|  Well, I need straight away to take issue with the very name of this disorder. But then, in order to understand why I have an issue with the name, you probably need to be introduced to the basic characteristics of the disorder itself. On the other hand, don't you need to know and sort of understand the name of the thing I intend to describe? But then, wouldn't it be clever to try to accomplish both at the same time? But how do I do both when neither is introduced yet and you don't know what I'm talking about and by the time I finish explaining it, I'm confused, too! ;)
Welcome to NLD - all grown up. As you can plainly see, if I do say so myelf, nonverbal learning disabilities have absolutely nothing to do with being, er, nonverbal! Ah - so to my original beef with the name. It is oxymoronic and yet technically accurate! It is a double-entendre-enigma most ironically frustrating to those who understand it best and most intimately - to those whose condition and lives the diagnosis so clumsily (but *very* necessarily!) tries to label. Is a nonverbal learning disability a learning disability in which the person is nonverbal? Duh! Of course...
...not! Well then, is a nonverbal learning disability a learning disability in which the person has trouble with all things nonverbal, or is it a disability having to do with nonverbal learning?
*Yes*. Huh? Yes. In other words, both of the two immediately previous descriptions aptly BEGIN to describe this disorder. See, non-verbal learning disorder(s) are not an impaired ability to usse verbal language! Non-verbal learning disorders are those in which the ability to use and interpret NON-verbal information is impaired.
There has been an increasing volume of research and publication on this subject, and yet still not nearly enough. Currently, some of the best such research can be found in the literature on Autism, and the other disorders on the "autistic spectrum" - including Asperger's Disorder, Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD), Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) - sometimes, or additionally, refered to as High Functioning Autism (HFA), Heller's Syndrome, also known as Childhood Disintegrative Disorder (CDD), and of course, Nonverbal Learning Disability, or NLD.
NLD can and does manifest in a variety of ways, and can be both comorbid with, secondary to or causal of, and/or complicated by other developmental, learning, and emotional and/or psychiatric disorders. No - NLD will not "cause" OCD or Clinical Depression. Wait...ummm...at least not via any *biological/bio-chemical* pathway! Environmental stresses and outcomes from NLD can and probably DO have such results, however.
Likewise, NLD will not "cause", say, disassociation or Schizophrenia or Schizophrenoform Disorder or any other such Schizotypal behavior and/or symptomology so identified. Frankly, I (disclaimer: a *layperson*!) am of the opinion that, of all learning and/or emotional conditions, impaired or "normal"(!), NLD bears the *least* resemblence to these immediately aforementioned and the other psychotic impairments.
I do wish to highlight, however, the very prominent overlapping of symptomology and presentation of these "invisible" illnesses and syndromes. They are more alike than they are different. Stop right there! I did NOT say that these illnesses - and especially their sufferers! - are all basically the same and broken! No. Like I said, these maladaptive "invisible" disorders and conditions are much more similar to each other than they are different.
...?...
Yes.
So, too, are chimps and humans! At the level of deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA (basically, the building block of all living things!), humans and chimpanzees share 98% - yes, you read that correctly - NINETY-EIGHT percent of the same genetic material.
Understand? The little differences make ALL the difference in the world!
Now, let me begin. One chief concern, and a hallmark characteristic of NLD, is impaired executive functioning. In the interest of full disclosure, I implied in my opening remarks that I possess an empathy with those who suffer from NLD. that could have been taken to mean that I myself in fact share the diagnosis. I do not. But, do not lose my chimp to human analogy. I made that very specifically to illustrate that we are in fact SO complicatetd and, whether somewhat broken or not, we are sill amazing things to behold - we sentient beings.
So, no, I do not officially identify as having the capitalized version - Nonverbal Learning Disability - which has its own unique and defining criteria which can be found in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (more commonly referred to as the DSM-IV). I do struggle greatly with a package of issues, the most confounding of which is tied up in the cluster of know that is Executive Dysfunction. I do have great empathy for how a nonverbal learning disorder can result in the biggest difficulties managing the most basic operations of daily living.
