NLD and Executive Functioning
Today’s episode is about executive functioning and NLD. The first article I want to use is titled, “What is Non Verbal Learning Disability?” by Dr. Angela Currie who is “a pediatric neuropsychologist at NESCA. She conducts neuropsychological and psychological evaluations out of our Londonderry, NH office. She specializes in the evaluation of anxious children and teens, working to tease apart the various factors lending to their stress, such as underlying learning, attentional, or emotional challenges. She particularly enjoys working with the seemingly “unmotivated” child, as well as children who have “flown under the radar” for years due to their desire to succeed.”
“Executive functioning refers to a complex set of skills that are responsible for an individual’s ability to engage in goal-directed behavior. This includes skills necessary for self-regulation, such as impulse control, attentional management, and emotional control, as well as skills for task management and cognitive regulation, such as organizing materials, creating a plan, starting a task and sustaining effort, prioritizing and organizing ideas, holding information in memory, etc. Individuals with NLD likely have some executive function strengths, particularly when they can rely on their verbal strengths; however, they are likely to demonstrate significant challenges with the executive function skills that rely on “big picture awareness,” such as organization, integration, planning, prioritizing, time management, and self-monitoring. Individuals with NLD are detail-focused – they often miss the forest for the trees. For some, they compensate by redoing work and over-exerting their efforts, eventually achieving a semblance of desired outcomes at the cost of time and energy; others may produce work that misses the main point of the task or demonstrates a lack of understanding; and others may just become overwhelmed and give up, appearing to lack ‘motivation.’”
I can relate to this quote because I used to have a hard time with prioritizing my subjects in school before I learned that it was better to do the ones that took most energy and time first since I would have more energy to do them. If I did them later in the day I wouldn’t do as well as I would if I did them earlier in the day. Once I learned that tool in highschool I was really glad because it also was really important for me to use in college and probably more so than in highschool.
Here’s a definition of executive function: from understood.org (My friend Ellen provided me with this article) “a set of mental skills that include working memory, flexible thinking, and self-control. We use these skills every day to learn, work, and manage daily life. Trouble with executive function can make it hard to focus, follow directions, and handle emotions, among other things.”
It has to do with being able to problem solve and expect what the problems will be when trying to plan for something, planning ahead and dealing with the when, how, and timing of things. One good example that I had to do recently that involved executive functioning was planning the re-opening of The Unity Center, my mom’s church for in person services. This required a lot of planning, thinking ahead and multitasking for me.
I had to help my parents and a reopening committee think of what kind of wording to put on signs that would be about masks and social distancing. The signs also informed what you needed to do if you were ill. I assisted with thinking of words to go on banners to welcome congregants back to their home or spiritual community. I helped with finding volunteers to clean the building before reopening it for June 6th. I emailed them and coordinated when they could come based on when we were in the office. I got volunteers to help hang the signs we got about masks and social distancing.
I assisted with thinking through the different roles of the volunteers that we would need to have on Sundays. I took the time to find someone to write an email to go to people that had volunteered in the past. Then I emailed them each time we needed help. I also now lead the volunteers since we didn’t have a leader due to them leaving during early COVID. I also had to think through when to have the volunteers show up so they would be there before the congregants would. We also had to think of how it would take for the music team to finish rehearsal to let everyone into the sanctuary.
We also had to think through different challenges that might arise because of having people wear masks and social distance for longer than they may want to. I also asked some of my NLD friends about this topic to provide a different perspective on this topic.
Ellen said “For me, it's not so much a working memory issue since my working memory is excellent. But organizing has gotten much harder as I've gotten older and needed to stay on top of more things. I also struggle with initiating tasks I don't feel like I have adequate time or preparation for. I also absolutely STRUGGLE to finish things. Hence why my communication is so sporadic! Emotion regulation is also still a struggle for me, despite the strategies I use to stay as balanced as possible in most social interactions. My cognitive flexibility used to be terrible and many friends have told me that they had to wait for me to grow into "valuing other people's ways of thinking" since I was so stubborn as a child. Self control, also a big struggle. I think this relates to things like my trouble initiating projects because I have such trouble moderating them and budgeting my time. In general budgets, unless super rigid is pretty hard. If this sparks any other further inquiry I'd love to offer it too.”
