Nonverbal Learning Disability:
The Math and
Handwriting Problem
by Gayle Zieman, Ph.D.
In this last article on Learning Disabilities (LD) we focus on an impairment,
which unlike Dyslexia and associated spelling and written expression disorders,
is not rooted in language difficulties. Nonverbal Learning Disabilities are the
least recognized learning problems in the classroom, often being totally missed.
Individuals with a Nonverbal Learning Disability (NLD) are frequently good
readers, and their NLD often becomes obvious only after the first few grades in
school.
A Nonverbal Learning Disability affects five to ten percent of all individuals
who have a specific learning problem, and, unlike reading and spelling problems,
affects girls and boys in approximately equal numbers and is much less likely to
run in families. Often referred to as the "right hemisphere
disability," NLD primarily stems from neurological deficits on the right
side of the brain as opposed to
Dyslexia which is mostly a left hemisphere problem. Individuals with NLD have
visual spatial weaknesses and usually struggle with math, handwriting, and
sometimes social skills.
The Problems
A child with NLD has skill weaknesses in all or most of the following basic
areas: fine motor coordination (especially in the early grades), visual
perception (accurately "seeing" and telling apart
complex shapes like letters), visual-motor integration (being able to draw or
write what they see), visual memory (being able to remember visual patterns like
a series of letters), and visual-spatial
organization (drawing a map or arranging placement of things on a page).
These are the young children who do not color or draw much, are not particularly
interested in puzzles, and avoid toys that involve construction (Legos and
blocks, for example). They may or may not have gross motor delays which result
in general clumsiness and slowness to grasp tasks such as riding a bicycle. As
late preschoolers and kindergarten children, the child showing NLD symptoms
usually can learn to spell their name out loud much easier than they can write
it. The NLD kid would much rather talk about something than do a cut and paste
activity.
As older children and adults, NLD is manifest in a variety of weaknesses which
include poor performance in art and often with visual tasks in physical
education like shooting baskets and hitting
a ball. Difficulties are also seen with many daily spatial tasks such as using
tools (can't remember which way to turn a screwdriver, for example), organizing
visual tasks (like loading the dishwasher),
trouble estimating amounts of things (how far a mile is, how much is in a
tablespoon), and struggling to read maps. Spatially, many NLD individuals have
poor orientation skills. They often get lost in the
school building and can't remember which direction is north or even which way is
right or left. Imagine the kid in driver's ed who held the backs of both hands
in front of his face, extended both thumbs out, and exclaimed, "The one
that makes an L shape, that's left!" Science and social studies books can
also be quite a problem for the NLD suffererreading the text is no sweat, but
those charts and graphs can be pretty confusing. For many with NLD, a thousand
words is worth a lot more than two bar charts and a line graph.
The Strengths
Language, vocabulary, and auditory processing are the strongholds for someone
with NLD. Learning to speak and read is usual no problem and, often these are
areas of special proficiency. Having good language and auditory memory skills,
NLD sufferers are often early readers and good spellers, at least until the
middle of third grade when the spelling list begins to contain non-phonetic
words (like "enough" and "Illinois") which have to be
learned by visual memory. Rote, verbatim memory is often an area of mastery;
like for the child who told me how to get to his class from the school office,
"go five doors down the blue hall, then three doors in the green hall, and
read 'Welcome' on the door." His teacher reported that when finding his way
around he could be heard saying directions to himself.
Dysgraphia
Poor, slow, and labored handwriting is a very common feature of NLD. Torment in
learning to write the letters they so easily learned to say can be the first
clear NLD sign. Difficulty with handwriting,
Dysgraphia, can be caused by several difficulties: weak fine motor skills (often
noted by trouble holding a pencil), poor visual perception (can't see the
difference between h and k), deficits in
integration between visual perception and motor output (trouble drawing), or
trouble associating shapes (letters) with sounds. The dysgraphic child often
confuses letters and reverses similarly-shaped
letters (often incorrectly called "Dyslexia" which really means
reading disorder) beyond first grade when most children can accurately write all
of the letters. Other common early symptoms are
great trouble spacing words on a page (the words often run together), difficulty
writing on a line, forgetting margins, and needing to write in large letters. I
recently assessed a third grade boy with
these problems who proudly announced that he now had it all figured out:
"You put a pinky finger (space) between words, a pointer finger after
periods, and two fingers on each side of the page." I cheered him on, but
told his parents that before the term papers of middle school arrive they should
teach him to use a computer word processor.
