Similarities and Differences - NLD vs. AS

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I found a good article on the similarities and differences between NVLD and AS

http://www.nldontario.org/articles/NLDvsAS.html

That sounds pretty accurate to me, especially this part:

I'd consider that, along with less impaired social interactions (with NLD), to be the two most major differences between AS and NLD.

"20 out of 21 similarities"

I can't follow instructions to put something together, like a bike or shelves. The pictures don't help. Now if someone shows me as they put it together and explain as they go along, I can learn that way.

But I can't learn from someone just reading to me, either. I have to read it myself. I can't absorb enough words from someone reading a book or article to me. It's usually a lost cause. If someone tries to explain something to me and I try to keep up with eye contact, their words start physically bouncing off my body and I only absorb a few words they say. That also happens if someone raises their voice to me. If someone shouts or screams at me, I barely remember anything they said at all. I just feel wounded afterwards.

I have a learning disability in Math but I love putting together web pages and such.

I'm confused about the social cues and facial expressions problems with AS.... I always think that I know when someone is mad and can read people very well. I even think at times I'm psychic and know more than most people. But people often tell me that the person I thought was mad wasn't mad at all, "Why do you think that??? He wasn't mad at all!" and it makes me feel invalidated. But at other times, I catch on that something is going on with someone that no one else has picked up on.

And I'm also confused about the monotone voice with AS. I was taught as a young child how to use inflection. I probably sound monotone a lot of the time but it's probably just because I'm so tired all the time from Fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue. Sometimes I talk too loud and ppl have to tell me to tone it down and sometimes I talk too softly and am told to speak up. But I think overall I talk okay and people understand me just fine.

The article says that NVLD'ers have a lot of trouble with spatial issues and I was diagnosed with having spatial problems. I didn't even know what it was when I read the test results, and I'm still not sure I completely understand it. (*note to self: remember to look up information on "spatial"!)

The article also mentions AS'ers rocking and flapping, etc. and I rock but not in public. I also stim in a variety of other ways. Do NVLD ppl stim?

I have a lot of tactile issues and also get overstimulated by visual and auditory stimuli very easy. Do NLD'ers do that, too?

I'm confused about it all. Anyone want to give me their non-professional (or professional!) opinion?

BTW, I am a 48 year old woman. I just learned details about AS & NVLD and think that I'm one or the other. Don't think it's too late for me to be worrying about such things... everyone wants to be validated, no matter the age. That reminds me, I'm very immature for my age. I tell people I have Peter Pan Syndrome : )

Okay, I lean towards AS but I may not have the stereotypes. I have troubles with words, I have to create a picture in my head. I do good when I am shown how to do somethintg but I have never been show how without any explinations before so I wouldn't know. I could try getting tested for NVLD and see if I have it.

ChatBrat, AS thinking styles have a clear male (visual-physics) vs female (verbal-psychological) split, so your experience with visual information might not be exceptional. I on the other hand am amazed when people refer to visiospatial thinking as something not everybody does. It's almost as if I can see the world in x-ray vision, along with "feeling" inside of a space (like weight, texture, volume, enertia etc synesthesia).

evEn NTs stim,so it will be likely that NVLDers do as well.
people with Autism and Aspergers are likely to stim more than other groups though.

likedcalico, what is your age? Who would you see to get tested?

SynDiesel, you're right. I keep forgetting about the male/female differences in AS. BTW I think you're visiospatial ability is awesome. How old were you when you became aware of it?

Kingdom of Rats, that is true... even NT's stim. I've seen my share of nervous NT's stimming.

LostInSpace and Sedaka... only one difference between the two and that is the severity of the social problems... sounds like NVLD is just a mild form of Asperger's. Or shall we say, a softer form.

