Is there a difference between non-verbal learning disorder

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and aspergers?

Why is one most likely inherited and the other not?

I'm still trying to figure out how my children function, and what their diagnosis could be.
I'm still confused.

I have NLD and I could only tell you the differences I have:

*I'm not sure if this is common or not with NLD, but I started speaking pretty late. However, I was capable of it since I could read at age two

*I did exceptionally well in the early grade school years. But once fourth grade hit, everything started getting a lot harder for me. I was no longer the smartest student in class.

*Language arts has always been my strong-point. At age ten, I was testing at a college level. However, I absolutely and completely suck at all things math.

*Even though writing seems to be a problem with NLD, I've always had the best handwriting in class.

*I'm definitely a people person. I love to be around people and sociallize. Otherwise, I get very lonely.

*I do not stim. Not at all.

If you want to know anything else, feel free to ask!

EDIT: I'm adding a few on I just remembered.

*Non-Verbal cues are very hard for me. I cannot read lips at all and gestures just confuse me. It's also hard for me to tell a person's emotion of they're just sitting there, unless it's really obvious.

*I am absolutely horrible at remembering both names and faces. I think I may be beginning to get better at this though.

*The only thing I'm hypersensitive to is sunlight. But that's when I just put on sunglasses, so no big deal.

*I am very good at directions. I know all the directions of an interior place (like a mall, museum, or mansion) instantly. My mom gave me a 10/10 on interior directions and a 7/10 for roads.

*Understanding sarcasm has never been a problem for me. I also use it quite often. I'm also the first person to understand a joke, but it's hard to get me to laugh since they're never funny to me one bit.

I have NLD with AS and my mom also had NLD with AS.

NLD can be caused by a number of reasons, including traumatic brain injury and hydrocephaly. That is why some professionals are reluctant to include it on the ASD spectrum.

However, those of us who are born with it feel it does belong on the spectrum. 1 in 3 people with AS also have NLD. It appears to be inherited in the form of people being born with it. There is no research to back that up though.

I know my mom had NLD with AS because she was frequently lost, like me. She also didn't understand humor, teasing or sarcasm and she had trouble with empathy. She was socially inappropriate at times. She had very little social contact and few friends. She was also very hypersensitive to sounds and sights.

I have a far worse case than my mother had. My mom didn't get nonverbal cues and she was a verbal genius. She went further in life than I have. She was a college professor of English.

Anyway, I don't know if this information helps, but I hope so.

Also, to address your question about the differences between NLD and AS. AS is more severe as far as communication/social difficulties and it includes obsessions/special interests, whereas NLD does not.

Go to NLDline.com and click on the link on the left that says Asperger's vs. NLD and there is an article series about your very question. I have read them all and find them to be helpful.

As for my pattern with NLD, I had hyperlexia as a child and spoke in complete sentences at barely a year old.

Did you check our NLD Information and Support Thread?

Generally the restrictive interest(s) and repetitive behaviours as seen in AS:

problems with change, need of a rigid routines for self and others, doing things the same over and over for reasons that have nothing to do with compulsions (though compulsions can be a co-morbid and make differentiation between AS and the anxiety ridden behaviour hard), interests in seemingly nonsensical bits and pieces of things or of topics (obsessively 'playing' with tissues, collecting caps obsessively or learning about all the names of trees or countries) and/or a special interest (either as narrowly focused as in the previous example or boarder but still focussed on a certain topic, e.g. the music of the 80s or everything about horses).

Also, not all those with AS have impaired visual/spatial skills, but those with NVLD or NVLD+AS will have that impairment to varying degrees.

Some also say that those with AS have more sensory issues/stronger sensory integration disorder than those with NVLD.

But all this doesn't really help you if a person with AS also has NVLD. As 80% of those with AS are estimated to have.

I seem to be the opposite of NLD. I'm good at visual/spatial thinking and abstract concepts and I don't really have problems reading facial expressions or body language. I think I can be over sensitive to what I perceive as anxious or hostile body language. I have trouble being around people who are never relaxed.

It's very certain that I'm on the autism spectrum though it wasn't severe enough to be classified as classic autism back when I was diagnosed (I have a PDD-NOS label). I've always had obsessions and sensory issues and I'm just finicky / particular about lots of things. I have all the emotional problems associated with autism, i.e. I'm easily overwhelmed by stress and chaotic environments and I still have occasional rages and meltdowns. I can enjoy socializing but I'm generally terrible at small talk and conversation initiation.

If AS is a more severe subset of NLD than I can't have AS. I don't think one is necessarily a subset of the other though. They merely overlap. I could still be diagnosed AS I think even though I wasn't at the time. A Venn diagram would be useful here since I’m such a visual thinker.

A Venn Diagram would show a 1/3 overlap of AS and NLD. It's 33%, not 80%, that have NLD that have AS. 1/3 of those with AS also have ADD, which is another interesting stats. My stats on NLD come from NLDline.com.

My BF with AS is the opposite of me, like you are, Marshall. He excells at visual-spatial tasks, like chess.

NLD by itself can be very severe and impairing. One way the impairment is measured is by comparing the performance IQ to the verbal IQ. Mine is a 30 point spread, placing me in a "severe" category. NLD is not less impairing than AS.

It simply has fewer social deficits than AS, which is why some want to put it on the spectrum right above AS.

Thank you very much everyone who answered this question. Thanks also for the tip about the website, and I'm sorry that I didn't notice the sticky earlier.
My husband has definite Aspie traits. I was focussed on AS until I came across NLD which fits both of my daughters even though they present with different symptoms, but don't have the pronounced sensory issues of AS.
I cried today, because I remembered an accident that my 8 year old had (when she was 3.) She needed stitches to the back of her head, but she seemed ok after that.
I still blame myself even though it was a freak accident: I lifted her up and placed her outside the bathroom. She had been naughty (playing with water which I had forbidden.)
I tried to remove her from the scene, and she in obstinacy went into foetus position with her knees, whilst simultaneously throwing her head back in defiance. I assumed that she would put be ready to be placed on the floor, and let go. Instead her head movement coupled with the curling up meant that her head hit the hard margin between the bathroom and the hall.
I feel so bad about it. I wish I knew how to find forgiveness. I wish it had never happened.

However, even though I think that it'll be tough, there is hope. I don't think that success should be measured by status or money. I think that if you manage to be happy, that's the main thing. I also think that people with AS etc are late developers, and they can surpise the world with what they're capable of.

I was an anxious mother, but I'm going to have to have a trust in my daughter's abilities, and try not to take their confidence away (by comparing them to other children.)

One of you wrote about needing to be around people. That was also very interesting because this describes my husband too, but doesn't seem to fit AS (from what I understand from my reading.) (He has special interests but is not happy pursuing them alone.)