As I wait for the technicians to install a third tire on my car in the past five months alone, it is difficult to repress frustration about the costly consequences of visual-perceptual deficits. Getting lost everywhere and relying excessively on signs or the presence of furniture to determine which direction to turn in to arrive at my classroom/office from the front office or to a patient’s room is disconcerting and exhausting at best. Within the past three weeks, I mistook another person’s car for my own (and went inside of it before frenetically seizing my belongings and an empty Publix cookie container that took residence in the stranger’s passenger seat), ran over a median that I didn’t see, took aberrant turns to just about every destination, was unable to locate the entrance to an indoor trampoline park (to take an aerobics class) on the campus of a school and church despite the fact that I had delivered speech therapy sessions there for approximately four semesters, and had no idea how to direct my friend to take me to a parking garage.
Read More
It can be difficult to suppress a grin when a few pairs of wary teenage eyes peer into the window of “The Language Production Studio.” As the high school students prepare to step onto the invisible but palpable social communication stage, I can sometimes see reflections of my past adolescent self from so long ago in their fleeting eye gaze, flat affect, anxious mannerisms, and manifestations of difficulty with transitions. The expectations have been clearly defined and some of them could recite the “conversational script” flawlessly, but the ostensibly simple role of initiating a greeting and a few conversational turns with the speech-language therapist may prove to be daunting when the spotlight shifts from the rules and the acquisition of knowledge of the skill to a spontaneous demonstration of it.
Read More
My son Matthew is 14 years old. I am a specialist in special education and crisis therapy. At 15 months, Matthew exhibited signs similar to Asperger’s, at 15 months, I began DTT therapy within the home. His kindergarten teacher had concerns, not moved upon. Second grade, I referred him to SPED, some odd red flag behaviors, though high IQ, refused eligibility. Fifth grade preferred him again, shut down the meeting because the evaluations were filled with scoring errors and contained no observations in almost an effort to hide the red flags. His IQ is astronomical, therefore never eligible for SPED. Took his 5th grade evals to a neurologist who said the differentiation between his VIQ and PIQ scores, though within the superior to average range, substantiate he has NVLD.
Read More
This blog has a bit of a different focus than my previous ones. Normally, I love offering advice, especially given the fact that I’m in social work. But I struggle, too. Disclosure of my NVLD is a topic that I’ve faced in my life recently: what to disclose, how to disclose, when to disclose. With a more unheard of LD like NVLD, it’s doubly difficult.
Read More
Growing up with NVLD makes social skills and handling change a challenge. One of the ways to work through this is to connect with others who have the ability to interact with you to help make these challenges easier. Two people who made my challenges easier happened to be high school students. My Mom had been very involved in my sisters Odyssey of the Mind team so I became the team manager. The students in the program were a positive influence on me, however, the two who were the most supportive to me were Jason and Jennifer. Their older brother had a disability similar to mine so it was easier for them to help me out. Their support continued beyond OM and this was just the first of older peers that I looked up too.
Read More
I have to begin our story with the fact that I am a retired principal from a very progressive school. My wife is a Special Education teacher. Together, we have spent the past 30 years helping students with a variety of abilities to learn, encouraging them, helping them to grow, developing parent understanding and creating a positive environment for them to experience failure and to succeed. We have raised two sons that are on their way to successful lives.
Read More
Two years ago, I was only the third parent to post a blog on the NVLD Project website. It is so wonderful to see how many people have found it and now know that they are not alone.
I would like to share with you the many ways Anna has progressed because so many of the people who have contributed seem to be discouraged.
Read More
One of the most perplexing things for me about having NLD is trying to navigate the subtleties of making friends. The question of whether someone is being friendly versus trying to be my friend is something I’ve struggled with my whole life and it’s only gotten harder as the world develops a more casual, laid-back attitude toward each other, so I thought I’d write about it in order put it into words, (which is something us NLDers need), in order to help myself work through it and find some similarities between my already established friendships.
Read More
My name is Robin.
I finally got diagnosed with NVLD when I was 39 years old.
The only reason that happened is because my son was diagnosed with PDD Autism and I asked his doctor who did the neuropsych: Do you know a doctor who does these tests for adults?
Read More
Have tried as best I can with and translate my story from Norwegian to English.
I hope to be able to give others an understanding of NLD, a Functions derogatory who can provide a lot of invisible, despite the difficulties that I have problems with writing, with to get it to look good, and to put it function into a context. I have e therefore decided to write a little about my experience with the NLD.
Read More