Using Mental Math with NLD: Now vs. Life Applications

  Welcome to Living With An Invisible Learning Challenge, where we will discuss and discover the challenges and tribes of those living with NLD, nonverbal Learning Disability and other learning challenges such as autism, A DHD, dyslexia, dysgraphia, and any other invisible learning differences that one may live, may one may live with, and.

I like to interview individuals as well who lived with various learning challenges. So if you know anybody, please point me their way or if you are that individual, I would love to interview you on various topics. So please let me know and I welcome you to this podcast.

All right, so this will be the last podcast I will record in my parents home. I am going to be moving into my townhouse this weekend, so next weekend it will be recording from there, and I will have to figure out what kind of setup I will want there. haven't quite figured that out yet. So, math was always challenging for me when I was growing up.

I had so many math tutors, I remember one day I had three of them come at different times to help me with my homework. That was too much for me that day, but it did help a lot. It made it easier so I wasn't so frustrated with myself all the time and crying too much. Because I couldn't get, and I didn't understand why it was so challenging until I was in college and got diagnosed with an ALD at age 19. Yes, sometimes I wish I knew why things were challenging for me sooner, but I think it was at the right moment because I was able to turn my grades around from barely passing NCs to Bs and As.

I did that with tutors, accommodations, and a lot of help from my professors and my mom with ALD. working on my schoolwork. I wouldn't have been able to graduate without the help from my mom, GSI's brother, tutors, and professors. Not only did I get into UC Berkeley, but I graduated from it with a whole village of wonderful Smart, patient, and kind people helping me along the way.

And luckily, that didn't stop when I graduated. It became different, though, because now I was using the skills of determination, discipline, persistence, and time management I learned from college in the working world. Even though I don't use those skills. Math the same way I did in my academic life. I do use in my personal life and still have some challenges with it today.

So this is a quote from AI. People with nonverbal learning disability and LD or NVLD may have difficulty with mental math due to visual spatial perception issues. These issues can make it difficult to recognize patterns and relationships which can affect math skills like generalization. For example, some people, sorry, someone with NLD might not be able to see what's similar between different math problems.

One study found that children with NLD have had difficulty with a DOTS comparison task but not with mental calculations. Close quote. The first article is titled, A Teacher's Guide to NVLD Math. How to support students with nonverbal learning disability from BCCES, which is the global leader in training and certification for healthcare professionals, educators, and corporate partners who work with individuals with autism and other cognitive disorders.

Our reach extends to more than 2 million people in all 50 states and over 70 countries around the globe. IBCCES member. Learning community is provided as a free service to all IBCCES members who have completed one or more of our training and certificate certification programs Close quote and the quote from that article understanding part whole relationships a child with NBLD may Avoid puzzles, legos, and other activities that depend on arranging small pieces into large parts.

Have trouble with math concepts like greater than or less than, fractions, etc. Struggle to identify the main idea of the story they've written. read though they can recount details. Show difficulty grasping, cause and effect, learning sequence and patterns. Math is often a difficult subject for students with MVLD as they struggle to learn procedures like Lawn Division and apply concepts to multiple steps and problems.

Make the intangible tangible, especially for math and geography using question and answer Manipulatives like quiz and there rods, , 3d models and globes when teaching visual spatial concepts to help students understand how things relate to one another close quote. So that definitely gives them good strategies and suggestions and skills that teachers can use for neurodiverse students within VLD.

And this may also apply to other students that have challenges with mental math, memorizing symbols, and remembering how to use certain mathematical concepts or formulas. I remember when I was in, college, I retook statistics at Miramar College because I didn't pass it at Berkeley because really my own fault.

I didn't really have the motivation to go to class because it was an afternoon, 7 o'clock. morning and I prefer it to have it to been in the morning. So I retook it at Miramar College and I passed it with, I think a B or almost an A forget now that was so long ago, but, there was only one tutor there.

So I was basically learning how to do it on my own and I learned how to do it just by repetition of going through the stuff, homework assignments. until I got it and, I looked up stuff online. I, wrote cheat sheets of the formulas so I didn't have to memorize them because I'm not very good at memorizing formulas with All those symbols, I can memorize how to use them, but I'm not very good at memorizing symbols.

