Social situations have always been hard for me. Body language was like an AP foreign language, while still learning spoken words. Sarcasm was taken too literally. Tone and inflection went unnoticed. I didn’t understand the side glances, the laughing, the joking. I didn’t realize that I was the punch line. Read More
Growing up with an NVLD brings more challenges than people really realize and because it is a misunderstood disability it makes each challenge even harder to overcome. What people don’t realize is that, with deficient fine motor and spatial skills, many of the biggest challenges faced are often outside of the classroom. Often when we think of NVLD as a Learning Disability we don’t always see the full picture outside of school. Read More
I did what no other writer should do: reread the beginning of a half-completed first draft and start editing it. I can imagine any author asking, “What were you thinking? Writer’s block?”
Maybe… but I was more intimidated by my own words.
There is never an easy way to explain Nonverbal Learning Disability—a term that makes me cringe as I type. Knowing, very well, the opinions–I mean “misconceptions”– it brings with its name. Most people see an outgoing, adventurous, creative person–that of which I am. Only, my impairment can make me look loud, oblivious, and defensive when somebody tells me I am yelling, they mean this instead of that, or that they were just being sarcastic. Read More
My journey started when I came into this world by the lovely parents of Sam and Marica in 1985. My parents did not know what kind of kid they would get. Early on, I was a tough baby struggling with things. My parents did not know that later on their son would have a nonverbal learning disability. At the age of 5, I was tested and officially diagnosed with a nonverbal learning disability. Read More
People with an NVLD, or any disability for that matter, face many challenges in life including having adult relationships, beyond just those people who admire your determination to do well. During my high school years, these types of relationships were plentiful but after graduation only a few lasted. Read More
I read through my vocational assessment next. It expressed something that I have long known and still deal with whenever a job or manager change needs to occur in my life: “It is highly unlikely that any job would be completely free of difficulties due to the functional severity of some of her nonverbal weaknesses.” Ouch. But also… yes. Read More
13 years later, after a job loss during the recession I was trying to figure out what would be the best career change for me. Journalism was my college major, and was a good fit for my verbal and social skills, but the spelling issues and grammar recall challenges, due to my dysgraphia, left me concerned about my sustainability and marketability in the field of journalism and other heavy writing professions. Plus, the technology changes in the media industry were making it a harder option field to make a living. Read More
A few months back my husband and I took a stay-cation vacation week. We started that week off by cleaning, organizing, and getting rid of things we no longer need. As is the case whenever I move my belongings around for a move or a clean-up. I resurfaced papers I have saved from my NVLD journey and I revisited them. Read More
One of the biggest lessons I’ve had to learn is that there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to making friends. It’s an art, not a science. When you’re trying to befriend someone, there aren’t any clear objectives to accomplish. And obviously there are no guaranteed outcomes. For me, trying to build friendships often felt like trying to play dodgeball with my eyes closed. Read More
I had the Wechsler test at uni when I was 50. I had been experiencing various difficulties on my social work course, ie getting lost (having difficulty locating my classroom), being easily overwhelmed, not being comfortable with the role play exercises etc.) and someone suggested I get tested for ADHD. My verbal score was 120 and my non-verbal (spatial/perceptual/processing speed etc) was low, a 30 point discrepancy.
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