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The title, Non-Verbal Learning Disorder, can have some misconceptions. I’ve even been told numerous times,” Oh but you talk so well”. In reality, I can’t read non-verbal communication such as body language, facial cues, etc. Non-verbal communication is 93% of all communication so it’s pretty crucial.  Sometimes, people tell me ”I never knew you had that, you seem normal to me”. Having an invisible learning disorder like NVLD, people assume many things that just aren’t true. People don’t know what goes on inside someone’s brain, which would be kind of scary. Imagine someone with a telescope looking through your brain, not a pleasant thought right? My mission in life has always been to spread awareness of NVLD so that these misconceptions can be dealt with. NVLD can also have this misconception that it’s ”fake” or ”not real”. If you search Non-Verbal Learning Disorder, people can clearly see the definition, knowing that it exists. Using one of my favorite 80’s movie quotes from GhostBusters, ”If someone asks you if you’re a god, you say YES!” This quote works in many ways, including with NVLD. If someone asks if your learning disorder is real, you say yes because you have it and you are confident about it. It’s not on the DSM yet which I wish it was so that I don’t have people denying my disorder. I believe that people who say those things aren’t as well educated on the topic so I hope to talk about my NVLD as much as I can.

Ellie Pogach

NVLD Project Social Ambassador, 80’s movie nerd, theater kid, massive goofball

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‘I am everything you want
I am everything you need
I am everything inside of you
That you wish you could be
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44 years ago, I entered the world as a child brimming with potential, the convergence of a sportsman father with an affinity for the natural world and a mother with a creative vision. Read More

Being 19 years old, living in a college two hours away from my home, and having NVLD is both good and bad. I was diagnosed with NVLD at 12 years old and ever since then, I’ve always been seen as the “weird kid” and I took that to heart and made it into who I am. Read More

I am the parent of an amazing 13-year-old boy who loves all things aviation, enjoys being with family, has a great sense of empathy for others, and also has a nonverbal learning disability. As a learning specialist, I’ve focussed my career on helping students reach their potential and  I’ve preached for many years that it’s not about the label, the diagnosis doesn’t define the child. Yet here I sit today, desperate for a diagnosis, a label, a formula, a treatment plan… or even just an understanding of the challenges my son faces every day. The truth is, without the diagnosis, the blame is projected onto the child and the focus becomes what they can’t do. A neuropsychological evaluation can certainly shed some light on the why behind the can’t, but without a diagnosis (or at least an accurate one), the child is entitled to very few services and is often labeled as inattentive or behavioral.
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Have you ever had the awareness that you misunderstood a situation, in hindsight?

After 66 years of lived experience with non-verbal learning disability, selective mutism, and autism, I know what it is like to misunderstand and be misunderstood.
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I was born with NVLD due to a likely brain injury during labor. I grew up with it unknown to myself, family members, schools, or professionals. It wasn’t even known as a category then. One sign of its presence was my precocious reading ability in the early years, probably as a compensating strategy. That continued into later school work and higher education. In addition were growing social skill deficits with communication issues. These continued through years of struggle, learning some improvements with various therapy sessions. I later ran into difficulties with my vocation, enduring a number of failed attempts over time (more on that below). Yet no one ever discovered any connection to NVLD until recently. Read More

In my previous piece, I discuss how it appears that the vast majority of students with an NVLD and other disabilities still struggle to form friendships and mentors. Understandingly this greatly affects these students, their families, and their service providers as being connected is so important for their self-worth and overall happiness. However, it doesn’t need to be this way as discussed in Part A there are several ways they can and do from friends and mentors. It‘s just that IEP teams and the parents still hesitate to expand inclusion of the classroom. In addition, these students are still not taking the appropriate level of courses and despite popular belief, this really does limit the opportunities to form meaningful friends. So now I will add to my examples of how these students can and do form mentors and friendships. Read More

My story starts at the age of 18 months (, or so I’m told. ) It centers around a rocking horse that my cousin gave me for Christmas one year! I loved that rocking horse but I just couldn’t figure out how to maneuver to get on it. This is where my mom said that there was a problem and got me in to see my pediatrician. They didn’t know anything about NVLD in 1993  and they said it was a disability, motor issues otherwise not specified. Read More