Whats the difference between AS w/NLD and AS w/out NLD?

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Just curious. Does anyone know the answer?

As far as I can tell, AS and NLD are the same thing even though they are classified as being different... NLD does not associate itself with autism though.

It's just a seperation of characteristics, that the child 'Has' or 'hasn't' learnt about NT society.... AUtism ,Dyslexia, ADD , Terets, etc etc on both sides of the scale are ways for NT society to classify what a being has learnt.

-The other things, like schizophrenia, Bi-polar , depression, etc are ways for NT society to classify the chemical defence mechanisms the mind creates because of the things it did/didn't learn.

Well, in all my voracious reading since dx, quite often I've seen NVLD and AS compared. The NVLD 'symptoms' list seems to be evolving with 'experts' very divided on what's what. I can see why NVLD 'experts' would want to have a new syndrome (it's caused by the PPM syndrome - the Prestige, Power, Money disorder). Just the same, I can see why parents would prefer a dx of NVLD - autism ain't exactly a lifestyle accessory for upandcoming families.


Dr Lorna Wing considers NVLD to be autism (and a 'so-called syndrome'):

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=364&a=9120

Non-verbal learning disorder (NVLD)
Study of the criteria for this condition shows that it covers people with the social behaviour pattern of Asperger syndrome, who also have problems with the non-verbal skills of arithmetic and some visuo-spatial skills. Dr Asperger included such people in his descriptions but also included people with social problems who were very good with numbers and visuo-spatial skills.

(So, is an NVLD person someone with AS and problems with sums and visual perception...?)



Dr David Dinklage considers NVLD and AS to be the same but described from different perspectives:

http://www.nldontheweb.org/Dinklage_1.htm

There is clearly a great deal of overlap between Asperger’s Disorder (AD) and Nonverbal Learning Disabilities (NVLD) – so much so that it is possible that the symptoms of each diagnosis describe the same group of children from different perspectives, AD from either a psychiatric/behavioral perspective, and NVLD from a neuropsychological perspective. The specific conventions of these diagnoses may lead to a somewhat different group of children meeting diagnostic criteria, but it is not clear that this reflects something “true” in nature. That is, it may only be convention that separates these two groups.

One is reminded of the story of the six blind men who were asked to describe an elephant. Each man grabbed a different part of the creature (the snake-like trunk vs. the tree-like leg), and gave an accurate description from his own particular perspective – but each man thought the others were completely mistaken!

The main difference is difficulty with math. People who have both AS and NLD have difficulty with math whereas people who have just AS do not necessarily have difficulty with math.

Do you have any references for this, umbra?

And do you think that some people only have NLD? Do you think there's a difference? I rather think that it's all AS with a wide range of variety (this sorting and sorting into smaller and smaller categories is tedious to my mind. I can't think why they're bothering to do it.)