What exactly is a visual-spatial learning disability?

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Ever since I was 11 I've been diagnosed with Asperger's, and used to also be diagnosed with ADD. Recently, I went in for a reassessment, and the psychologist who assessed me changed the rest of the diagnoses to anxiety and a visual-spatial learning disability. She attributed my difficulties with navigating and managing time to this, but her explanation of just what exactly a visual-spatial learning disability was was very confusing. She only described it by some of the symptoms I experienced. I tried searching for more information online, but every site just talked about non-verbal learning disorder. Is a visual-spatial learning disorder just another name for a non-verbal learning disorder, or an aspect of it? If anybody has some information about this, that'd be awesome, I'm really curious to learn more about this. School officials have already started questioning me about the new diagnoses, and I didn't have good answers for them.

I'm not sure. I used to work in a coffee shop, and I began wondering towards the end of my time there if I had a visual-spatial issue, as I would have to look at the sandwich build chart or the beverage build chart sometimes 5 or 6 times because I could not remember immediately how to make them. I felt so stupid. I have the same issue at home following recipes, etc. It's like my brain cannot remember the details I just looked at half a second ago and I have to go back many times to look again.

Maybe I'm wrong about this and my issue is not what you're asking about.

I hope someone knowledgeable will answer this in more detail.

I have an e-book on NVLD, and visual-spatial problems are one of the possible symptoms, but there are many more symptoms of NVLD, including organization problems and social problems. I've never heard of visual-spatial difficulties alone constituting a learning disorder; it seems too narrow. Maybe it is not one specific learning disability, but a category of learning disabilities, like LLD (language learning disabilities) which includes dyslexia and others. I don't know what would be in that category, though.

From what I understand, someone with weaknesses in the visual-spatial area basically has a problem understanding and manipulating objects and concepts that have some sort of extension (in space, time, etc.) or degree (of temperature, for example). So they can have problems with such varied things as clumsiness (moving the body through space), understanding math concepts such as more vs. less, and visually following the lines of text as they try to read a book.

This is the only website I found that seems to give a helpful explanation:
http://www.pp4al.com/?_escaped_fragment ... is-vi/csd1

This describes it fairly well: http://www.ldao.ca/introduction-to-ldsa ... abilities/ .

Basically people with Visual-Spatial LD learn better using words and have trouble understanding information in forms of diagrams or mathematic formulas.

It seems to be the same as NLD.
http://www.ldao.ca/introduction-to-ldsa ... abilities/

Yes, exactly.

Basically, most people have some ability to imagine images, such as bringing up a mental image of their house, and they can mentally represent where some things are in relation to others. For example, if you ask a typical person to describe a route they take everyday, they could visualize the important landmarks and the direction & distance they'd need to go. Probably not with perfect accuracy, but good enough. Or if you ask them to imagine picking up an object and turning it around, they can guess at what the other side would look like. Things like that.

A person with visual-spatial learning disorder/nonverbal learning disorder finds it a lot harder to create clear mental images. Some people can't make mental images at all, others can make mental images but with less detail and accuracy than normal, or with certain kinds of information missing. For example, you might be able to visualize details, but you can't picture how they fit together into a whole. Some people also find they need a lot more experience with a visuospatial task to be able to picture it properly. For example, instead of figuring out the route to a class by the second or third class, they might not be able to do it easily until they're almost done the class.

Hope that helps.

So it means that the author of the topic has not the diagnoses of AS and ADD now?

About nonverbal learning disability/disorder: it is the term which can be used to describe syndromes which are in my opinion forms of the same phenomenon as high-functioning ASD. Here is a page about "nonverbal learning disorder syndrome": http://www.nldontheweb.org/nldentrylevelreading/whatisnldsyndrome.html. I think that not all forms of "aspergerism" have to be related to infantile autism. I get AS (F84.5 in ICD-10, it is in pervasive developmental disorder (F84) category) diagnosis when I was about 17. Diagnosis of PDD may be helpful in school and I think that it fits me, because I have large social problems (such as social perception problems) and emotional anomalies (such as fixated interests) since childhood. But I have not excellent picture thinking and eidetic memory. Despite it I can read maps, clocks, graphs. I have not "GPS in head", but I have not so poor spatial orientation to name it as a learning disability. I am rather an "auditory" thinker, I can think in words and concepts rather good. But I have (at least relatively) good theory of mind and I think that it is intuitive since childhood, which does not fit to the picture of typical ASD.

I think that visual-spatial learning disorder is a synonym of NLD. VSLD has not to lead to social and emotional problems, especially in childhood. I rather have something called "NLD profile" - my verbal skills, rote memory are probably an appreciable strength, but visual-spatial and motor abilities appear to be somewhat significantly lower than verbal ones in my case. I think that I have verbal thinking style, my visual thinking is not so detailed and functional like in people with high-functioning typical ASDs, such as Temple Grandin. But I often have quite rich dreams last time in which picture thinking rather dominates.

I think that something named "pervasive developmental disorder" lead to marked social and emotional problems since childhood. This trait has not to be necessary to diagnose VSLD/NLD. Not all PDDs have to be associated with traits which are typical for infantile autism, such as lack of theory of mind and empathy, weak central coherence, rigid routines and rituals, need of sameness, poor verbal and abstract thinking, severe sensory anomalies, lack of imaginative playing. I suppose that many people with PDD/AS (diagnosed or not) have set of traits which is similar to mine. I my case PDD looks like something which would be diagnosed as just NLD in America in my opinion. It would be unacceptable error for me. The name "learning disorder" would clearly underestimate the severity and "strangeness" of my developmental problem, terms such as "some form of autism" or "PDD" fits to my problem.

Social and emotional problems can't be needed to diagnose nonverbal learning disorder or visual-spatial learning disability. It is a learning disorder, so it cause significant scholastic problems, not socio-emotional ones. In my opinion the name "social NLD" is wrong. Developmental problems with social skills should be classified in the same category as ASD. I would classify "social communication disorder" (evidence for it is "weak") in one class with autism spectrum disorder, not with speech and language problems.

Hi, everyone! Thank you so much for all of the informative responses! I just wanted to make a quick correction to something in my original post that was unclearly stated. When I said that part of my old diagnoses was scrapped, what I meant was just the ADD. I still am diagnosed as having Asperger's, (ASD, now, but I prefer Asperger's,) and now have the new diagnoses in addition. Sorry for the unclear writing, I think I posted this late at night.