NLD Information and Support Thread

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I am not asking for a personal definition from anyone else or who they think has got it, I was merely adding to this discussion what I found typical of the awareness issues surrounding both this medical condition and asd. I found that the differences weren't that random but quite marginalised in how the data is processed at an early age. There are slight subtle clues, like in nld, you can look at someone for too long and be unaware of the spatial timing you need but with gradual ease of someone relaying this to you, then you begin to see it is an occurrence and something that needs to change. in asd, its like they are told something, but carry on anyway, just to define and absolve a definition within obsessional and abstract boundaries.
There are loads of ways to sum up people, but many of whom don't like to be given a safe diagnosis to their worried assurance whether they are right wrong or whatever.
I'd be interested in what someone can relate to with this definition from a specific event and including verbal and non-spatial awareness.

Hello.

My writing may not be so good as I'm on my mobile phone.

I recently went to a counsellor who it turns out also worked with young people with learning differences. Not knowing this I discussed my life, school troubles and issues and in literally ten minutes she suggested that my assignment this week should be to research non verbal learning disorder.

I was amazed by how much it sounded like me, and while I am not the biggest fan of forums, I wanted to post about this and thank others for posting their experiences.

As a child I excelled academically, but found it difficult to understand other children and typically spoke more to teachers. I also hated physical education, and things that involved graphs, writing that wasn't creative and stimulating, and motor skills. When I did talk to children my age I would either try to emulate their speech badly or be very long winded and not really get the actual topic. I was also very emotional, always frightened unnecessarily that I'd hurt the feelings of someone because of a reaction I misunderstood. While a strong reader and writer, my mathematics, while initially good for my age, had a noticeable decline. From maybe twelve onwards maths made little sense to me as it became increasingly abstract and akin to reading a language I didn't understand and I failed all but two maths exams in high school... I'm also awful at organization and attention!

I have many friends now, and generally socialise better, but I still have issues. My language is usually over rehearsed and waffly, and I don't always understand when to finish speaking or when it's appropriate to add to the discussion. I have big issues with direction, knowing where to go, and still get obsessions with ideas, films, books and music as vividly and time consuming as when I was a child. I have never really felt as if I totally fit in... I never want to stop discussing and learning about subjects when I'm into them, and don't get why others want a break from it even if they're interested too.

I know that this doesn't equal a diagnosis, but for me it's at least a good start. Some things I have read are uncanny, and one of my best friends was shocked by how similar it sounded.

I was suspected as having dyspraxia for a while because of my coordination and how I seemed to not understand motor skills. I learned how to tie my laces at twelve, after years of effort, and how to read and write at two. I think that helps show the distinction.

I probably won't post that often, but I want to share my experience as reading what others have shared has helped me so much. Thanks!

Twinpeaks, I share many of your experiences. In elementary school I out read everyone, including a teacher or two. But put a division problem or a fraction in front of me and mind goes blank. I tried telling my teachers and parents that it was like a curtain came down between my eyes and my brain, or that if a brain were like a book, mine was missing the page about math.

I have habits, like a route to someplace and a different route back. Going out of order or a different way makes me feel odd and out of sorts. In high school play diagrams in football made no sense to me, so I played soccer. I couldn't kick with my left foot to save my life, and when we switched sides of the field at quarter breaks I'd feel awkward, almost backwards, if that makes any sense, going to the other side of the field. I can't organize very well, I'm not very social, and I won't get in an elevator if there are more than two or three people in it.

Since being diagnosed six months ago with NVLD, I can understand the multitude of failure over the years, but I don't see much in the way of making things better. Learn new habits? Go to a psychiatrist and a speech therapist who may have never seen anyone as old as me newly diagnosed? To be honest, I've given up. I'm worn out from fighting this thing for 50+ years. I think I'd be happy to be told I had stage four tumor. I'm just tired.

I have a question for those of you with NLD who have received supports for executive functioning. How do you figure out sequencing when it comes to daily tasks?

I have poor visual working memory and extremely slow visual processing speed. I find multi-step tasks, like cooking or even dressing, very difficult to execute efficiently without making any mistakes. I am prone to forgetting ingredients for cooking or putting on the wrong piece of clothing first. I find I can barely learn from routines and cannot plan on the spot at all. I also tend to go out a lot, have too many friends to keep track of, and underestimate how long things will take me, so I often neglect my academic and chore-related duties at home. I find I go stagnant a lot because I get too distracted to think what I should be doing next.

