Non-Verbal Learning Disability (NLD)

Post Reply New Topic

http://www.nldline.com/childdream.htm

In many ways this sounds more like me than classic aspergers. But I am still unsure as to what the difference is, as both diagnoses include social confusion and clumsiness....

It makes sense that I lack social skills because I just cant understand things that are not verbal. And it explains well why I dislike numbers.

And when I was a child I had the best reading age in the class but the worst writing...

But still I think this seems pretty related to aspergers in some ways... perhaps a sub-variety of aspergers... some aspergers people are highly verbal and many aspergers people learn to read and talk early...

thoughts?

Last edited by zen_mistress on 28 Nov 2007, 12:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

anyone know of any good NVLD internet forums like wrongplanet?

From the site posted by the OP:

That's interesting. I have no idea which diagnosis I would have gotten if people were aware of AS and NVLD when I was a kid. I'm probably somewhere in the middle.

I think I'm somewhere in the middle too.

Only one I know of is NLD on the Web:

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

There aren't that many people on it though, so the forum isn't anywhere as busy as this one is.

I was diagnosed with NLD last year, so I've been looking for good online resources- there aren't too many though.

Thought a lot about this.

1. NVLD is what girls usually get labelled rather than AS which is thought of as 'the boy thing'. (AS females do not present like AS males, so they can't be AS, right?)

2. In the UK it's cheaper to dx with NVLD because it isn't recognised as a spectrum disorder. Hence authorities do not have to make accommodations.

3. Suspect that NVLD is a bunch of researchers trying to make careers out of a 'new' disorder. Honest researchers are open about NVLD being a slightly differnet presentation of AS.


Hrrmmphh!

In addition to the social and motor issues, people with NLD usually have tremendous difficulty with anything visual- visual processing, visual memory, visual-spatial processing/memory, visual motor coordination, etc. There often is a huge gap between verbal and nonverbal abilities. On the WISC-III, which is an IQ test, my verbal index was 39 points higher than my performance index- which is 2.5 standard deviations. A difference of over one standard deviation is considered clinically significant. When purer nonverbal skills are measured, the difference in my abilities is even greater- more on the scale of about 4 standard deviations on average. For example, my verbal abilities are above the 99.9th percentile, but my visual memory is in the mildly-moderately impaired range (a difference of about 5-6 standard deviations- my visual memory is my weakest skill). Have you ever had any neuropsychological tests? Is there any major discrepancy in your verbal and nonverbal abilities?

I don't know about that. The neuropsychologist who evaluated me actually brought up AS, but I told her I didn't think I had it, because I didn't think my social skills were as impaired as the typical Aspie's. I am a girl by the way, but I live in the US, not the UK. Also, although I do poorly on tests of visual-motor coordination, that's due to a problem with my visual processing system, not my fine motor skills. When it comes to certain tasks (those which are low on the visual-processing component), my motor skills are excellent. Whereas Aspies generally have problems with motor planning (they often have apraxia) so that their motor issues aren't necessarily vision-based. So for instance, my handwriting is very neat, but unless I am given ruled margins, my paragraphs slope sharply to the right. It also explains why although I always thought my fine motor control was good, my brother, who has a tremor in his hand, is able to beat me easily at Pick-up Sticks (you'd think I could at least beat someone with a tremor, right?). It's the visual component, not the motor component, that I have difficulty with.

One other difference between NLD and AS is that NLD can be diagnosed using primarily neuropsychologist testing, whereas AS can't.

Unlike NLD, AS has preoccupations in the criteria. AS does not specify visuo-spatial problems, or the difference in test scores between verbal and performal IQ's which seems to be the mark of NLD, nor does it require problems in motor skills. Many people who qualify for an AS dx also qualify for NLD, but many don't.

True, I had forgotten about this one. Although NLDers can have intense interests, they don't usually rise to the level of preoccupation of a "special interest." In fact, when I was a kid, I just assumed my periods of intense interest were related to my giftedness (gifted verbally, a mess nonverbally), since gifted kids also often have intense interests.

Coupla thoughts...what's a 'typical Aspie'? All of us are different personalities and have different skill levels at different times.

And, Harvard specialist Dr David Dinklage actually says on the NVLD site that what a psychiatrist would dx as AS, a psychologist would often see as NVLD. They just see different aspects of the condition according to what they've been trained to see and dx.

Yeah, I think it's around 80% of Aspies who meet the criteria for NLD.

I agree that Aspies definitely have different skill levels at different times, but I was just thinking about the comments on this site, and how in general they seem to reflect a greater degree of social impairment than I have. Also, it seems like a lot of Aspies had difficulty making friends as kids, and were bullied. I always had a few friends as a kid, and I was not bullied. I think I'm generally liked by most people who know me, although I know they think I'm a little odd- it generally seems to amuse people rather than annoy them though.

although many girls have less obvious AS,girls can be more stereotypically aspergan and more than boys [am live with such an aspie].

as NVLD is an LD,NVLDers are protected under the DDA [disability discrimination act],and are allowed at least reasonable accomodations,if they do not provide accomodations for the NVLDer when they need them,they are breaking the law.

Am agree about it being a different presentation of AS,there is so very little difference between them,why has it not yet been added to the spectrum officially?

thx for the thoughtful replies, all.

I still cant see the difference really between Aspergers and NLD. I seem to fit the criteria for NLD very well, but I feel that my social skill problems were not just down to a dislike of non-words.
I actually didnt understand the concept of empathy incredibly well.

I kind of agree with this person here:

I thought that NVLD as a recognized disability is older than AS and many Aspies were previously dx'ed with NVLD in the past?