Characteristics of NLD
The impairments related to a nonverbal learning disability manifest themselves in seven main categories of deficits:
• Visual-spatial—difficulty with visual-spatial organization, perception, and imaging;
• Cognitive processing—difficulty understanding connections between and among independent factors and relating these to the whole; difficulty understanding the "big picture";
• Language—flat tone of voice; difficulty understanding humor, multiple meanings of words, and nuances of language;
• Motor—lack of coordination and fine-motor skills related to handwriting;
• Social—deficits in social understanding;
• Behavioral—rigid behavior; difficulty with novelty and transition; and
• Emotional—at high risk for anxiety disorder, panic attack, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and, in some cases, suicide.
The combination of behaviors and deficits found in students with a nonverbal learning disability cause them to feel uncertain, insecure, and anxious (Thompson, 1997). To help ease the anxiety, the student becomes dependent on predictable routines and what may appear to be ritualistic behaviors. Unlike individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder, who are aware of their obsessions and compulsions and do not want to have them, students with a nonverbal learning disability are attached to the rituals and resist changing them. They need to have them. Without them, life is too frightening, confusing, and unpredictable. These routines and escapes vary greatly from student to student. In some instances, they are "good" activities taken to the extreme.
A typical learning profile for a student with a nonverbal learning disability might include the following strengths: excellent auditory attention and learning capabilities; an advanced store of factual information; strong literacy skills; and excellent phonemic awareness, segmentation, decoding, and blending abilities. Students with a nonverbal learning disability tend to be verbal and have good receptive language abilities. (As they get older, their difficulties with oral organization and stating ideas become apparent.) They can follow sequential presentations and simply formatted visual aids and are usually able to follow verbal or written directions by rote.
Challenges for these students may include difficulty with handwriting, including weak spacing and letter formation. In math, they may have a limited sense of number concepts, place value, and estimation; difficulty aligning mathematical information properly to produce an accurate answer; and a tendency to misread mathematical signs. Students may do poorly in geography because complex maps and graphs puzzle them. Art and team sports may present frustrations due to their difficulties in fine-motor skills as well as coordination and lack of understanding social signals.
In language arts, these students may have a disorganized writing style or simply string together related—or even unrelated—facts for a report. They may have difficulty developing a point of view or a theme, understanding the relationships between events, and relating these events to the main topic. They may be unable to draw conclusions, make inferences, or understand metaphors, and figurative language; jokes and humor baffle them.
• Visual-spatial—difficulty with visual-spatial organization, perception, and imaging;
• Cognitive processing—difficulty understanding connections between and among independent factors and relating these to the whole; difficulty understanding the "big picture";
• Language—flat tone of voice; difficulty understanding humor, multiple meanings of words, and nuances of language;
• Motor—lack of coordination and fine-motor skills related to handwriting;
• Social—deficits in social understanding;
• Behavioral—rigid behavior; difficulty with novelty and transition; and
• Emotional—at high risk for anxiety disorder, panic attack, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and, in some cases, suicide.
The combination of behaviors and deficits found in students with a nonverbal learning disability cause them to feel uncertain, insecure, and anxious (Thompson, 1997). To help ease the anxiety, the student becomes dependent on predictable routines and what may appear to be ritualistic behaviors. Unlike individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder, who are aware of their obsessions and compulsions and do not want to have them, students with a nonverbal learning disability are attached to the rituals and resist changing them. They need to have them. Without them, life is too frightening, confusing, and unpredictable. These routines and escapes vary greatly from student to student. In some instances, they are "good" activities taken to the extreme.
A typical learning profile for a student with a nonverbal learning disability might include the following strengths: excellent auditory attention and learning capabilities; an advanced store of factual information; strong literacy skills; and excellent phonemic awareness, segmentation, decoding, and blending abilities. Students with a nonverbal learning disability tend to be verbal and have good receptive language abilities. (As they get older, their difficulties with oral organization and stating ideas become apparent.) They can follow sequential presentations and simply formatted visual aids and are usually able to follow verbal or written directions by rote.
Challenges for these students may include difficulty with handwriting, including weak spacing and letter formation. In math, they may have a limited sense of number concepts, place value, and estimation; difficulty aligning mathematical information properly to produce an accurate answer; and a tendency to misread mathematical signs. Students may do poorly in geography because complex maps and graphs puzzle them. Art and team sports may present frustrations due to their difficulties in fine-motor skills as well as coordination and lack of understanding social signals.
In language arts, these students may have a disorganized writing style or simply string together related—or even unrelated—facts for a report. They may have difficulty developing a point of view or a theme, understanding the relationships between events, and relating these events to the main topic. They may be unable to draw conclusions, make inferences, or understand metaphors, and figurative language; jokes and humor baffle them.