How common is NLD? How to get diagnosed?
We will discuss how common NLD is, its symptoms, and how it is diagnosed. NLD is as common with girls as it is with boys. It can be diagnosed by your child’s doctor by asking them questions about their medical history, and their symptoms, and having them examined. Or your child may need to go to a place that does tests for learning disabilities. This is exactly how I got diagnosed when I was 19 years old.
The place I went to is called The Wright Institute and they did several tests including:
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-IV)
Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS-IV)
Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement (WJ-III)
If you are interested in knowing the names of the other tests I took please don’t hesitate to ask me. It was fun taking the tests because they weren’t like any other academic ones. I always wondered how I did on them and what they would tell me about myself. I had the testing done because for quite some time I had a personal hunch that I was different from the rest of my family. It took many weeks to take the tests but it was worth it because I got some accommodations that made college easier.
The accomadations were:
Being able to have audio versions of textbooks
Being able to record classes
Use a calculator on math tests to check my mental math
Being able to have an index card with mathematical formulas on it as a cheat sheet during exams
Being able to take exams in a room by myself and with more time
I was also able to have my emotional support dog with me when I was taking a test. This helped me because I was able to soothe myself by petting her. I always found it difficult to memorize formulas that’s why that index card was helpful. After my mom started helping me with editing my essays in my sociology classes I started to see my grades increase from Cs to Bs and eventually As. Thank you, mom. My grades in my environmental classes also rose from the accommodations.
I would like to share with you some excerpts from an article from The NVLD Project’s blog. The first article is titled “Could Your Student Have NVLD?” by Susan Micari, MS.ED, BCET & Annalisa Perfetto, Ph.D.
“Maybe you are surveying your class and notice one of your students, a boy or a girl, staring off into space, seeming to sit alone though surrounded by others. They are not quite up on the conversations swirling around them, and perhaps you notice that they drop things, or bump into people or objects. For sure you’ve noticed that they have trouble with math. It isn’t so much that they can’t memorize facts, which is hard for them, but you’ve noticed that they can’t tell what pattern of problem they are dealing with, no matter how you try to break down the steps to recognizing and solving one.
These students may be part of 3-4% of the population that have non-verbal learning disabilities, or NVLD. You may be unsure that such a diagnosis exists. The student may have the label of ADHD, but you notice that it isn’t quite right, it’s also organization, it’s also knowing what to pay attention to on a map, graph, or even a book. They can be frustrated by having to make inferences; they are detailed people.
Their memories are fine, and their verbal skills are years beyond grade level, but they just can’t get their work done well enough. They test OK; anything in multiple-choice format should suit them, but ask them to produce an essay on a theme and they fall apart unless the task requires less analysis and more summary of details. Their friendships can be limited by a difficulty in following conversational jokes, and in knowing how to respond to friendly overtures from others.”
Thank you Susan and Annalisa for explaining to teachers and others that think they may know someone with NVLD but don’t know it because they never heard about it. Or they may have heard about something similar but they don’t know it’s NVLD because it’s not on the DSM (i.e the Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders).
Susan and Annalisa are those that are trying to support people with NVLD by speaking up for them by saying it’s not their fault that they can’t do the things that academic life is asking them to do.
They also provide really good tips for teachers on how to help students who have NVLD if you want to check them out. I’ll highlight a few here:
“Be Their Champion: NVLD can make school seem like a nightmare for some students, even though they can be very smart! Make sure that your NVLD student knows that you are a champion of his or her success, and commit to being the teacher that your student needs today. Get Educated: The more you know about NVLD and how to recognize it, the more you can use your pedagogical expertise and creativity to help your NVLD students become successful. Realizing that your student is exhibiting characteristics of NVLD and not ‘trying hard enough’ should help you to understand the types of differentiation, classroom strategies, and learning supports that each student needs. Be Specific and Explicit: It is important not to assume that NVLD students can apply directions from one classroom scenario to a different situation. Remember that NVLD students have difficulty approaching new situations, and difficulty recognizing patterns. Explicitly teach the directions that you want your students to carry over to different situations over time- they need lots of practice to be able to do this!”
These are really good tips because people with NVLD do need more help because of having a learning challenge. I remember when my parents or tutors would give me extra help that I needed. I appreciated it because it made it so much easier for me to do well in my academic life. That’s probably why I was a straight-A student at least in high school. This was different in college because I didn’t have accommodations in the very beginning. But I was able to raise those grades once I got the accommodations. I would say also with the tips it's good to know that your student isn’t trying to, believe me, they are trying. They probably aren't quite getting it because of how it’s being taught, the challenges they experience with NLD, or not understanding what is being taught to them. So please be patient with them and be able to know that sometimes they may forget what you previously taught them. This is when you’ll have been patient and be willing to go back through what you had taught them the day before. Maybe you’ll have to explain not everything but most of what you did previously. But they will most likely understand it better because you’re going back through it. And maybe you will explain it better than you originally did.
In conclusion, we went through what causes NLD, its symptoms of it, and how teachers can assist their students with them.
Links for articles:
bit.ly/3MJEyha
https://bit.ly/3OqU0A3
