Part 1 deals with Auditory Processing Disorder

One of the articles in the ADDitude Magazine on-line describes Non-Verbal Learning Disabilities (NLD) and how it is often confused with ADD. Until recently I’ve never even heard of NLD. What is it?

Nonverbal learning disorder (NLD) is a constellation of brain-based difficulties. Once considered rare, NLD is now thought to be as prevalent as dyslexia. Strongly genetic in origin, NLD affects girls as frequently as boys and is characterized by poor visual, spatial, and organizational skills, poor motor performance, and difficulty recognizing and processing nonverbal cues—body language, facial expression, and the nuances of conversation.

Hmmm…this is interesting and yet a bit confusing. The article goes on to say that children with NLD are nearly always diagnosed with ADD first. Another site: www.nldontheweb.org has more in-depth information in assessment and appropriate interventions and educational strategies. Both the article in ADDitudes and the NLD website mention that it is common for children with NLD to have a verbal IQ that is signicantly higher than their performance IQ, but this is not always the case.

Children with NLD often develop language early and appear gifted at a young age. They have great rote memory but have more difficulty as academic tasks turn to abstract thinking or require generalizing information.

On a physical level, they exhibit poor coordination, poor fine motor schools and lack of spatial perception. They can also have great trouble with social situations because they have such problem reading non-verbal cues and take everything said literally. They also lack a sense of “street smarts”.

It’s there I get hung up on the definition between NLD and Aspergers of a high-functioning autism. The NLD website acknowledges this:

Some of the symptoms identified with Nonverbal Learning Disabilities are similar to those described for other disorders. Individuals with right hemisphere dysfunction, Asperger's syndrome, and sensori-motor deficiencies each possess a number of characteristics that overlap with those of a Nonverbal Learning Disability. An evaluation by a Neuropsychologist can often assist in differential diagnosis.

The main problem with misdiagnosing NLD as ADD is that medications don’t help NLD. The main problem with misdiagnosing NLD and the child’s literal and often blunt social interactions as ODD or something else is that the behavior modifications taught for those disabilities have little impact on children with NLD either.

Experts again agree that catching the disorder early is preferable because children with NLD (who are usually also very bright) easily suffer from depression or anxiety as they reach middle or high school if their disabilities aren’t recognized and served.