Who can diagnose NVLD?

[Misty]

My oldest daughter (11yo) is currently being evaluated by a psychiatrist for several things (Asperger's, IQ, OCD, SPD, etc.). I suspect she has non-verbal learning disorder. Can a psychiatrist check this or should a developmental pediatrician do this sort of thing? He will be giving her an achievment test next week to check her math level because I told him I suspect a math disability. Last time we were there he said she scored too well on something, I don't remember what, and therefore could not have NVLD. However, she has poor fine motor skills, struggles with math (she's at least 1 1/2 years behind in math). She makes careless mistakes ALL THE TIME, like not noticing if the problem is subtraction or addition and careless mistakes in all her other subjects as well. She is also EXTREMELY verbal.. She talked very early, was reading by age 3, and is now at near adult level for verbal expression and vocabulary/reading/spelling. She LOVES to read and write books and spends her free time reading and working on current writing projects (on the computer).

 

She also is extremely disorganized and has an obvious deficit in that area. Her reading comprehension is very good though.

 

Does this sound anything like NVLD?

 

Thanks!

[sandellie4]

I'm not an expert in this, as I sometimes wonder if doctors themselves know the difference between NVLD and Asperger's, but I thought I'd share a bit about our experiences. Remember that it's all anecdotal!

 

One of the main differences between Asperger's and NVLD that we have seen in our kids is visual-spatial perception. Both of our children with NVLD had difficulty seeing diagonal lines (for Tic-Tac-Toe, for example, when you have three X's or O's lined up in a diagonal), couldn't stay within the lines when working even a simple maze, etc. One of our kids couldn't get back on the maze without lifting her pencil after she had crossed the lines and ended up on another area of the paper. Another trait is that reading comprehension is low; although rote reading skills are fine, they have trouble with inference, reaching conclusions based on the text, etc. (although we see this in Asperger's, too). The reading comprehension problem wasn't so obvious at age 11, but as they grew older, it became more and more obvious because they didn't make the leaps and bounds in perception that our other kids made in junior high. We started to see the lack of comprehension not only in L.A. but across the board into content reading in all of the subjects. One of them has the math disability, though the other one much less so. Both scored very low on the side of the WISC IV dealing with visual-spatial skills and processing speed and much higher on the verbal side. Both of them are very clumsy, never learned how to ride a bike or roller skate. Both of them also had clear, though not massive, brain injury at birth, which was something the neuropsych who did the diagnosis seemed to be looking for when considering the diganosis. I've heard it said that neuropsychs are more likely to diagnosis NVLD than psychs, school personnel, or other professionals, though I don't know if that's true.

 

Our Aspies are good at math and visual spatial and have slow processing, but not to the same degree as our NVLD kids. The Aspies are also clumsy, and they seem more disabled in terms of social skills than the NVLD kids do.

 

Hope this helps a little.

[Laurie4b]

Neuropsychologists would typically be the diagnosticians for NVLD.

NVLD is considered "on the spectrum" and so one very big diagnostic indicator would be social skills difficulties. Additionally, language useage tends to be more rote and though the child may have a very large vocabulary, there is typically difficulty with more sophisticated language useage such as using & understanding sarcasm, making inferences, etc. A child without the social/language issues will likely not be diagnoses NVLD even with motor and visual-spatial deficits. NVLD kids typically have trouble with writing and reading comprehension, though their rote reading skills are typically good. (ie they can decode the words, but not "get" the meaning, particularly if there are inferences to be made.)

[Laurie4b]

http://www.asha.org/about/publications/leader-online/archives/2002/q4/f021022.htm

 

Here's a good link to describe the language difficulties.

[Misty]

Thanks to both of you... Asperger's and NVLD are so similar! She meets the criteria for both except for the fact that she is social and makes eye contact and the other children want to play with her! Also because her reading comprehension is good. She inherited the spectrum issues from my side and a high IQ from dh's side so maybe the high IQ is making up for the comprehension somehow, I don't know. Does that make sense? Her IQ was tested at age 6, but the psych wanted to test it again for some reason. I will definitely watch her comprehension now that she is in junior high and see if it stays up with her reading level.

 

I don't know what to think, but I know she has got one or the other, even if it's just a little. The poor fine motor and careless mistakes are so frustrating (for both of us!). She has so many other co-morbids too.. She has mild Tourette's Syndrome, mild OCD, mild ADD, Synesthesia, severe SPD. So I know she is walking the spectrum line, she's just keeping her balance really well!!

 

My 5yo daughter has Asperger's. I have it and one of my brothers has it also (and I think another brother does too, but not sure). So it definitely runs in the family!! I'm just not sure about my oldest daughter. She is such a puzzle!

 

Thanks again!