Life can be very lonely when it feels like people don’t “get” you. Our campers tell us that camp gives them an opportunity to be a part of something bigger, to be a member of a community where people understand them and appreciate them for who they are. Many people find it hard to imagine that summer camp can provide more than a few weeks of fun activities. And yet, camp is so much more. Residential camp gives children an opportunity to meet peers who have similar interests and experiences, but also to be more independent, to learn resiliency, to feel a sense of agency.
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We are thrilled to announce a new partnership that will bring our resources in front of The Mighty‘s wide-reaching readership. We will now have our own growing home page on The Mighty and appear on many stories on the site. Read More
My daughter Lexus has Nonverbal Learning Disorder. The fight I have been facing is with our school districts and trying to make them understand what NVLD is. I have been fighting this battle since my daughter was in 1st grade and have been blown off and disrespected by many in the school system. People don’t understand how severe NVLD is to a child who goes to school and it’s time that Nonverbal Learning Disorder is a recognized learning disability.
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Telling someone I’m on the spectrum is difficult, but things become even more complicated when you’re a speech-language pathologist. I knew from a small age that I was different from my peers but no clue that I had a learning disability that affected me socially, academically, physically, and emotionally.
Until recently I had never heard of Non-Verbal Learning Disability, and I have been a practicing speech-language pathologist since October of 2014. It presents very similarly to Aspergers but is different in several ways. For instance, I’m an auditory learner and struggle with fine/gross motor impairments, while many Aspies are visual learners and often do not present with as many fine and gross impairments.
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On May 2, 2017, at age 27, my son Zak (Zachary) Anthony chose to no longer live with the pressures, NVLD or what we called NLD created for him in this world. A silent disability, where schools, doctors, and most psychiatrists have never even heard of, or even want to investigate or research or even try to understand. We would have to explain it to them, or in fact, beg them to even consider it a possibility or even listen to us! If it was not in their school specs, then it did not exist! Therefore there was never any help for my child here in the state of Ohio! Still even here in December, 2017, at the State Mental institution, where my son got placed on suicide watch. Not one Doctor, therapist or nurse ever heard about this disability, nor would they take the time to learn the easy ways of how to communicate with my son, while in there! We suffered through it alone. We couldn’t even find a psychiatrist, who understood it to even offer him a proper diagnosis! All we got was oh, what’s that, hmmm I’ll have to look it up (which no one ever did!) or oh well, it must be Autism, or he’s just fooling you, he’s just a smart-ass! How can he score 2nd-grade college level in 6th grade but, can’t organize his notebook, he’s just lazy! Time after time, my son was humiliated, due to the lack of understanding or their not wanting to understand!
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Had I known as a child that I’d grow up to be a published author, it would’ve provided me with comfort and reassurance in the face of trying times. It wasn’t easy growing up with an undiagnosed learning disability. Despite endless efforts, in school I remained brilliant in some academic areas, like reading and spelling, and highly challenged in math and science, puzzling and frustrating my teachers and family.
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Our journey with NVLD began 18 years ago, but we didn’t know it until Katie was in eighth grade. We knew Katie was different. When Katie was a toddler, she threw tantrums like a hellcat. No amount of coaxing, cajoling or threatening would make Katie change her mind about anything. As she grew, we didn’t know why she refused–vehemently–to do seemingly ordinary things, like ride a bike. She said she just wouldn’t. We believed we had a very obstinate child.
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I work as a learning specialist in a mainstream independent school in New York City. In my role I see students with a variety of challenges and diagnosed learning disabilities. I currently work with one student, Ethan, who is diagnosed with NVLD. In a social, collaborative environment that demands strong independence and self-advocacy skills he has struggled. The give and take of social interactions and understanding what is appropriate behavior in the classroom can be difficult for Ethan. Together, we have developed strategies that help him advocate for himself and I have shared useful tips with his teachers so that their interactions with Ethan are productive.
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I was diagnosed with a Non-Verbal Learning Disability when I was in my junior year of high school. Learning disabilities weren’t even on anyone’s radar, not my parents, not my teachers… not mine for sure. I was diagnosed with a chromosome disorder called Turner Syndrome and part of the followup testing for that was NVLD testing since it’s very common with those who have Turner Syndrome.
Suddenly everything made sense when we got confirmation of the learning disability. It made sense why I struggled so much in geometry and chemistry. It made sense why I had so many awkward social interactions as a child. Why I always wanted to draw but could never master the hand eye coordination to do so no matter how much I practiced. Why I talked to myself out loud when performing a task. Why it felt like I was blind despite having vision. It was also why I became an easy target for bullying in school.
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