Nonverbal learning disorder

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I don't really see it as a debate because these categories are just constructs for diagnostic purposes. Sometimes I think of our brains as punched cards and the holes on each card will never line up with any other card. The only thing we have in common are holes somewhere.

You know, my counselor is beginning to think that I have NLD instead of AS since I have no lack of social skills, a major part of being an aspie. Can someone please compile a list of traits of the similarities and differences between AS and NLD? I would really, really appreciate it!

LostInSpace, I'm not really hung up on the left handedness aspect. Her traits fit better into the NVLD slot than the AS slot or the PDD-NOS slot.

I was diagnosed as having a "very pronounced" NVLD, as well as AS. The psychologist who administered the cognitive tests I took gave me the impression that the two often occur together. Since she's respected in the field, I just took her word for what it was and didn't do much research on my own. So, I'm surprised to learn some people consider them to be such distinct conditions. This is interesting. I'll have to check out some of the links and look into it more...

[quote="EarthCalling"]
I was Dx'ed with an NLD, I had the three of the D's, Dyscalculia, Dyslexia, Dysgraphia. And I do have problems with perception, (no depth perception for one) and as a child I struggled with maps, charts and graphs. However, in studying them so much, I over compensated, and now I find maps, charts and graphs VERY HELPFUL and use them all the time!

So it is possible to improve visual-spatial abilities for example by practise if one has NLD? And if so, how?
I suppose I am today with 21 also more able to read maps, charts and graphs than I was as a child and in my early teen years when I, as I remember, didn't get those at all. But as far as understanding things better they still help me much less than simply reading the text around it, so I got used somehow to just skipping them (as I also never felt like I was missing anything by just reading the text anyways). I also can't get any use out of such mindmaps as this for example -> http://hsc.csu.edu.au/ind_tech/design_m ... nd_Map.gif I know it's supposed to make things easier to learn for most people, but all those arrows from here to there and back again, I find it nothing but confusing!

This is how I am now seeing it, using a Venn Diagram approach:

Left side: AS ONLY
20% of Aspies fit here. They do not have NLD traits, or enough to be considered suffering NLD

MIDDLE: (Overlap of AS and NLD traits)
80% of Aspies fit here. They present with enough AS and NLD traits. They present with enough NLD traits, that they could be Dx'ed with it, but may be left handed, may be able to read maps, maybe be able to follow diagrams and charts. (usually can)

No NLD people present with enough AS traits to be considered Aspie or fall between both DX's. They may have a couple of "quirks", however no more so then anyone in the NT population.

Right side: NLD ONLY

The vast majority if not 100% of NLD people fall here. They do not have Autistic traits. If a person with AS is Dx'ed with NLD, then the person giving the DX is probably not accounting for the AS traits. It is like having a checklist of things, and checking off all that apply, and saying, "you have enough checkmarks for NLD. But when the person says, so what about my obsessions and stims? The evaluator says, "that has nothing to do with NLD... Maybe something else is going on with you, like OCD, or Tourettes, or maybe you are just quirky". To them, you might as well have said "but what about the fact I am very tall". To them, it is an outside perameter, that does not "infulence" the DX for NLD.
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Since so many NLD traits are found in AS people, they don't consider the 80% of Aspies with NLD to have a "separte condition" rather, they have incorporated the traits of NLD into an AS profile as "parallel symptoms".

Where it gets confusing, is when you have someone who is showing all the "common shared traits" between NLD, and then has some As traits, and some NLD traits. Say, they are left handed and obsess about things, and stim, but they also (although unusual for an aspie) Cannot read maps or follow diagrams. So, what do you do with them? I think a lot like a child sorting out shapes for their math teacher, onto a venn diagram, many evaluators tend to just "stick them somewhere, anywhere to "get them on the page" using whatever individual reasoning they have, but walking away feeling "uncomfortable' about it. Maybe to make themselves feel better, they will then "justifiy" the choice over and over in their head, until they believe it.

Wow, I wouldn't have thought that it's so hard (or better said nearly impossible) to work out the exact difference between the two (AS and NLD) and how they relate to each other, then again, if not even the professionals seem to know for sure...

Hmmm, wouldn't anybody like to make an NLD-Quiz much like the Aspie-Quiz and do some research on it? Anyone? rdos? Someone call me rdos here!