To wit, this means that the person will typically have enormous difficulty planning, ordering, organizing, making decisions, multi-tasking, and I will add a personal not that it can also include a very frustrating difficulty dealing operationally with tasks and situations that are not objective, quantifiable, measureable - SPEAKABLE! - or lacking borders or black and white distinction. Comforting are all things "right or wrong", "yes or no", "left or right" - and any other spectra or characteristic so finitely articulable. Distressing are all things ambiguous, unclear, subjective, and ultimately misinterprettable.
One compensatory technique is to be very verbose, even precociously so for children, and the accompanying mannerisms, whether affected or authentic, which are highly stereotyped to emulate adults. There can also be a tendency to perseverate on items that are of no general interest to most folks - say plumbing; ceiling fans; fantasy and roll-playing games, shows and accessories; and the seemingly *complete* unawareness of (or maybe constitutional or affective ability to care or feel) this boredom of those around them, resulting in subsequent social isolation.
By far, the biggest tragedy facing folks who suffer from NLD is that of being misunderstood, and of misunderstanding their environment as well. Even more frustratingly confounding is the unawareness of said lack in communication - by everyone - and a resulting latency (or, sadly, permanent absence) of any kind of understanding, therapy, or relief.
But the key starting point is to increase understanding. This article seeks that purpose by specifically targetting some common misinformation, and highlighting and correcting it. No - words are not the problem for those with Nonverbal Learning Disabilities, Executive Dysfunction, or for many people with Spectrum Disorders. For such individuals, such *people*, words can in fact be a very comforting and indispensible tool.
I'd like to relate a very personal story on the transforming and ultimately urgent power words have for me in the absence of the executive functioning and "common sense" of which I have not the advantage or privilege of taking for granted.
The most striking example I can think of is my own instance of, at LONG last, being given (or having found, thank you very much!) the words to express a capability I didn't even realize I have. By high school, I had developed a pretty good ear (which potential had, in retropect, according to my parents, first twinkled when I was around 4 years old), and consequently had a likewise discernible talent for singing and piano playing. It was and is a symbiotic relationship - the ear feeding the musical expression feeding the ear again. I could *ALWAYS* find the note that my paraat (tenor) needed and was always (okay, usually ;) ) in tune.
So one relatively balmy day, when we (the chamber choir) happened to be rehearsing outside on the grass (on whimsy, or more likely, planned so as to help sustain the attention and motivation of a bunch of spring-fever-struck high-schoolers, I'm sure!). This meant that we were singing 'a capella' (unaccompanied).
As my music teacher was preparing to count us in, he was digging for his pitch hpipe so that he could give each part their starting pitch. Well, I didn't give it even one passing thought that I didn't know I didn't need to hear it. I just didn't need it. My ear already had registered it, unbeknownst to me - permanently. So, I just intonated, or "ho"-hummed (hee hee) the tenor section's first syllable of the tune ("Hush!", incidentally).
My teacher/conductor spun around and looked at me wide-eyed and said "That's right!". He then aske me if I could tell him the notes of the other parts. I said "no", but as easily as plucking out Chopsticks or Fur Eloise, I sang ("ah" 'd) these pitches back to him in descending (S.A.T.B.) order. And that was all there was to that. For the time being.
A couple of years later, as I freshman in college studying music education (with voice as my primary instrument at the time), I was going through the requisite "core" music courses which include the required Theory, History, and "Solfeg" (sightsinging). Into my third and by the end of the fourth week of my first semester, all the pitches and all the notes and all the songs I had ever had in my head now had pitch names and a whole new way of relating!
I had perfect pitch! It had first appeared, little did I know, when I was a pre-schooler plucking out some "Campbell's Soup" or "Romper Room" melody on my little tinker toy piano. I had never heard of perfect pitch and did not realize it's full potentiality in ME until I found the names (the WORDS!!!) of the pitches to express what my ear already knew and had been gobbling up since I spoke and heard my first words. These the names
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