Dyscalculia
Agony with learning mathematics, Dyscalculia, is a common NLD feature. Math is a
significantly "right brain" activity involving visual spatial
abilities. Conceptualizing math problems involves visualizing the operations.
Addition, for example, is a mental operation of "seeing" sets of
things being put together. Research has shown that NLD individuals can
understand the language and verbal
reasoning aspects of a math problem fine, but can't "visualize"
efficiently the relationships between the parts of the problem to actually
perform the arithmetic operations. Research has also pointed
out that visual perceptual skills have a stronger relationship to math ability
than does a person's general IQ.
Social Adjustment
There is some evidence that NLD children have a greater risk than most children,
and possibly even children with other forms of learning disabilities, for
developing emotional and social adjustment
problems. Some preliminary research indicates that NLD sufferers often have
fewer friends, are overly dependent on their parents, and are prone to mood
problems such as depression. One theory proposes that due to visual perception
weaknesses individuals with NLD have trouble noticing and interpreting nonverbal
social communication such as facial expressions and subtle body gestures. Data
regarding NLD and social/emotional adjustment are sparse and certainly more
research is needed.
Remedial Approaches
For children with Dysgraphia, extra practice in handwriting and positioning
written material on the page is the single most effective direct help. Often
practicing in a large format, such as on dry erase
board or in a cookie sheet filled with sand can be especially productive.
Allowing extra time to complete written assignments and providing page guides
such as clearly marked margins can be helpful. Many primary grade students with
Dysgraphia also do better with the introduction of cursive writing. Since
cursive writing involves a flow between the letters and unlike printing does not
have letters which are exact mirror images of each other (like b and d), many
NLD children find it much easier to grasp. Learning to use a computer word
processor can also be a major remedial aid for many. Training better performance
in mathematics is not as straightforward. The primary strategy is to make
mathematical operations more concrete and tangible. The hands-on manipulation of
objects illustrating math concepts is preferred. Special colored sticks called
Cuisenaire Rods are often helpful in teaching the basic operations of addition,
subtraction, and multiplication. Also, early use of a calculator is a strong
benefit for some. Given the general verbal strength of most NLD individuals,
teaching them how to talk their way through the steps of math problems and
learning step wise "recipes" for solving problems are other effective
strategies.
It is unclear how much social adjustment and emotional functioning can be helped
by direct training. More research is needed in this area.
In general, NLD individuals will require more time to complete work involving
handwriting, artwork, spatial organization, and mathematics. They often need
additional training in working with
graphs and charts, and may need special instruction in map reading and spatial
orientation, such as finding their way around the school building. As with all
learning disabilities, the best approaches are
quite individualized and are based on the unique pattern of assessed strengths
and weaknesses observed at each grade level.
RESOURCES: BOOKS
Helping Children Overcome Learning Disabilities,
Third Edition by Jerome Rosner, 1993
Learning Disabilities: A to Z,
by Corinne Smith and Lisa Strick, 1999
RESOURCES: ORGANIZATIONS
International Dyslexia Association (has a Southwest Branch
and annual Albuquerque conference), Baltimore, MD 21286,
401/296-0232, www.ldonline.org
Learning Disabilities Association of America, Pittsburgh, PA 15234,
412/341-1515, www.best.com/~ldanatl
National Center for Learning Disabilities, New York, NY,
888/575-7373, www.ncld.org
Parents of Gifted Learning Disabled Children, Silver Springs, MD,
301/986-1422, www.geocities.com/athens/1105/gtld.html
Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic, Princeton, NJ,
800/830-7201, www.rfbd.org
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Dr. Zieman is an Albuquerque psychologist who specializes in the evaluation of
child, adolescent, and family problems. He frequently assesses children and
adults with Learning Disabilities, behavior
problems, ADD/ADHD, and divorce related issues. You may learn more about Dr.
Zieman at http://ABQ.MetroProfs.com/gzieman