"Nerd syndrome" - a mild PDD, misnamed as (S-)NLD

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Do you think that you have rather "NLD" than ASD?

TBH, I am not sure. all I know is that I long have been weak in picking out details from a mass.

"NLD" (at least this sorts of it with social ineptitude, reciprocity issues and "peculiarity", like obsessiveness, hyperactivity, problems with sensory experiences, emotional atypicalities) is not a specific developmental disability like "pure" prosopagnosia, dyscalculia, dyslexia, dyspraxia, but a pervasive, serious and complex developmental disability like childhood autism. They should be placed in one category with Kanner's syndrome and its spectrum, childhood disintegrative disorder, Rett's syndrome. So many forms of "NLD" are PDDs and has to be classified as such. I suppose that I belong to "NVLD spectrum", but not to Kanner's syndrome spectrum. I have good verbal skills (which is useful in school), but weaker visual-spatial-motor abilities. I have not unusual ability to think in pictures, eidetic memory, GPS in head, "savantic" talents. It fits to "NVLD spectrum", but not to Kanner's syndrome spectrum.

I suppose than in Northern America I would end rather with NVLD diagnosis than AS(D) diagnosis. Thnkng about my condition os my large obsession. I suppose that many Aspies are harmed because of diagnosing them just as "learning disabled". For me many cases of "NVLD" are cases of Aspieness, which is different than conditions related to childhood autism. Learning disability does not make you "stimmable", "fixative". For me NVLD which causes social skill deficit is a sort of Aspieness, something MORE than a learning disability, something which should be classified in one subcategory of developmental disorders with childhood autism, but not with one subategory with dyscalculia and dyslexia.

I just plain find the word "Nerd" to be a derogatory term.
Another "N" word. It's been used for social ostracism and bullying.
It's most frequently used with a condescending tone.

Anyway, this isn't some kind of "syndrome" that needs to be medicated away.

I have found that it is good that I know what specific addlements I have and that they have names I can point to and say, "see, that's what's buggin' me!"

For me it is a pathology that some groups of Aspies are named as "learning disabled". Aspieness is a category with heterogenous conditions in it.

Aucories are conditions which start in childhood and are characterised by social inadequacy and peculiarity. They form the category which separates them from dyscalculia, speech problems or problems with impulsivity and distratibility. I would name so-called "social NVLD" as a "basic" sort of aucory. Kanner's syndrome and conditions related to it would be not most characteristic sorts of aucory, but aucory for me may be a synonym of (relatively mild) PDD or autism (for me there are many sorts of autism).

Problems with language and speech, unique sensory processing, prosopagnosia or "human blindness", need of sameness and predictability, hand flapping and body rocking, intolerance of gluten, casein or sugars, echolalia, pronoun reversal, lack of central coherence, severe deficits in the theory of mind are NOT necessary symptoms of aucory! They fit only to ONE OF aucoric families. And I would not even name this family as most representative for aucory in general.

Most representative sort of aucory is not like childhood autism, but rather like "social NVLD" from this page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnJpqrNTASUor "social learning disability" from tis film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnJpqrNTASU.

To define aucory (aspieness) in general we have to look at traits which overlap in all sorts of aucories (aspienesses). I have good example of "non-kannerotypal" aucory, which fits rather to "social NVLD" or "social learning disability", but not to "childhood autism spectrum". In my aucory I also observe traits like:
- marked problems with social skills (nonverbal communication),
- problems with "social reciprocity" (such as one-sided conversations or "disinterest" in gaining social skills and being loved by other persons (this disinterest might be associated with schizophrenia-spectrum condition in my case, so it is not a general trait of aucory itself, but may be a sign of some sorts of aucory))
- problems with interactions with other persons, especially with peers,
- fixative interests which could be described as over-ecompassing, narrow, stereotyped, strange,
- atypical, peculiar "customs", routines, fears or rituals (but not associated with need of predictability or sameness) and tendency to collecting, doing simple, repetitive motor activities, liking of statistics,
- "hyperkineticity" or autostimulating behaviors (like "walking without purpose" or manipulating soft, plastic object in hand for hours),
- some "sensory hypersensitivities" (such as dislike of hairdo making, dislike of needling, problems with tolerance of water temperature during bathing, relatively narrow menu)
- some clumsiness (like problems with learning how to tie a shoe, problems with binding ties, problems with sports (such as volleyball), problems with repetition of someone's movements and rhythm).

These traits are similar to symptoms described in ASD criteria in DSM-V. I have them despite lack of "kannerotypal" traits described earlier in this post and below again:
- problems with language and speech,
- unique sensory processing,
- prosopagnosia or "human blindness",
- need of sameness and predictability,
- hand flapping and body rocking,
- intolerance of gluten, casein or sugars,
- echolalia,
- pronoun reversal,
- lack of central coherence,
- severe deficits in the theory of mind

So general aucoric traits are:
- noverbal communication impairment (problems with expressive or (and) receptive nonverbal communication)
- problems with "social reciprocity" (such as tendency to one-sided conversations)
- problems with interactions with other persons, especially with peers
- fixative interests, often atypical for age of an individual
- atypical, peculiar customs, routines, fears or rituals, which do not need to be associated with need of predictability or sameness
- being "hypekinetic", "hyperactive", "stimmable" or (and) "ticable"
- problems with bearing some sensory experiences or (and) sensory hyposensitivity
- clumsiness

Not all of them have to be present to have an aucory/aspieness (a condition which starts in childhood and is associated with social inadequay and peculiarity).