I find I learn best through auditory verbal information and slightly less so through visual (reading) verbal information. I have "tunnel vision" and am highly visually distractible and overwhelmed, in that only things that are right in my visual field will catch my attention but then I'll overfixate on one part of the visual stimulus and tune out everything else. I was thinking self-talk might be the best solution, but again I tend to focus on one stimulus at a time and will stop talking if I'm trying to process visuals.

Any suggestions? All organizational solutions I've seen require "visual working memory" at least.

P.S. I have a few friends with NVLD who have executive functioning issues and it would be nice to give them some suggestions, too.

I often wonder whether I have NLD. I score poorly on visual spatial tests, but I don't notice any problems with my visual spatial skills in real life. I never really had any problems with geometry, but I did have trouble memorizing my multiplication tables. I researched more about IQ tests and I found out that anxiety affects visual spatial skills, processing speed and working memory more than verbal skills. That makes sense because those are the areas I did poorly on in my IQ test. I also have a lot of anxiety problems.

My NLD is killing me. HOW DO I DO ESSAY QUESTIONS? Somebody please help me. The teachers don't understand, and I'm going to fail both of my classes if I can't figure out how to do these. I study so much, but when an essay question comes up, I forget everything that I studied. I am so frustrated and want to cry. The notes for my teachers written by my psychologist say to refrain from giving me essays, and I've talked to the teachers, but they still give me essays and subsequently fail me. I don't know what to do anymore.

I was diagnosed with NLD when I was 17 (I'm 35 now). Last summer, after years of dealing with anxiety and depression I decided to get retested by a neuropsychologist. Sure enough,I was once again diagnosed with NLD. I've really been struggling with the diagnosis. More specifically, I've been struggling with the full scale IQ that was calculated during my evaluation. My full scale IQ is 80.The first time I was tested the full scale IQ was not calculated. I have a bachelor's degree in English Literature and a masters degree in Library and Information Science. The full scale IQ was quite jarring.
A little background on my evaluation:
Verbal Comprehension Index: 105 ( My arithmetic subset was 5 and reading comprehension was not tested. This along with the extreme anxiety I felt during testing brought down a section of the test I should have excelled in).
Perceptual Index: 69
Working Memory: 77
Processing Speed: 79

I've always been abysmal at math. I struggle with certain aspects of abstract reasoning. I'm excelled at reading comprehension. I love to analyze literature.

I feel like a fraud. I've always been considered very intelligent. A full scale IQ of 80 Indicates otherwise. I've always done very well academically. How can a person with an 80 IQ have multiple degrees?
Currently, I'm unemployed and seeking a position as an archivist. I obtained my masters degree in 2012 (with several archival internships under my belt). Post graduation, I worked as a project archivist for a year. Unfortunately, the work was unpaid.
I have yet to find paid work in my field. I've had several interviews but I can never make it to the second round of interviews. My severe anxiety gets in the way.
I've been in therapy for several months trying to deal with everything. I was recently diagnosed with agoraphobia and chronic depression. So in addition to having NLD I also have agoraphobia and chronic depression. Swell.
I've read that NLD and Aspergers are virtually the same thing. There does seem to be allot of overlap between the two conditions. In fact, when I decided to get retested I wanted to see if I perhaps had Aspergers instead of NLD.
Does anyone else have a low full scale IQ and multiple college degrees? Can a poor processing speed and working memory bring down a persons verbal and perceptual index as well as the full scale IQ? I would love to hear from anyone who has had similar experiences.

I'm way younger than you, but I have a similar experience. I've always been told I'm intelligent, but my full scale IQ is only 87. When I took the IQ test my verbal IQ was 113, my perceptual index was 87 and my processing speed and short term memory was somewhere in the 70s range.

I don't even notice visual spatial issues in real life. I believe anxiety, brain fog and bad short term memory brought down my score a lot. I think the only reason my verbal IQ was that high is because I spend all day reading. I read studies that anxiety affects nonverbal intelligence and short term memory way more than verbal intelligence. It's possible for people with anxiety to get NVLD-like IQs without having NVLD. I think it happened to me because I've always been good at stuff like geometry and art.