That was a good article. I'm very interested in the differences between AS, and NVLD. I'm still not sure that I have either. I just find it so amazing that one symptom, or lack there of, can mean the difference between being on the spectrum,or not. I think you're right, ChatBrat, NVLD seems as if it's just a very mild form of AS.
I can't follow instructions to put things together, either. I need someone to talk me through it while I'm doing it. Reading the instructions is the worst way for me to learn. I need hands on experience to learn effectively.
I also have spatial difficulties. I can't find my way out of a wet paper bag. I frequently lose my balance as if I'm drunk, too. I can't play sports if my life depended on it, because of my lack of coordination.
I also have trouble with math. I never made it beyond basic algerbra, because I just couldn't grasp the concept. My husband has officially taken over balancing the checkbook.
I do stim, some. I think that all people do stim, but there's a difference between NT stimming, and autistic stimming.
SynDiesel brought up a good point about how females differ in the way the present AS vs males. I recently read a book about females with AS, and it did state how it is common for females to be obsessed with literature, and have problems with math.
Also, you can be diagnosed with both, AS, and NVLD. It's not all one way or the other. I read somewhere that something like 80% of people with AS also have NVLD. I don't know how accurate of a statistic that is though.
I can't give you an opinion, ChatBrat, if you have AS, or NVLD, mostly because you are too much like me, and i don't even know which I have! But, if you're interested here's another article that I found: http://www.autismsite.ca/html/as___nvld.html

I think it's true that many people with AS also have NVLD "within" their AS, so many aspies also have NVLD. However, there are lots of people without AS who also have NVLD for other reasons. I think that's why NVLD itself isn't always considered to be an ASD. NVLD can be caused by many things (head trauma, birth trauma, etc.), whereas AS is usually hereditary.

I'd say that those with NVLD probably don't have AS if they don't also have a childhood history of intense & unusual fixations/interests; rigid routines & thinking; and an inability to identify and express a wide range of emotions.

I just checked the link serenity provided above, and it's excellent. It brings up a great point about learning difficulties in AS vs NVLD. To briefly paraphrase: if you have NVLD, you're likely to learn better by having someone give you verbal instructions and explanations. If you have AS, you're likely to be better off with written instructions, charts, or diagrams. I couldn't agree more.

Chatbrat, I'm 22 and I am seeing a psychologist right now. Maybe she can recommend someone or tell me where I need to go to get tested.

my guess is most people with aspergers are also nvld

It's not so much an ability than just how my thinking style feels. I was always visually-oriented ie an art-class nerd and obsessed with visual media, as a child. Later on as my interests became more technical (cgi graphics, scientific visualization, cybernetics and neurological perception) in my teen years I discovered the new word visiospatial that more acurately described my experience. I don't just see neat-to-look-at flat 2-D pictures (although those are fun as well) but rather a 3-D volumetric map of the environment that I can modify at will. So I can walk around in the dark and know where I am or I can shrink down (in my mind's eye) and see how an enzyme molecule is bumping up against a glycoprotein filament on a cellular membrane, including how much it weighs and it's density relative to all the jostling dihydrogen monoxide molecules encasing it. Assuming ofcourse I have the information to make these computations, otherwise garbage in, garbage out and I bump my head on the fireplace mantel.

This all probably has to do less with the visual-processing parts of the brain, and more to do with Proprioception [Wiki link], kinesthesia and kinesiological neurology. AS presents with awkwardness and clumsiness outwardly, so maybe an enhanced internal experience, along with obsessional focus, develops as a coping strategy. Sorta like how the blind or deaf can compensate (and I know this idea pisses some blind/deaf off) with enhanced focus (not necessarily more sensitive organs) on the sensory signals that actually work. AS could lack proper processing of incoming information (social, touch, movement) and this lowered external stimulus presents less of a distraction for the advanced development of internal processing of non-sensory information (like math, artistic visions etc) with the now understimulated, freed-up parts of the brain.

Ah, just wrote more than I thought I would. Hope I'm not babbling too much.

Oh, btw, as a child I never had to look at the instructions to put something together.