Is it part of being autistic that upon seeing all this bulk of text, bold text and underlined text that I want to stab myself repeatedly with a small fork, rip my own spine out and use it as a whip, painting the walls red?

It's so unreadable.
I don't want to read this, it hurts. It's distracting, I can't skim read it. I can't extract information from this. It's erratic. It's overwhelming. The bolded text and underlined text and the amount of text is offensive to my feelings. I'm serious.
How can you read this without going crazy?

Some people may think that high-functioning ASD is not a disorder, but an unique cognitive style or a difference. For me "classic" high-functioning ASD look as something less comfortable than my condition, for example because of serious sensory problems which tend to occur in "kannerotypal" aspieness. My sensory problems are milder, but sometimes also can be quite problematic. Classic HF ASD may look worse for my mentality even when an individual with it is higher functioning than me, is more intelligent, has more successes in life. But speech delay, hypersensitivity to "trivial" sounds, lights or touch, lack of ability of mentalisation (theory of mnd deficit), shutdowns, meltdowns, intolerance of gluten and casein are not something which I want to experience because thay are painful or problematic. Comfort and safety is very important for my mentality, it is somewhat "fundamental" to my functioning. For my mind it is to be relatively "poor" and do not experience larger pain than be very rich and have a cancer and suffer physically a lot because of it.

I would not name my condition as just a difference. It is something which is a disability, even not so mild one. I am "twerpy" and "kooky". I do not think that my condition is related to infantile autism described by Leo Kanner. It looks as a mix of different traits and issues (such as PDD, OCD, schizophrenia spectrum, environmental issues, effects of perinatal problems). But I see clear similarities or analogies between HFA and my condition and concluded that they belong to the same class of developmental conditions.

I'm just an odd duck with an assortment of addlements.

Fragment from http://www.ldinfo.com/nld.htm (bolding and underlining mine):

So why has the NLD term made such a dramatic comeback in recent years? Well, as with many other educational theories which lose favor and then are later resurrected, it seems that psychologists and other educational diagnosticians have found reason to believe that certain subgroups of LD students not only demonstrate the old 'verbal vs. nonverbal' discrepancy but also frequently demonstrate other social and behavioral characteristics which set them apart from other LD students. These characteristics frequently include difficulty accurately perceiving social situations, confusion with nonverbal communication, and generalized social disinterest or avoidance.

Because of the rather unique cluster of behaviors and cognitive skills found with these NLD students, some professionals have even suggested the need for a separate NLD special education category. Other educational professionals are skeptical of the need or appropriateness of such a classification and note that this same pattern of behavioral and cognitive skills is found in many students who have been identified within the category of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and more specifically, Asperger's Disorder (formerly known as 'high functioning autism'). In fact, it has been suggested by some that many of the students who are currently being given the NLD diagnosis may more appropriately be identified within the ASD special education category.

In any case, the primary factor in diagnosing a true nonverbal learning disability is the documentation of a generalized weakness in nonverbal or visually-based information processing skills. This continues to be most accurately evaluated though formal cognitive assessment by an instrument (or battery of instruments) which evaluates both verbal and nonverbal abilities and provides broad cluster scores in both of these areas. Students with nonverbal processing weakness will typically struggle most with academic tasks which involve complex or abstract visual displays (charts, graphs, maps, etc.) and which provide limited verbal or auditory information. These students will generally have most difficulty in the areas of math and spelling (due to poor visualization) but may also struggle with hands-on activities (science labs, etc.). Reading and creative writing skills will probably be relatively strong.

When students are found to demonstrate both nonverbal learning difficulties and also rather significant and unusual social/behavioral characteristics, the possibility of an underlying Autism Spectrum Disorder should not be overlooked.

I conluded that "developmental" conditions that cause rather significant and unusual social/behavioral characteristics (such as difficulty accurately perceiving social situations, confusion with nonverbal communication, and generalized social disinterest or avoidance) have not to be connected to childhood autism (Kanner's syndrome) and have not to belong to its spectrum!

I think that I am not "on the spectrum" despite my diagnosis of AS. My traits are significantly different than traits of individuals who are "on the spectrum". My condition (probably) does not belong to "kanneric" spectrum, but is a sort of aspieness/aucory/PDD/autism ("autism" in general sense - for me "kanneric" spectrum conditions are NOT only types of developmental autism which exist). My condition belongs to the category, to which syndromes from "kanneric" spectrum also belong, and my condition is not (just) a learning disorder/disability.