NLD Information and Support Thread

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there are lot of web site but i like to this one.

this is a very quite and interested web site.

this is a very interested and entertaining.

Yes....and i've become tired of explaining to everyone that I have a learning disability/neurological disorder that doesn't exist "officially".


I've also become tired of the debate as to whether NLD and AS
are the same disorder with a common etiology or not.

Is it true that, unlike AS, the NLD social problems have to do generally with processing speed and visual-spatial issues?

Since I don't know of any research on NLD that talks about this, I can only speak for myself. But yeah, I think processing speed is a factor in my social difficulties. I think another thing is my difficulty reading nonverbal communication. I find that I have a good theoretical knowledge of social skills, but when I actually get into the situation, I become sort of confused and overwhelmed sometimes.

I believe vivinator may be referring to Byron Rourke's research. As far as I know (this is off the top of my head, mind, so don't quote me on this!), he believes that lower level deficits impact higher-level deficits, including social skills. For instance, I believe the "primary" deficits he includes for NLD are tactile processing, visual processing, and adaptation to novel situations. Those then lead to secondary deficits, tertiary deficits, academic issues, and psychosocial deficits. So for example, if you have visual processing problems, you will have visual memory problems, and you will have difficulty learning and recognizing nonverbal communication signals.

So...a question for the rest of you:

Do you tell others about your NLD? Who? And how do you explain it?

As for me, my family knows. I was 17 when I was diagnosed, so it was my mom who took me to get the testing. My family thinks they understand, but from some of their statements it's unclear that they do. I wish they would ask me, rather than making assumptions. I've also told a few friends. I have friends with OCD and ADHD, so I thought they might understand where I was coming from a little more. I actually told them both twice, and the second time I told them, it was like they had no memory of me telling them the first time. Much like my family, they didn't seem curious at all to learn more. I've looked up OCD and ADHD on Wikipedia, which took 10 minutes. Why they apparently couldn't do the same for me, I don't understand. However, there was one friend (her diagnosis: Tourette's) who did want to learn more, although I think I was so surprised by her curiosity that I ended up not explaining NLD very well.

I think it's time to bring this NLD thread back to life!

In answer to the question before me, in high school I explained to all of my teachers and friends about my NLD. When I started college in August, I thought it'd be an interesting experiment to not tell any of my new friends about my NLD, and see if I could pass as "normal" it lasted for about a month, until I started to have a few problems with one of my friends re: not picking up on her sarcasm, as well as me not changing my tone of voice enough when I was being sarcastic, so she thought I was being mean to her. BUT since I told them about it I've been keeping it very low-key, and my friends still barely know what NLD is, which has been a very interesting experience for me!

My professors know I have a disability but don't know the details, and I meet with disability services every other week to check in... But I definitely haven't been informing people the way I used to! I never thought I'd see the day when I could go for even a month without telling friends that I have NLD.

Ha, better late than never. It's funny because my experience is the opposite of yours. I went from telling no one about NLD to trying to tell more people. I've gotten to the point where I write about NLD sometimes on my blog, which I know a lot of my friends read. But I still feel nervous about telling people in person. Personally, I'm starting to think that I would rather be open, and let the chips fall where they may. I can pass, but I don't want to. I feel that life is too short. While I don't want to talk about NLD constantly, it would be nice to be able to talk about it in relevant situations. But I feel like I can't really do that yet, because not enough people are well-enough aware what NLD is.

Also, since my last post, I think my mom is trying to understand more about the way my mind works. So, yay?

I never know whether to tell people or not. I am following the same trend you are- from not telling people to sometimes telling people. This girl I am becoming friends with recently told me she has dyslexia, and I blurted out that I have NLD. However, a couple weeks before that a guy that I am becoming friends with told me he has Asperger's, and I didn't tell him about NLD. I also told one former co-worker, and not another former co-worker, even though I like and trust them both, and had been talking with them both about a previous job where I was fired (due to NLD), so it would have been a natural time to divulge the info. But I didn't, because I just don't feel like talking about it all the time, even *if* the situation is relevant. And I also agree with what you said, that not enough people really know what it is. Although after telling the one co-worker, she told me that everyone already at that job already thought I had a learning disability (and one person thought I had Asperger's), so apparently I wasn't covering as well as I thought I was and clearly people are picking up on *something*.

That's kind of the problem. It's not as if I can refrain from telling people, and then they will think I am normal. They will notice something *anyway*, and I would kind of like to explain what that is. And yet I am afraid that they will hear "learning disability" and think that I can't possibly have that, because people always tell me how smart I am (I actually heard this from a therapist once who had met me for about 20 min and was immediately prepared to un-diagnose my NLD and call it "anxiety"). Except that people *have* guessed that I have a learning disability, which is why I want to tell them about it. Argh! I think I am confusing myself with conflicting logic at this point.

Also- did we get un-stickied? This was on page 2 or 3.

Yeah, that's a good point. And people have always called me "smart" as well. I AM smart...about some things. Similar to that, it's hard to explain NLD like, "this is part of the autistic spectrum" when most people's view of autism is of a child rocking in the corner (or something).

Looks like we did get unsticked...sad.

I'm new here. My 11 year old son who has always had fine motor skill problems (YEARS of OT), tons of ADHD meds (with limited success), was finally tested by a neuropsych this year and diagnosed with NLD. He had convergence insufficiency as a young kid and has major visual spatial problems (a 4 point differential where 1 is considered a disability). . .

Verbal IQ is 138. working memory is around 92 and processing around 101. Yep -- a 40+ point spread.

If you read a description of NLD you might as well have met my son. He is pretty good socially although he is very impulsive and has fairly low self-esteem around friends.

Right now he is in a private middle school (6th grade) and I'm wondering if he can continue there or if he needs a more LD focus. I visited an Autism / AS school and he definitely would not fit in there -- much more high functioning socially and academically.

So I'm just introducing us and saying I'm glad I found the forum.

then let me say welcome to WP

Someone said there was no way I could have NLD because my reading comprehension is good and I get good grades in my psychology courses. I hate it when people undiagnose people that they barely know. Give me a map and directions to a new place and watch me try and find it.......... or just try to communicate something to me non verbally...... then you'll believe that I have NLD!

I also told someone from my ASD support group that I had NLD and he said "no" and went on to explain that I was nothing like this girl he knows who has NLD and is very social (has very good social skills). I had to tell him that I also had AS and then he said that that made sense. He thought that NLD was not associated with any social impairment! I think the inability to discern non-verbal social cues is one of the first symptoms listed in the ICD-10 where NLD is actually recognized.

i read all this and i makes me laugh. i have had people all my life tell me i'm smart, theres nothing wrong w/ you, by people that have previesly told me i do have a prob.
untill more is known about nld(more importantly about how the brain works all together)we will be in the shadows doing what we can to improve.
if you want to tell someone don't be afraid....but know you will have to explain it!