NVLD - bad, misleading, inadequate name

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Fragments from an article about "NVLD" (I bolded or (and) underlined some fragments):

https://www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/child-learning-disabilities/nonverbal-learning-disabilities/nonverbal-learning-disabilities-what-youre-seeing-in-your-high-schooler

https://www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/child-learning-disabilities/nonverbal-learning-disabilities/how-the-symptoms-of-nonverbal-learning-disabilities-change-over-time

It appear to fit me in quite large part. I suppose that my condition would be diagnosed as NVLD in Northern America.

Think about how you say things. Remember that kids with NVLD have trouble sensing sarcasm and tone of voice, and they’re likely to take instructions literally. For example, if you say, “Don’t let me see you playing with that toy,” he might continue playing with the toy but turn his back so you can’t see him. Give clear instructions such as, “Please put that toy down and come over here.”
Help with transitions. Kids with NVLD tend to dislike change because it’s hard for them to understand. They may not have the abstract thinking skills needed to envision what’s going to happen next. You can prepare your child for a change in routine by using logical explanations. Instead of saying, “We’re leaving soon to have dinner with Grandma,” try “We’re going to eat dinner at Grandma’s house tonight because it’s her birthday. We need to leave in an hour.”
Keep an eye on your child. Kids with NVLD can become overwhelmed by too much sensory input, such as noise, smells, sounds and temperature. (...)
Encourage playdates. Help your child find kids who are interested in the same things he enjoys, whether it’s comic books or cooking. Set up one-on-one playdates at your home, so your child can get social experience in a familiar setting. Make sure to keep the playdate structured, organizing activities to keep your child and his friend busy. It’s also a good idea to plan playdates for a time of day when your child tends to be on his best behavior.

https://www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/child-learning-disabilities/nonverbal-learning-disabilities/understanding-nonverbal-learning-disabilities

Literal interpretations, dislike for changes and poor abstract thinking skills, being overwhelmed by sensory input... In the text about NVLD... They are so autistic features! I had not so large problems with them! It is "silly" to name it just as a "learning disorder", it should be in the same class of neurodevelopmental disorder with autism, but not with dyslexia or dyscalculia.

I agree that "NVLD" is sometimes an euphemism used for someting which should be named as a PDD and sort of autism.

Fragment from http://wrongplanet.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=271203#p6501352:

[url]Back in the 1960s when Dr. Samuel Kirk coined the term "learning disabilities" (or shortly after), he defined them as (emphasis mine):

“Children with special learning disabilities exhibit a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using spoken or written language. These may be manifested in disorders of listening, thinking, talking, reading, writing, spelling, or arithmetic.:

So, learning disabilities were originally all thought to be based in language. But in 1967, Doris Johnson & Helmer Myklebust published a book about learning disabilities where they described kids who fit the learning disabilities framework but whose impairments weren't based in language. They called these disorders "disorders of nonverbal learning." They weren't a syndrome with multiple parts you had to have all of to be diagnosed with. They were just a group of learning disabilities affecting nonverbal skills. So some kids had problems with math; some had problems with rhythm and music; some got lost easily; some had visual processing problems; some had problems with handwriting and/or other motor skills; some had problems with social skills. Some had more than one, but they didn't need to have all of them.

For some reason, Byron Rourke turned a heterogenous group of disorders into one syndrome. Not only that, but he also made that syndrome into a "model"--a research framework to look at other complex conditions through. He came up with, like, 20 other syndromes the NLD model was useful for. In his 1980s book "Nonverbal Learning Disabilities: The Syndrome and the Model," he argues that autism is NLD plus global language impairment. (He was wrong.)

I'm not sure, but I think the newer focus on "subtypes" of NLD is an attempt to go back to Johnson & Myklebust's original definition. But everyone's subtypes are different. John M. Davis & Jessica Broitman argue that the core features of NLD are visual-spatial problems and executive function problems. In her thesis, Dianne Matthaei argues that NLD's name should be changed to "spatial learning disorder"--the word "spatial" including visual-spatial skills and spatial-motor skills.[/url]

I think that NLD should have nothing to do with "bizarre" emotionality, obsessive interests, sensory problems and even serious problems with nonverbal communication (like very poor eye contact). NLD should be just a cognitive/scholastic deficit.

http://nldline.com/newpage27.htm



I have the unique perspective of being the parent of 2 girls - one diagnosed with NLD and the other diagnosed with autism/PDD. Judy asked me to write a short article about their similarities and differences. Since both disorders are spectrum disorders, this is a personalized account.

My older daughter, Katherine is 9 yrs. old. She had been diagnosed with NLD since age 6. My younger daughter, Amanda, is 6 yrs. old. She has been diagnosed with autism/PDD since age 3. 1996 was not a particularly good year for our family.

