NLD, NVLD

So-called "social NLD" ("Mamen's sydrome"), a from of aucorigia from a PDF found in the Internet:

C. Subtype: Predominant Deficiency in Social Perception

1. Neuropsychological Profile
a. Difficulty understanding gestures (gestures assume the ability to associate meaning with a visual-movement pattern)
•Difficulty interpreting and differentiating facial expressions; may misjudge a speaker’s mood.
•Occasional emotional outbursts initiated by overreaction to and misinterpretation of other children’s actions.
b.No close friendships
• Insensitive to voice tone
• Difficulty with “unspoken” social rules
• Difficulty with implicit social information
• Difficulty with conversational turn taking (pragmatics)
c. Anxious (anxiety due to difficulty balancing self and world)
• Introverted; smiles less than peers; flat affect.
• Poor or variable eye contact (gets better with familiarity)
• Rule-bound (when the rules change, they have difficulty accommodating; very literal; rigid.
• Unintentionally tactless→social offensiveness and tendency to alienate others whether strangers or acquaintances.
• Difficulty with transitions; novelty
• Prone to depression
d. Difficulty with cause-effect reasoning (WISC-III Picture Arrangement)
e. Misdiagnosed as Asperger’s but they do not have restricted interests
f. Poor flexibility (WISC-III Comprehension)

2. Educational Profile:
a. Bright youngster (usually)
b. Reading:
Early reader but oral reading lacks expressive quality.
c. Math:
Average ability though lower than reading and spelling.
d. Written Language:
• Student is willing to do journal
writing and personal narratives.
• Nearly phobic when asked to write a topical essay.
• Difficulty anticipating what the reader needs to know

"Social NLD" is a rubbish term. I even suppose that "S-NLD" can be "schizodevelopmental disorder" which is not always milder than developmental rigid autism spectrum disorders.

Poor so-called "NLDers". They should be classified with people who have "autism spectrum disorder", not with ones with dyslexia or dyscalculia. The name "NVLD" has to be changed.

A comment from http://www.healthboards.com/boards/gene … ences.html:

I've read a lot about Asperger, ADD, and the like. I seem to resemble a combination of Asperger and ADD-I (inattentive) myself.

As for being able to tell Asperger and the Bipolar spectrum apart, this shouldn't be too difficult, except for the fact that Bipolar is a common comorbid condition for Asperger. In other words, they go together, just like the ADD/Asperger combo.

You don't need to stim or toe-walk to have Asperger/HFA. AFAIK, the diagnosis requires the following 3 criteria to be fulfilled to some degree: repetitive behavior, liking for sameness or specific routines; difficulty with social interaction; idiosyncratic language (pedantic or monotonous speech, etc.)

There is also NVLD (non-verbal learning disorder) which shares a *great* deal of similarity with Asperger, but it's not in the DSM and not diagnosable by a psychologist per se; NVLD is treated as a learning disability, while AS is seen more as a developmental disorder. Some experts think you can have NVLD without AS, but some counter that NVLD is an unnecessary splitting of the group. One figure speculates around 50% of people with Asperger fit NVLD criteria.

Myself? I think NVLD should be abolished. If you have NVLD, just call it Asperger... my two cents, anyhow.

I agree with the opinion that NVLD should be abolished. For me so-called NVLD is a sort of aspieness, not a learning disability and people with so-called NVLD have to be classified in the same category with people who have high-functioning autism, but not in the same category with ones who have dyslexia. The term NVLD is confusing and it may be used to describe social ineptitude lasting since childhood, nonverbal communication impairment (also with behavioral peculiarities). Nonverbal communication impairment is an Aspie trait. It is irritating that some group of Aspies are classified as having just a learning disorder.

The term NVLD should be not used in psychiatry and psychology because it is harmful and was associated with general, developmental socio-emotional difference (a sort of aspieness), not with learning disorder. "True NVLD" has not to be associated with nonverbal communication impairment, social ineptitude and peculiar behaviors or thinking!

"True NVLD" is (something like) "visual-spatial-motor disorder". It is associated with serious problems with reading non-verbal informations (like graphs, maps and clocks), dyscalculia, dysgraphia, dyspraxia. But it does not "sentence" an individual to be dyssemic or have social communication disorder. "True NVLD" also does not mean that individual should or will present fixative interests, rigid routines or OCD, stims, problems with dealing with sensory experiences.

Social drive remains intact in proper NVLD, while Aspies can (but do not have to) have it significanly diminished and they can have lack of need of being loved by other person, tendency to one-sided interactions which are irritating for others due to deficit of social reciprocity. Some Aspies can be uninterested in gaing social skills and "socialisation".