So that was helpful. And I used a calculator and had extra time on the test, an extra hour and a half. I'm going to get some water before reading the next article.

The next article is titled Understanding Nonverbal Learning Disorders and VLD by D. Ray Kinder, who has a PDHD. N H S P P, whatever that means. Quote, what follows are some common symptoms seen in individuals with NBLD or NLD. Do not expect every individual with this syndrome, however, to have an identical patterns of symptoms.

NBLD varies greatly. And it's presentation depending on the individual, much like the symptoms of ASD in people with that diagnosis. Nonverbal learning disorder is a brain based condition probably affecting the Wright CRG newsletter, Winter Edition, February 2019, Volume 9, Page 2, Hemisphere, characterized by weaknesses in nonverbal, Nonverbal processing.

That is the ability to think and reason without the use of language. Symptoms include weakness in the following. Visual spatial reasoning, puzzles building, organization, and Synthesis of information, big picture thinking, visual recall, where is the car, where is the exit, spatial motor integration, drawing, fine motor skills, clumsy, social interpretive skills, reading body language, facial expression, understanding math concepts, story applied problems, understanding abstract concepts, or slavery during the Civil War, federalism.

Organizational skills, how we organize space and time, literal interpretations, difficulty with sarcasm or indignanual change, and prefer sameness. Sometimes we see middle schoolers at CRG with a question of whether they have ASD. They may not have some of the classic symptoms. For example, they have Have good eye contact and appropriate greeting skills associated with that disorder.

We learned that their parents have worked extensively to teach them these skills. Similarly, some young people with NVLD have learned to verbally mediate many of the above tasks. In fact, one of the key ways to help them cope with their weaknesses is to teach them to verbally, sequentially process as much information as possible.

Unfortunately, not all tasks or learning environments lend themselves to this type of processing. Tasks requiring visual spatial reasoning are particularly difficult to process. Verbal ly mediate. Applied math concepts, for example, draw heavily on spatial reasoning skills. While you can verbally, sequentially, talk yourself through an algebra problem, recalling verbal rules as you go.

Applied geometry is a higher challenge and general, and generally requires spatial thought. But simpler tasks do as well, such as drawing a cube or a three dimensional drawing. reading in quotes maps and parallel parking. In my experience, impaired visual spatial processing is the key to understanding this disorder.

I hope this central diagnostic trait will provide the key to a uniform definition of NBLD with the ADSM and special education classification to follow at, as mental health providers and psychologists, we strive to accurately diagnose individuals. We believe that accurate diagnosis are key to The most effective treatment plants at CRG.

We believe that a quality assessment is usually the first step to identifying all of the issues that are adversely impacting an individual's functioning. NBLD cannot be accurately identified and may go undetected without an IQ test or at least significant visual spatial measures contrasted with visual measures.

Once we know this about an individual and whether they also need treatment for their level of anxiety and or attention deficit, we then strive to provide them with a comprehensive treatment plan. The adverse impact of NBLD will be determined. It will be the contingent upon its severity, how early it is diagnosed, and the ability of the individual to compensate for it.

It will have a bearing on what classes, math, higher sciences, will be more challenging, and what learning strategies the student should use in those cases. The impact of CERG Newsletter. Winter Edition, February 2019, Volume 9, 1, Page 3. NVLD will also have implications for individuals careers path. In general, people with NVLD will do better in fields where they can utilize their verbal sequential processing skills.

For example, sales or Law, service, industry, and will need to avoid careers requiring visual spatial processing like engineering and physics. Close quote.

So that article did a good job of, Describing the challenges of NBLD and,

and it also did a good job of saying, Hey, I've said this before, when you've met one neurodivergent, you met one neurodivergent, meaning each of us have May have all the symptoms or different symptoms to different degrees Like the autism spectrum. You can be high functioning or low functioning. You can have higher needs or low needs whichever term you prefer to use and You can be very good at driving or you cannot be very good at driving and be healthy or you can not drive at all You can be very good at math by learning how to do it With tutors and help and you can be very good at balancing your budget as well with the help and Some people with NVLD are very good at communicating Verbally and some aren't and some are very good at memorizing Things through audio.