I can relate to what Ellen said about the organization because I do know as I’ve gotten older and have more responsibilities I do have a harder time being organized and staying on top of things. Because I need to have more focus on more things and that requires more attention than it used to. But I think this is a good stretch and challenge for me because then I get to test my organizational skills and become better at doing it. It’s also hard for me to start tasks that I don’t have much preparation for. Because if I’m not prepared for it I feel like I probably won’t do a good job on it. I also have a hard time controlling my emotions but I seem to be good at social gatherings where people don’t know me well rather than where they do know me well. Budgets are difficult for me too because I used to spend impulsively a lot but I have grown out of that habit since I’ve been debt free for over a year. It is hard to believe that it's been a year already.
Ellen also gave me two articles that talk about executive functioning from understood.org. There are 3 kinds of executive functioning:
“According to many experts, all five of those executive functioning skills fit under these three umbrellas:
What it is: The ability to keep information in mind and then use it in some way
Example: A student might use this skill to read a text on an English test, hold on to the information, and then use it to answer questions.
2. Cognitive flexibility (also known as flexible thinking )
What it is: The ability to think about something in more than one way
Example: A student might use this skill to answer a math problem in two ways or to find relationships between different concepts.
3. Inhibitory control (includes self-control )
What it is: The ability to ignore distractions and resist temptation
Example: A child might use this skill to keep from blurting out an answer in class. It helps kids regulate their emotions and keep from acting impulsively .”
I think my working memory is pretty good because I can remember information well and be able to use it in different ways like for podcast topics. My cognitive flexibility is pretty good unless it has to do with the big picture relationship of something but if it has to do with small relationships of something then I’m better at it because of having NLD. My self-control is really good actually because I can be very quiet when I want to be and let other people talk especially if they haven’t gotten the chance to. I try not to hog the spotlight in group conversations.
Also my friend Julia who also has NLD gave me an answer on what she struggles with executive functioning:
“I used to be in a healthcare position running appointments. This scenario involved a lot of executive functions, but I will mention three. I struggle with something called cognitive flexibility or shifting set, which, to oversimplify, is the ability to switch one’s focus from one type of thought to another. Sometimes the patient had finished what I planned for them, and there was more time left in the appointment. I had trouble thinking of what else to do. This scenario also involved time management. The way we bill Medicare insurance (US government insurance for age 65 and up) is exact. Finally, it involved emotion regulation as I got rather anxious. One problem is that sometimes people view cognitive flexibility as a moral trait. I have heard people say, “You have to be flexible!” It’s not a moral trait; it’s a cognitive skill. Now, when I am in similar situations, I overcompensate by over-planning, so I don’t run out of ideas.”
Julia also gave me an article that has an executive functioning quiz that you might want to take.
I used to struggle with this area too when I would work with ASD clients because sometimes we would have extra time after working on something that was planned for that day which made it difficult for me to think on my feet and be able to come up with something for them to do.
So as I wrap I would like to say that whether your challenge with executive functioning is due to working memory, self-control, or cognitive flexibility, I and others who have NLD still have issues with this today. I would love to hear from my NLDers and NTs on your challenges with executive functioning because I know that NTs can have difficulty with it too sometimes. Please comment on this episode on livingwithnld.com, or on youtube. Also you can leave a review on Apple podcast with the answer too. Or you can email me about it at livingwithnld@gmail.com. Thank you. Hope you enjoyed the episode and learned something new. Talk to you next Friday.
Links for articles:
https://www.understood.org/articles/en/what-is-executive-function?fbclid=IwAR3N4f2kHTXNg0Zyu6sBFNK1Y99jppsp4MqWTzBkz7-2FMRT8_dJHqlCK8M
