Callista wrote:
We should clear something up here: the term "learning disability".
In some areas, "learning disability" is a general term that means that someone has an intellectual disability--that is, a general difficulty with learning and probably slower development in general. NVLD is not this type of learning disability.
However, "learning disability" can also mean a "specific learning disability"--that is, a difficulty with a relatively small area of learning, which is much more difficult for the person, compared to the person's other skills. Dyslexia is probably the most well-known example.
"Nonverbal learning disability" is meant in the second, specific sense. People with NVLD have profiles like this:...
Look at that list, and you'll see that it is essentially a description of a highly-verbal person with autism--that is, Asperger syndrome. These people have communication problems and social problems despite large vocabulary, have problems with meaning, connotation, and symbolism despite good reading skills, have trouble with transitions and novelty, and are physically awkward. Every single symptom on that list is also associated with either Asperger's or with autism in general.
So here's my opinion on the matter: NVLD is what autism looks like to someone who specializes in learning disabilities. Where Kanner saw autism as a sort of psychosis and Asperger saw it as a sort of personality disorder, NVLD comes from people who see autism in terms of neurology and learning. They are three perspectives on the same thing.
There are some minor differences between those groups, of course, but I cannot consider those differences to be particularly relevant. Autism is so diverse that the differences from person to person far outweigh the differences between the categories.
NVLD is also a much easier diagnosis to give when a child is intelligent and verbal, because many parents have a stereotype of autism as being a severe, obvious disorder, and the doctor might worry that they will either reject the diagnosis out of hand or assume that the child is much more impaired than they actually are. Terms like NVLD and Asperger's for this particular cognitive profile do serve a purpose: They have taught us that autistic does not need to mean incapable of learning, incapable of communicating, locked in your own world. I don't think they are diagnostically distinct, but they are useful because they offer new ways to look at autism--NVLD from a neurological perspective, Asperger's from a social-skills perspective. We just can't get too locked into one particular model, or we'll miss what we can learn from the others.
Thank you so so much for your reply, gosh. I'm learning so much about my LD and the description of NVLD describes me to a "t", and I just had this moment of "I KNOW WHY I AM THE WAY I AM", you know? It's such a relief. You're definitely right about the stereotype about autism - I asked my mum why she never told me that I was technically on the autism spectrum, and she said "you never seemed autistic." Gross, right?
So, just to clarify, in your opinion you believe they are essentially the same thing? I'm getting my diagnosis """renewed""" if you can call it that, soon, for University things, so hopefully that will clear some things up.
15 Apr 2014, 4:44 pm
