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.
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Having an NVLD can be very complicated as it is a learning disability that also presents challenges outside the classroom. You may have difficulty reading a map, managing crowds, and not being able to drive. For these reasons, for someone with NVLD, living near a city can be extremely helpful and yes, still challenging.
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While the process for choosing a college can be a difficult process for everyone it’s especially harder for a student with NVLD as you need to pick a college that is “disability friendly.” Each of the schools either have basic, coordinative, or comprehensive support and each level is extremely different. Basic support, only provides the required accommodations by ADA, thus it has the lowest rate for success as students need to be a strong advocate for themselves, and have to take control of their own academics as individualized attention isn’t available to them. Coordinated Services like basic support is free however they offer more support. Learning Disability specialist are on staff for “drop in” help and they include added accommodations like organizational assistance and course substitutions. Students can succeed more at this level as individual attention is offered. The highest level of support offered is comprehensive support. Read More
Growing up with NVLD can make summer vacation a real concern for many families due to academic and social weaknesses. In many cases, especially if both parents are working, the child can be lonely as without parental encouragement it makes going to summer activities so hard. One of the options that can make summer more enjoyable is to have your child attended a residential summer program for students with Learning Disabilities as these programs promote academic, personal, and social growth.
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Having NVLD can make it difficult to understand social and communication clues, which can make forming relationships an obstacle. Two examples of when I experienced these challenges were meeting Dick Christy, my school counselor, and in 8th grade, hanging out with the “wrong crowd.” I just couldn’t pick up on the clues from Mr. Christy that he truly wanted to help me and ‘my friends” were only making fun of my NVLD.
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Every so often in my life you join something that is extremely difficult however in the end you are so happy you made the decision to stay with it. I experienced this being the only varsity girl during my first year of cross-country and am grateful for all the personal connections and personal growth I made. Throughout all the challenges each of them turned into a tremendous positive with the help and support I received from my coach Jim Adams, and the members of the Canton cross country team. I was able to see that my disability wasn’t a detriment and realized people respected me for who I am.
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Growing up with NVLD can make it extremely difficult to find your interest, as so many things are such a struggle. What many people forget is you can also find your interest in a non-traditional way such as being a fan rather being a participant. Sports are a great example of that. I know when I started sports it was clear it was going to be such a struggle. However, I loved being part of sports teams as I was able to become a fan and enjoy the daily social interactions. This led me to attend and watch multiple professional and college games over the years. It was a big reason why I was able to stay a three-season runner, as I knew how special it was to be part of a team. I was also able to understand my role was to be the strong supporter rather being the one who brings the points.
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Being told you have NVLD often brings many concerns for your family, as you fear the worst. One of the ways these fears can be minimized is to connect with a family who also has a child with a disability. It may be from a personal connection or joining a support group. It doesn’t need to be NVLD, as each disability, while different, is also very similar as each disability brings daily challenges.
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Throughout my life, I have a done a lot of things that were extremely difficult, though the one that had the most impact on me was running cross-country. The reason being, it was the first time in years that the adult in charge really understood me. Jim Adams, who was my coach, like my parents, raised exceptional children on both sides of the spectrum, so he had a deep understanding of the obstacles I faced on a daily basis and was able to see I had a number of strengths too. Honestly there was never a guarantee that I was going to be able to finish the race due to all the challenges I faced having NVLD, however, he always gave me the same advice, which was to not focus on how far away the other runners were, just to focus on doing my best, as that is the only thing that matters. I knew if a challenge occurred there was hope that the next run would go my way because he always offered such great advice and knew me so well personally. I wished things were different for me but he made sure I was staying true to myself and never gave up.
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I remember starting school having no idea what was different about me along with being highly confused by the different services I received, as my friends were not going with me. As each elementary year passed, I started to have an idea about what was different about me. Later on things started to become even more confusing as social and academic demands were much higher. Socially, like all teenagers, my friends started to change, though with my disability I could not understand the rules of the game of adolescence. By that point, visual learning took place so it was clear I was starting to fall through the cracks. It seemed every day a teacher became frustrated with me though I was just overwhelmed and fatigued.
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