People with Nonverbal Learning Disorder (NVLD) struggle to understand nonverbal information like pictures, maps, and even facial expressions. But, they can still read and speak well. In other words, people with NVLD have a strength with verbal skills, but are comparatively weak with visual and spatial processing.
NVLD is not yet an official diagnosis, but researchers at Columbia University are advocating to include it in the DSM. Signs of NVLD often include struggles with:
- Making friends and understanding social cues
- Recalling and using visual information like maps, charts, and graphs
- Fine motor skills (using a pencil, eating neatly, tying shoelaces)
- Gross motor skills (riding a bike, playing sports, walking around obstacles)
- Math skills (fractions, proportions, word problems)
- Higher-level thinking like planning, organization,
How does NVLD Affect Social Skills?
Because people with NVLD have trouble processing nonverbal cues, they may struggle to read facial expressions or tone. They might not understand when someone is being sarcastic. They might not notice polite cues that they have overstayed their welcome, or that they have been talking for too long.
People with NVLD also take words literally, which means that they struggle to understand metaphors. And because they have a hard time judging distances, they might also stand too close to other people and make them uncomfortable.
For these reasons, NVLD is often confused with autism, even though the two diagnoses are very different.
Impact of NVLD on Motor Skills
People with NVLD often have problems with coordination. This is because they have trouble judging distances and understanding where their body is in relation to the objects around them.
Children with NVLD may struggle to learn how to ride a bike, for example, and adults with NVLD may have trouble driving safely.
Impact of NVLD on Executive Functioning
NVLD is often tied to challenges with “executive functioning”, which is the ability of the brain to do higher-order thinking, predictions, and planning. Even though people with NVLD understand individual sentences well, they may struggle to take what they hear and tie it into the bigger picture.
Because of that, people with NVLD may have trouble with:
- Controlling their impulses
- Multitasking
- Staying focused
- Solving new or novel problems
- Adapting to change
- Reading comprehension