've researched the brain and the effects of trauma/injuries to different parts of the brain, and I 've come to believe that some areas of the right hemisphere are deficient in both NLD and AS, but different portions are also affected, and some people - the one's who have both AS/NLD symptoms - have damage/deficiency in the entire right hemisphere. I feel that this misunderstanding/diagnosis leads to problems and understanding and treating both NLD/AS and the combined types. For example, I think that people with pure NLD will have not have trouble with reading comprehension, and from the people I've spoken to, if they do, it is due to sensory overload, ie they will read the words phonetically and not process the meaning- and the ones who do not understand character's feelings/motivations have pure AS or a combined type. I have trouble understanding sarcasm sometimes, but not do to a lack of understanding of the concept, due to my sensory overload, I will process the words too literally. Usually I am fine/excellent with figurative language/sacasm, except when this happens. I would like to get into psychological research and test my hypotheses and develop new testing/diagnostic methods for NLD/AS. If my hypothesis is correct, I would like to see the categorization changedged to pure NLD, Pure AS, and a combined type (which I believe many people I' ve spoken to who are diagnosed with NLD have), like the diagnosis of AD(H)D: innattentive, hyperactive, and combined. Any thoughts?

Parents with NLD or Asperger's are prone to a lot of difficulty with teachers that just won't understand their child's needs, or some don't even believe the parent....(words of Rondalyn Whitney, the mother of a son with NLD: "I would say that 90 percent of parents of children with a social-relatedness deficit have been accused of making it all up. We get called 'crazy,' 'hysterical,' 'overly involved,' and 'overly protective.' The irony is, the parents who are doing their best are the ones that get this criticism the most. It's really devasting to parents to have to fend off so much criticism. They should be given awards for how hard they are trying. Instead, they are more likely to hear: 'If you'd just give her a good swat' 'What he needs is more discipline' 'What she needs is less control and authority in your family' 'If you'd just spank him' 'Let me spank him.' Parents of children with NLD and Asperger's syndrome take a lot of grief and get called lots of things by teachers, administrators, family, and friends." -(Nonverbal Learning Disorder by Rondalyn Varney Whitney) Some teachers may even say to a parent "I have never heard of NLD. I think this is just another excuse parents make up for their child's laziness", or "I don't think he has a neurological deficit, he has a behavorial problem." A lot of kids with NLD are accused of being defiant when they're really not, it's something else.

Hi. My name's Patrick and I have NLD.

I wasn't diagnosed until I was about 16/17 - I count myself lucky that they found it so early. I have all the symptoms - they suck . I get by, though.

I am looking for sites for adults who have NLD (I'm 22), and can't find many. I'm thinking of starting one, actually.

But is NLD considered to be on the autistic spectrum?

I've also been looking for one, for a long time. But there aren't any active ones. And no, for now at least, NLD is not mentioned in the DSM and it's diagnosed as a learning impairment, not part of Autism. Big mistake, because it's part of the neurodiversity.

I just joined here, and I can't tell you how unbelievably great it is to see this thread! I'm 17 and was diagnosed with NLD when I was 8... I've never met anyone else with NLD, and lately I've started to feel very frustrated with the lack of an NLD community and information about it.

So, a bit about me: I've always been very aware of how my NLD affects me, and have basically overcome any obstacles that I've had schoolwork-wise (I love school more than anything! except math, haha). But the social issues have always given me so much trouble, and I have really serious, sometimes cripplingly intense obsessions. Some of them are the Beatles, ancient Rome, Coldplay, Doctor Who, whales, the Enlightenment, PG Wodehouse, and TONS of others. I also have depression and very high anxiety (especially social anxiety).

Also, for the past year or so, as I've learned more about Asperger's, I've started to get the feeling that I was misdiagnosed, or at least VERY borderline between NLD and AS, especially when it comes to my obsessions. I know some people consider NLD to be a type of/connected to AS. I was wondering if anyone else with NLD feels that they're closer to Asperger's... or just how they feel in general, really Like I said, I've never talked to someone else with NLD before!

Last edited by InaWoodenHouse on 04 Jan 2010, 11:48 am, edited 1 time in total.

I think obsessions are pretty common with NLD'ers, too. Right now, it's all about Coheed and Cambria, and William Gibson.

I don't think I'm really all that close to Asperger's - when I meet people with Asperger's, I know that they are "they same," but at the same time they are also a lot "different." It's hard to explain.