Asperger's vs. Nonverbal Learning Disabilities

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The social aspect becomes worse and worse with time - in stages. These stages correspond with the stages of NT social development. NTs don't develop socially in a gradual way but in stages. At each of these stages, they leave the NLDer more and more behind in social behavior. At around 50, the gap becomes impossible to wade in any way anymore. Hence the suicide statistics at this age. I have rescue cats that would die without me because of the horrible situation of cats in my country, otherwise I'd be one of the statistics no doubt.

The gap I'm talking about is caused by the subtext. Subtext is an NLDer's nightmare, and the older an NT is, the more they engage in subtext. Eg you can see that an 8-y/o child will vocalize: "I don't want to be your friend anymore if you don't come with me to the party!" The older an NT is, the less they say directly and the more they use subtext to express themselves, making interaction impossible for an NLDer.

I assume aspies don't really have a problem with subtext, because I've started numerous threads about it and invariably got 2-3 totally clueless replies in total, aspies had no idea what I was talking about.

Subtext is teaching you how to behave with them in silent ways, eg if you don't come with me to the party, I start calling you less often. Then you have to figure out for yourself why I'm upset, and keep silent about it. Then next time you come with me to the party, as a way of telling me that you want me to start calling you often again. It's not "non-verbal" as in body language, it's "non-verbal" as in situationally hinted.

NVLD is a learning disability. Asperger Syndrome is a pervasive developmental disorder. I would think that right there would indicate some sort of difference.

My kids' neurologist doesn't think NVLD is a learning disability. He believes it belongs on the same spectrum as ASD, AS, and ADHD. He specializes in neurodevelopmental issues and does not see any other kind of patient.

My son has NVLD. In him it does look rather like AS. The one thing I would say is different is that it appears that the origins of his social issues are different when compared to my daughter who has ASD. She does not get a lot of social stuff. Even after you explain it, sometimes she just doesn't get it. With my son, it is more that he misses it...he doesn't see it. But when he sees it, he gets it. It's just that he has a hard time catching nonverbal cues. But if you verbalize the things that he is missing, he is very intune with all of it. He just needs a running play by play.

There's nothing in common between NLD and AS, except the fact that both are socially rejected and (only partly) due to the same traits. The social aspect is so crucial for both that they seem to have a lot in common, when actually many of the traits are actually the very opposite. Examples:

1. Visio-spatial impairment - it's always present in NLD, only present in some AS cases if at all. NLD is the uber-linguistic type and very bad at Engineering skills, while AS is called the Engineers' syndrom. NLD = getting lost, very impaired at sports, big difficulties driving.

2. Social behavior - AS can be inappropriately inexpressive and introverted, while the vast majority of NLDers are inappropriately overly-expressive and extroverted.

3 . Desire for social interaction - NLDers need it and seek it intensely, AS often distance from it or are indifferent.

4. Linguistic abilities above the (NT) norm - typical of NLD, atypical in AS. I have 3 languages at mother tongue level, and another 5 I manage in. I'm a Linguist and some say you can't tell I'm not an English native speaker.

In my personal opinion, both are forms of autism, because my grandmother and father had high-functioning autism, my father in the form of AS, and I inherited it in the form of NLD. Sadly, until the researchers catch up with what we already know, we NLDers will continue being diagnosed with AS (because there's no Social Security benefits for NLD).

I have problems with looking in the eye, face-blindness, social subtext and some mild sensory issues, but I'm very, very good at executive functioning and understanding sarcasm, metaphor, tone of voice and body language.

Externally I look completely NT and it takes many, many hours of interaction with me to start sensing something is "different".

Unlike autism, NLD is believed to be the result of brain damage at birth. There's less mystery around it. And the social aspect does not improve in adulthood, as opposed to AS. In fact, it gets a lot worse and therefore there's a high incidence of suicide among NLDers around the age of 50.

Yes, there are differences.
I clearly don't have NVLD and never identified with those difficulties. I more fit into pragmatic language disorder, what's a bit the opposite to some degree.

Except play by play as an adult is "Hey man you're a f***ing idiot."

Do aspies not have problems with subtext, because they don't detect it?

I don't know. I'm very surprised that all threads I've started on the subject have met with almost total silence. Maybe I should start a thread titled "Why are subtext problems not interesting for you to discuss?"

But there's no such thing as a particular high incidence of suicide around age 50 among aspies.

I don't know. I'm very surprised that all threads I've started on the subject have met with almost total silence. Maybe I should start a thread titled "Why are subtext problems not interesting for you to discuss?"

But there's no such thing as a particular high incidence of suicide around age 50 among aspies.

This is the last one, and it did get a lot of replies, but still I get a feeling from the replies like it's not such a central issue for aspies as it is for NLD.