Let me also share that while Amanda meets diagnostic criteria for autism, she is a very verbal, fairly high-functioning kid. In fact she is so verbal that I believe many of her autistic symptoms are right-hemisphere mediated. Many children with autism show stronger right-hemisphere skills and weaker left hemisphere skills, such as language.

Some of their differences:

Friendship: My NLD child wants very badly to have friends. She tries really hard, is totally engaged with friends, but doesn't understand when she is rude to someone else. My child with autism wants to have a friend over to play, but will totally ignore them once they are here. What she is doing is more important than who she is with.
Play: My child with NLD is demanding and wants attention most of her waking hours. My child with autism is content to play by herself with toys and books. In fact, she would prefer it.
Tactile Defensiveness: If you accidentally bump into my child with NLD, she will clobber you back. She doesn't understand that it was an accident. My child with autism has more normal sensitivity to touch.
Disposition: My child with autism wakes up every morning with a cheerful disposition. The first thing on her agenda is kisses for Mom - one for every day of the month (5 kisses if it's the 5th, etc)- cute, but perseverative. She is a happy and content child. She is not one to hide her feelings. My child with NLD is usually pretty owly. At least half of the comments she makes are negative. She smiles less often. I think she internalizes a lot of her feelings.

Some of their similarities, often differing only by degree:

Language: Both of my children are very verbal. The difference is that my child with NLD uses language to learn about her world. She is constantly asking questions about her environment, about a new word she hears, etc. My child with autism uses language to drive me even crazier…non-stop who, what, and why questions are her favorite language forms!
Transitions: They both hate transitions or anything new and different. My child with NLD will complain loudly, whine, and resist. My child with autism is likely to cry or throw a tantrum.
Visual Motor/Spatial: Both of my children have major visual-motor and visual-spatial deficits. In fact, I would consider my child with autism severely impaired and my child with NLD mildly impaired in these areas. (another reason I believe my child with autism has right hemisphere dysfunction.)
Frustration tolerance: My child with NLD has extremely low tolerance for frustrating situations. She lacks problem-solving ability. If something is too difficult, she shuts down. My child with autism also has a low frustration tolerance, but can be coached through possible solutions. She doesn't shut down completely.
Vulnerability: Both girls are extremely vulnerable. I often worry that they are easy targets for bullies or even worse.

Probably the way in which they are both the most similar is in their extreme need for explanations of the way the world works. They both need to be given explanations, over and over again, for every interaction requiring any social acumen - what didn't work in a given circumstance, and what might work better next time. Nothing is intuitively obvious.
For me they are both Aspijkas and should have the same diagnosis. Why one is diagnosed with just "learning dsorder/disability" and another with autism/PDD? For me they both have the same condition, which may be named as autism/PDD, but not as just learning problem.

http://www.succeedsocially.com/nld (fragment of another text about NLD)

http://mspaulportfolio.weebly.com/uploads/8/0/6/7/8067650/nvld.pdf

Rigid behaviors in NLD:

Rigid behaviour: Most individuals with non-verbal learning disorders (NVLD) are very rigid in terms of his or her behaviour (Vacca, 2001). They often have problems during transitional times and in novel situations. Jane has issues with schedule changes during her day. She often storms out of her classroom if her teacher alters the shape of the day. Jane also becomes physically aggressive in novel situations; for example, she is frequently aggressive with her educational assistant during school assemblies.

Prosopagnosia in NLD?:

Poor non-verbal memory and facial recognition: The literature states that people with NVLD have problems with facial recognition (Franz, 2000; Liddell and Rasmussen, 2005). Liddell and Rasmussen discovered that children with NVLD scored well below average on the immediate memory subtest that was one of the visual memory tasks in their study. In this task, the subjects were shown pictures of people’s faces and asked to remember them. Soon afterwards the experimenters presented the NVLD children with two pictures of different faces, one that the child viewed previously and one that they had never seen before; the child was then supposed to point to the picture they had recently seen. The students with a non-verbal learning disability had a very difficult time identifying the face that they had recently seen.

I believe that Jane also has difficulties remembering faces. I remember one incident when Jane was having a tantrum in my office. She decided to throw toys up in the air and I called in our principal for extra support. Our principal clearly stated, “stop Jane” in a menacing tone, but Jane took one look at him and went back to throwing items all over my room. I remember thinking to myself, does she even realise that he is the principal. Now that I think back on it I wonder if she just did not realise who he was. After all, she probably did not have much contact with the principal and maybe she could not remember his face. Perhaps he was just another adult telling her what to do to her.