Some are better with visual. I'm better with audio and kinesthetic learning. Visual is my worst. So those are some examples and, some people are better at multitasking than others with MVLD. I've gotten better at it over the years because I've had to get better at it. Okay, the last article is titled Nonverbal Learning Disorder, reviewed by psychology staff, today's staff.

Excuse me, I'm getting over a cold, so I might sound a little scratchy in my voice. In general, I think that, And VLD involves problems managing visual spatial information, such as difficulty drawing, writing, or telling time using analog clocks, tasks that require motor coordination, such as typing, sorry, tying one's shoes may also be impaired.

NBLD may also include problems with executive functioning and higher order information processing, math, and social skills. It is important to note that only one or two skill sets may be compromised in NBLD and not all NBLDs are. if a child's intellectual abilities are strong and all but one or more of these areas testing for mdld may be warranted the signs.

And sometimes have a nonrebel learning disorder are difficult to pinpoint as many deficits potentially fall under the umbrella term. And most children will not exhibit all of them. In other words, it can look very different in one child than it does in another. The condition is not defined in the diagnostic statistics.

And statistical mental disorders, the DSM volume five, although some advocates believe it should be typically though, in spite of a large vocabulary and strong language memory and verbal skills, a child with MLD will have difficulty with reading comprehension and more advanced math problems that require spatial visualization or pattern recognition.

They may have a poor sense of direction and struggle to manage money. Deficits in fine and gross motor skills can lead to trouble with handwriting, using scissors and other tools, riding a bicycle, or participating in sports. Other children may see them as clumsy. Is on verbal learning disorder on the autism spectrum.

Some experts argue that in certain cases, NBLD and autism spectrum disorder may have the same. And then we have the high functioning autism. And the same condition viewed from different perspectives. Behavior attributed to the high functioning autism, once known as Asperger's syndrome, in particular bears similarities to MBLD, but there are important differences.

Specifically, when we While a child with either condition might have both excellent memorization skills and poor social skills, individuals with NVLD have particular difficulty taking in information from the visual environment as well as trouble with math, which is often taught it. In a visual context, these processing difficulties are shared by some with ASD, but not all still some approaches used to help children with ASD can also help those within the LD close quote.

So that article, was basically giving me more, challenges that people have within the LD or challenges. Was giving you more symptoms that people with NBLD have. , And it brought up the DSM and why it's not on there is because there's no one agreed upon definition of NBLD yet.

The NBLD project is working on that. And, basically they changed the name recently. I did an episode on this earlier this year to developmental visual spatial disorder. That's still a mouthful. I don't really think that's any better than NVLD personally, because both of them are focusing on nonverbal or developmental visual spatial, and it's really a whole spectrum of symptoms.

The name I came up with is invisible learning spectrum disorder. Now that is a mouthful, but it has the word invisible in it and it has the word learning in it. which I think is better, like autism spectrum disorder. That's basically what it should be. And yes, there are some, some similarities between autism , and NLD but I would say what the main differences would be that, somebody with autism can actually be very good at math and sciences. Somebody with an LD can be very bad at math and sciences. So that's the main difference. And somebody with autism usually can drive. After it. But somebody with LLD may not be able to drive. So that's also a difference.

The social things are the similarity with autism and NBLD. Both of them have challenges with sarcasm and reading. Non verbal communication, which is basically 80 or 90 percent of communication. And, both of them are very good at memorizing things and both are very good at, , fixation on one task.

And, Like routines and also just liking , the sameness and not really liking changes. So I hope this, episode was helpful information for you on, the challenges with, and BLD with math and, other areas and comparing it to autism and , Talking about how I use in my academic personal and professional life.

So, that was today's episode and I will talk to you guys next week. Before I go into that, I thought I would address that this election is going to be very important and I am not telling you how to vote. I'm just encouraging you to vote. If you are 18 years old or older. Older, eager, extra worthwhile to do a lot of research so that you are informed.

Learn something. You're voting on journal. You're able to take aways so that time, you experience that cha challenge yourself, you're able to guess do well with the voting process and be informed on it. learn how to. I am also an ambassador for the NVLD project, and then, or, be able to take away more learning from it, and not make the same mistake twice, you know, and , be able to, also help somebody else.

Good learning disabilities and have a friend helps people get accommodations in school and typical. , so I hope by defining, be able to have those, some experiences and you, how it affects you in life.