From "Understanding Children with Nonverbal Learning Disorder and Its Subtypes"; Noel Kok Hwee CHIA, EdD, BCSE, BCET; Assistant Professor; Early Childhood & Special Needs Education; National Institute of Education; Nanyang Technological University, Singapore ([url]from second link from https://www.google.pl/search?sclient=ps ... case+study[/url])

In Palombo’s (2006) model of NVLD, the disorder is divided into two subtypes. The first subtype concerns neuro-linguistic perceptual deficits with social imperceptions problems. The second subtype concerns social-cognition impairments. The latter can be further sub-divided into two following subtypes: (1) Subtype 2A NVLD with social-cognition impairments that is manifested with two additional problems in social relatedness and reciprocity that is not related to visual-spatial issues; and (2) Subtype 2B with social-cognition impairments that is manifested with three additional problems in reciprocal social relations, verbal and nonverbal language processing as well as affective problems.

My developmental condition looks like "subtype 2A NVLD". My main area of "NLD" symptoms is social one. I have social impairments and "problems" with relatedness (no(?) need of being loved by others) and reciprocity (I have tendency to one-sided interactions, do not like talking about something which is not interesting to me).

"Subtype 2A" NLD is a "social reciprocity disorder" which has social-cognition impairments with problems with social relatedness and reciprocity. I might name "developmental social reciprocity disorders" such as subtype 2A NVLD as... autisms! "Social reciprocity disorder" may be a synonym of the word "autism"! Autism should be about problems with social skills, relatedness and reciprocity, not about cognitive style.

http://www.wrongplanet.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=230124

I feel a diagnosis of this would have helped me get help with math a lot more than the as diagnosis.

It is possible that in your country diagnosis of NVLD would help you in school (in mathematics).

I had revalidational hours (extra lessons) from Maths in secondary school when I was 17 years old because of my AS diagnosis (F84.5 in ICD-10). I was diagnosed with a pervasive developmental disorder (Asperger's syndrome) in a specialistic centre when I was about 17. School pedagogue noticed that I seemed to have AS. School founded my diagnosis. I think that I had extra lessons from Maths and Physics thanks to my PDD (AS) diagnosis.

If I would be diagnosed with dyscalculia (which is a learning disorder which cause problems in mathematics (and I have not dyscalculia, my problems with mathematics might be related to scrupulosity, obsessions, quite poor visual memory, difficulties with complex tasks, problems with attention(?), SCT(?))), I suppose that I would not have extra lessons from Maths, paradoxically. I had two unsatisfactory grades (1 in 1 - 6 scale) in the half of second grade of my secondary school: from Maths and Physics. But at the end of third grade in secondary school, I had good grade from Physics (4) (due to easier material, more "verbal-thinker-friendly" and not so technical) and satisfactory (3) from Maths, but at "mature" exam (on general certificate of secondary education) I had 100% from Maths in elementary level and above 90% from Maths in advanced level. Writing advanced Maths exam really good allowed me to go to the school in which I got Bachelor of Science degree (Polish "inżynier", which means "engineer").

Fragment of a text about "NLD". For me it is a sort of aspieness, aucorigia - something more than just learning problem.

http://nonverballearningdisability.weebly.com/academic-problems.html

In the area of verbal language;
• The children are either average or above average in verbal language skills;
• They have good syntax and good pragmatics;
• They have problems with prosody, they tend to speak in monotone, or with a "sing-song" voice;
• They may reverse pronouns at an early age [sic!], but these clear up with maturation;
• They have good memories and manifest rote memory verbalizations that makes them look much smarter than they actually are;
• Their concepts lack preciseness. Although they appear sophisticated there is a shallowness to the content of their expressions. A child may use a vocabulary that seems advanced for his or her age, but the communications are not always well connected, and the content appears superficial;
• Their problem with concept formation limits their capacity to reason, analyze and synthesize materials;

The social-emotional profile.
• The area of affective communication is problematic for children with NVLD.

• In the receptive area:
• They appear unable to decode prosodic or vocal intonations;
• They also have difficulty reading facial expressions. They are unable to decode the emotional message conveyed by people’s faces, and
• They are unable to read bodily gestures.

In the expressive area:
• They do not use vocal intonations. They either speak in a flat monotone or with a "sing-song" voice:
• It is difficult to read their mood from their facial expressions. It is hard to tell whether they are really happy or unhappy.
• They do not sue body gestures in speaking. They seem wooden and constricted;

In the processing area:
• They may have problems in the area of decoding affective states, or in the area of visual processing;
• They respond to affect laden situations with anxiety, withdrawal or sadness;
• They have problems in modulating or regulating certain affects;
• They loose control and have temper tantrum, when frustrated;
• They respond to most feelings with generalized excitement that is unfocused and lacking in content;
• They appear to have no compassion or empathy for others;
• They appear not to have the same feelings about events and people that their peers are capable of having.

Their functioning in social situations is often problematic:
• They interact quite well with adults, but not as well with peers. This may be because adults are more predictable in their responses and can be engaged verbally;
• They respond more nonverbally and are more erratic in their responses to their peers;
• They are unable to decode social cues involved in "reading" other people’s body language, facial expression and vocal intonations;
• They are inept in social situations. Grasping the subtle nuances of a social situation is difficult;
• Their eye contact (gaze) seems unnatural, they seldom make solid eye contact;
• They lack a sense of humor. They do not know when they are being teased;
• They interpret concretely colloquialisms or metaphorical expressions.
• They lack basic social skills:
• Sometimes, they are taken to be rude although they are not consciously being disrespectful;
• They are overly familiar with strangers. They will start a conversation with strangers as though they were old friends. They will ask personal questions too quickly. They do not respect privacy that we presume others to need. They share personal facts too quickly giving intimate details to strangers;
• They do not understand the physical aspects of social boundaries. Their sense of body in space does not allow them to respect the usual social distances, such as the culturally determined conversational distance of physical intimate closeness and distance;
• With peers, their play is disruptive, they appear unable to negotiate social interchanges with other kids.

An example of text about Asperger's: http://www.behavioradvisor.com/AspergersSyndrome.html:

I suppose that "social NLD" group rather does not have severe sensory processing problems. This group probably has also more "neurotypical" thinking style. For me it is another sort of aspieness or even autism, not a "learning disorder". Verbal skills should be more developed than performance ones. It may be not related to Kanner's syndrome at all. It may be not (so) genetic as "classic" sorts of autism. Perinatal issues might be quite commn among this group.

Large problems with basic social skills, "fixated" interests, tendency to one-sided conversations may be commn among individuals with this sort of "autisticity". Problems with theory of mind and central coherence may be significally smaller, maybe even not present.

Quite large part of this group may have someting which might be called "developmental schizotypal (or schizoid) disorder", which could be accountable for texts about "unusual thinking" (such as magical/bizarre beliefs) or "loner" personality in "(social) NLD". It may looks rather as schizophrenia spectrum disorder, not autism spectrum disorder, in some cases (and may be not only a sort of autism, a schizophrenia spectrum disorder may also be present).

"NVLD" is so much like ASD to be not classified in one subgroup of developmental disabilities with it. The name is obviously misleading, because it suggest that t is something like dyslexia or "pure" dyscalculia. This developmental disability is a complex syndrome, like typical ASD.

http://nvld.org/non-verbal-learning-disabilities/:

What is Non-Verbal Learning Disability?

People with Non-Verbal Learning Disability (NVLD) struggle with a range of conditions that include social and spatial disabilities. Often they are marginalized and isolated; consequently, they can experience social barriers throughout their lives.

NVLD is often indicated when a child struggles with:

* Handling novel problem-solving situations [also in typical ASD]
* Interacting with peers and processing social signals ["social disability", not (just) learning disability]
* Difficulties with math especially understanding fractions, geometric shapes, and sometimes word problems [a sort of mathematics learning disability]
* Staying focused [a problem with organisational skills]
* Making a plan for how to approach a new task [a problem with organisational skills]

Children with NVLD may struggle with:

* Gross motor activities like throwing a ball or riding a bike [dyspraxia]
* Fine motor activities like cutting or letter formation [dyspraxia and dysgraphia]
* Understanding charts and diagrams like maps and graphs [problems with visual-spatial skills]
* Organizing their thoughts and materials [problem with executive functioning]
* Sensory integration, either overstimulation or a need for more stimulation [ASD trait!]

How the definition was determined:

The definition and rules for differential diagnosis of NVLD on this site were written by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center in collaboration with members of the advisory board. The definition is based on a review of the literature. Features were included in the definition only if they were validated in a peer reviewed empirical paper. A recent paper that reviewed and presented all such research on NVLD {Fine, 2013 #364} was a main resource. There are numerous potential features of NVLD that are discussed often in clinical circles and that expert clinicians include in decision making about diagnosing a particular individual that are not included in this current definition. Such features were not included in this definition as they have no empirical evidence base at this time.

The NVLD Project recognizes the need for multiple perspectives in determining the most accurate definition of NVLD – toward this goal the NVLD Project is supporting researchers at Columbia University Medical Center to host a conference in 2016-17, the goal of which is to bring together experts to discuss the definition and differentiation of NVLD as a syndrome.

It is my old topic, I revive it...

https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... g_disorder - Prevalence of inter-hemispheric asymetry in children and adolescents with interdisciplinary diagnosis of non-verbal learning disorder - fragment: